Basic Package

Immerses campers with hands-on agricultural experiences that cultivate a love for the land. Programming ranges from Planting, Tending, Harvesting, and Preparing Food from a variety of crops to learning about Sustainable Practices and Organic Gardening. Activities can include things like Soil Preparation, Vermicomposting, and exploring the importance of Pollinators. 

Through interactive experiences, campers learn about Animal Care, including Feeding, Grooming, Cleaning Enclosures, and understanding Animal Behavior and Development. Each lesson includes some aspect of hands-on activities like the Safe Handling of Animals like chicks, ducks, and bunnies, how to Bottle Feeding baby goats or cows to Hand Feeding or Milking Goats, or leading a puppy in Basic Training Exercises. Campers can engage in fun educational sessions about Animal Husbandry and the role of animals on the farm. This enriching experience fosters empathy, responsibility, and a deeper understanding of the bond between humans and animals.

Campers get creative while they embrace traditional skills and crafts as well as experience the joy of turning old into gold with Upcycling. Activities range from Making Pickles and Jellies to making Spa Products such as Sun-infused Oils and Lip Balms to Candle Crafting to Weaving and Woodworking. All activities are laid out for your staff with step-by-step directions. Campers leave with not only handmade projects to take home but also practical knowledge about sustainable living and resourcefulness. 

Guided Hikes, Nature Walks, and Scavenger Hunts are gentle ways to encourage observation and appreciation of the environment. 

However, if you'd like to get a little more hardcore... teaching kids survival skills is a fun and enriching experience that builds confidence and teamwork! Some examples of thee skills include Shelter Building with branches and leaves, Fire-Starting, It’s not just about warmth; it’s the marshmallows and stories, Foraging for edible plants and berries, Water Purification methods, Old School Navigation with a compass and a map, Basic First Aid, how to Signal for Help with mirrors or whistles, Wildlife Awareness, Ropes and Knots, and Problem-Solving Games.

Mindfulness practices like Breathing, Meditation, and Yoga help campers cultivate a deep sense of presence and awareness in nature. By learning to focus on their breath and connect with their surroundings, children can experience the beauty of the natural world more fully, fostering a profound appreciation for the environment and interconnectedness of all living things, which can enhance their emotional well-being while gently encouraging them to become mindful caretakers of the planet.

Storytelling activities invite campers to engage emotionally with their surroundings while exploring the wisdom of the past. Through tales of the land, animals, and cultural traditions, campers learn about the deep-rooted relationships humans have with the environment. The different activities can be used in various settings whether on a hike, sitting in contemplation by a tree, in the theater, in the art room, around a campfire, etc. 

Lessons will be tailor-created for your program based on your desires as well as the capabilities of your staff. *If your staff requires training, please check out our Premier Plan. 

The biggest complaint that we hear from camps is that it's hard to hire really competent people for the nature program. Knowing how to properly care for animals, safely facilitate animal handling/child interactions, and knowing how to troubleshoot/problem-solve are just a few of the requirements for animal care staff. 

We want to help ensure that you 're set up for success. We'll provide you with questions for potential hires, as well as  specific requirements for each level, so you can hire appropriately for the activities you wish to provide. 

Our lesson plans are laid out based on the skills of your staff. You may want to teach advanced programming, but if the staff is inexperienced in a particular area, it can be dangerous. For example, it's unreasonable to expect a staff member to teach campers how to milk a goat if this isn't a skill they have mastered. At the same time, it would be irresponsible to bring a lactating goat into a situation without a knowledgeable caretaker, as she's in danger of getting mastitis, etc. (This is the type of thing we can help uncover during assessment. That way the staff member has the opportunity to go out to acquire the missing skills, prior to camp, or we can help you to shift gears to more appropriate program content.)

In order to make the environment safe for both the animals, campers, and staff alike it is important that everyone is on the same page when in comes to safety. We will help you look at all of your Teva Areas to make sure that you're covered.  We can work with you to create rules/guidelines in regards to animal handling, campers in enclosures, and emergency strategies and procedures. We'll also go over recommendations for appropriate signage. 

The behind-the-scenes work with the animals, can be a large part of the job. Depending on the specific animal, location, and size of your enclosures the work varies.

(For example, ducks are one of our favorite animals to have at camp, as they grow at lightening-speed, which is fun for campers to observe. We like to put them in a visible place for this reason. However, ducks are also the smelliest of the farm animals, so if their enclosure is near where campers walk, that area needs should be refreshed multiple times daily.)

You will gain perspective on the time considerations for each set of animals for choosing your menagerie, as well as hiring and scheduling purposes. It's also helpful for staff to have a breakdown and cheat sheet, not to mention a clearer understanding of what their job entails. (Unfortunately, it's way more mucking than cuddling.)

In addition to written instructions for lessons, we are also happy to connect with your staff on the phone, or over zoom, before the summer. By allowing them to give input on lessons and ask questions, we can help ensure that they are comfortable with the lessons and  emboldened to add their own personal flair to make the content even more vibrant. The people make the program. We want to be wind under their wings. We can also help troubleshoot if there are concerns, or point them in the right direction if further help is needed.

How did it go? What were the Rosebuds and Thorns? What were the obstacles? What would you like to see happen for next year? What improvements can be made? We'd love to hear from both you and your staff about this.

We want to help you gain a realistic perspective of your program and how it's going, to help it for the future. This is truly where we shine and can help you the most if you let us. In our experience most nature staff have good intentions and put their best foot forward. However, we can assess the reality by taking a deeper look at both the strengths and weaknesses. There is always room for growth and we want that for you, and for children. 

We will meet you wherever you are, and provide programming content that meets your current capabilities. However, we'd love to help you push that needle, if it is your goal to grow your program. We're happy to help you out, however we can.