A Typical Day
Campers are placed in all-gender groups with kids who are their same age and or/in their same school grade. Each week, the group gets a new schedule, which they follow together each day.
Our younger campers enjoy an unhurried, consistent daily rhythm. Our middle campers follow a rhythm with more variety. Our older campers experience new challenges and a variety of outdoor trips. In this way, we are able to meet the needs of each age group we serve at camp.
Younger Groups: Campers Ages 4-7
Time to Breathe
Our youngest groups at The Nature Place have a consistent daily routine that provides a comfortable rhythm throughout the excitement, new friends, and exploration of activities at camp. Campers in our younger groups have lunch and swim at the same time each day, and always have time set aside after swim to change, have snack, and settle in after a full day, before heading home.
Age-Appropriate Activities
Our younger groups’ schedules have three activity periods in each day, in addition to daily swim and lunch periods. Activities are developmentally and age-appropriate in both content and length. Campers will also go on two magical off-site day hikes during the summer, and will have one very exciting Almost Overnight!
A Strong Foundation
The environment and feel of each day at camp are held strongly by counselors for this age group, providing a nurturing foundation from which campers can make friends, learn, and feel safe. Younger camper groups have three counselors. The head counselors of these groups are teachers, parents, and sometimes both.
Middle Groups: Campers Ages 8-11
An Active Day
A typical day for this age group is filled with variety. Our middle groups’ schedules have four daily activity periods built in, in addition to daily lunch and swim. They have more challenging activities, longer activity periods, and the addition of overnight camping trips.
Making Friends
Making new friends and spending quality time with old ones are an important part of camp for this age group, and counselors help guide this social aspect of camp within the framework of each day’s activities.
Progressive Camping
Overnight camping trips begin at age eight with an onsite overnight where we learn everything we need to know about spending a night under the stars and experience the magic of a night spent away from home. Trips increase in frequency, and variety as campers get older, so that ten and eleven year-old campers are going on multiple trips throughout the summer.
Older Groups: Campers Ages 12-15
Adventure & Immersion
Our oldest groups spend more time away from camp: hiking, camping, canoeing, rock-climbing, and exploring. Resilience and challenge-by-choice are key focuses of off-site programming. When on campus, days are full of activities that build independence, leadership, and skills, and may include being immersed in longer programs such as a morning-long group art project, or an afternoon of games and trust-building activities. Days at camp always include swim (and lunch!).
Group Bonding
Social relationships, both old and new, become increasingly important for older campers, and programming in and out of camp is an opportunity for group bonding and building relationships. Like all campers, but often even more so, this age group is developing an awakening sense of self: Who am I? Who am in relation to others?
Guidance & Mentorship
With the guidance and mentorship of counselors they respect, our campers are challenged, enjoy themselves and the company of their peers, and learn a lot about themselves and the world around them over the course of the summer. Our counselors are exceptional role models, often inspiring campers toward future goals, adventures, hobbies, and even career paths.
