Summer Week-long Camps
Outdoor Nature Camp
Offered through Families in Nature
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Join us for a whole week of exploring! We will meet at the southernmost tip of Pease Park, known as Kingsbury Commons. This part of the park is newly finished, and is gorgeous! Check out this video for an idea of what it looks like. We are so excited to be able to rent the small building near the bathrooms for our camp next summer, so we will have an indoor space for inclement weather, and can extend our day until 4pm. We will also be able to use the water feature to cool off in the afternoons! Depending on the pandemic and COVID numbers, we may require face masks, and will follow all safety protocols such as handwashing and social distancing, and will avoid interacting with public crowds. Because we like to follow the children's interests, there are sure to be new discoveries each day, and we will guide and support them as their curiosities arise. We love visiting the creek and exploring its creatures in the mornings, and prefer to cool off and play games in the afternoons. Other past interests and topics include Leave No Trace ethics, Biomimicry, plant and bird identification, bird language, sit spots, geocaching, tracking animals, solar energy, learning about rocks and water and their history, mapping, and so much more! Many children also enjoy adopting a "nature name" during the week, and some even connect deeply with a "spirit animal." This camp is for ages 5 and up, and is tentatively scheduled for June 13-17, 2022 & June 20-24, 2022 from 9am-4pm The registration fee is around $350, and will be set by FIN in the spring. Scholarships & sibling discounts are offered!
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Since this camp is through Families in Nature this year, your child will have the opportunity to earn badges in different areas of science like ecology, mammalogy, ornithology and entomology!
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Take a look at our past camp options:
(Due to the pandemic, our camps went virtual)
Virtual Birding Camp
This new camp is a more focused version of Nature Camp that focuses on birds. One of the best and easiest things to observe during this quarantine have been the birds in our yard, and by learning more about birds, we can greatly expand our senses, which have been dulled more and more from our screens and more sedentary lifestyle.
Learning bird language isn't just a strategy once used to survive by locating predators and predicting the weather. It's also a tool to establish a more intimate and enriching connection with nature. “To notice and understand these sorts of dramas unfolding all around us at all times makes the world a far more interesting place.” Bird language, therefore, is a great way to create wonder and motivate us to interact with the outdoors.
Learning bird language isn't just a strategy once used to survive by locating predators and predicting the weather. It's also a tool to establish a more intimate and enriching connection with nature. “To notice and understand these sorts of dramas unfolding all around us at all times makes the world a far more interesting place.” Bird language, therefore, is a great way to create wonder and motivate us to interact with the outdoors.
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Daily Zoom Register for the $50 Virtual option by July 31st to receive a link to join us in our daily Zoom meetings. During these face-to-face times, we will share stories and observations, learn about bird languages and practice them by acting them out, will learn the sounds of some common backyard birds, learn about owls and dissect our owl pellets together, play "what's missing" games, step outside for bird scavenger hunts, and listen to stories and videos about various birds and their unique features. |
Activity Kit Register for the $50 activity kit by July 31st to receive your Bird Journal, which includes bird activities and observation pages, as well as paint by sticker birds, bird paper airplanes, a bird sticker book, a bird wind chime kit, a birds beak activity, an owl pellet dissection kit, a pair of binoculars, and a bird field guide. |
Virtual Nature Camp
This virtual camp offers a non-virtual activity kit, as well as virtual 45 min Zoom classes each day.
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Activity Kit For $50, an activity kit will be delivered to your home, which includes a printed copy of the Nature Journal in an envelope to hold pencils & found treasures, and includes items like a local field guide, a small bug catcher, watercolors & paper, sun print paper, Leave no Trace activities, a small compass, plaster for molding tracks, a tree cookie necklace, and clay to make a nature bowl. Daily Zoom For $50, you will get a digital copy of the Nature Journal, and can join Ms. Jennie on Zoom every day for 30-45 min to learn and play. We will do things like share daily stories and what we’ve discovered, learn bird languages through charades, act out animal movements, go on a spirit animal journey, play guessing games, go on scavenger hunts, learn about local plants and animals and their “creature powers,” or play Leave No Trace games. |
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Virtual Herb Camp
This virtual camp offers a non-virtual activity kit, as well as virtual 45 min Zoom classes each day. Register for the $50 activity kit by July 20th to receive your kit, which includes a printed Herb Journal, an herb BINGO & memory card game, watercolors and paper, supplies to make your own fairies, and dried herbs for recipes and crafts like sewing a sachet or making sun tea.
Register for the $50 Virtual option by July 26th, and you will get a digital copy of the Nature Journal, and can join Ms. Jennie on Zoom every day for 45 minutes to learn and play. We will share Herb Fairy stories, plants we’re growing or foraging, crafts we’re making, play games like herb BINGO and memory games, put on puppet shows, & present recipes to make together, like lemon balm popsicles and sun tea!
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