Summer Camp Summary 2021

Here we are again! Another season of Elephant Tree Nature Camp has concluded. It's astounding how quickly these camp weeks fly by, but we all know what that means... We had so much fun this summer – almost as much fun as the kids! We'd like to take a minute to highlight some of this year's moments that made camp special.

This was now our second summer that took place mid-pandemic. While we were able to accommodate more children by using a bigger outdoor classroom space, we still had to follow the same safety guidelines as last year. Even so, the kids seemed to hardly notice. Each day was a new and exciting adventure for them! Here's a look into our summer:

Fur, Scales, and Animal Tales: In this first week of Pre-K camp, each day featured some of our favorite books, including Eric Carle books, Stellaluna, Suzanne Tate books, folktales like Anansi the Spider and Rainbow Crow, and finally, The Lorax.

Green Thumbs: Our second week of Pre-K camp was all about plants. We learned about seeds, parts of a plant, what plants need to survive, and about unique plants, like carnivorous plants. We planted seeds almost every day.

Crafty Kids: We had so much fun creating art in this K-2nd grade camp. All week, we crafted a papier-mâché fox masks in addition to daily art projects.

Can You Dig It?!: We learned all about rocks and minerals in this interesting K-2nd camp. We made our own chalk, examined minerals, made fossils, and broke open geodes.

Dirt Detectives: In this fun Pre-K camp, we became explorers of all the things that make-up, grow in, and live in dirt. We sang the dirt song, which tells us that dirt is made of rocks, water, air, animals, and plants.

Wacky Trees: We became tree experts as we learned all about the strangest trees in this Pre-K week. We enjoyed making bark rubbings, sketching trees, and we even took home our own Gingko saplings.

Food Explosion: In the two weeks of this K-2nd Cooking Camp, each day featured rice dishes from different cultures around the globe. From Italian rice balls to sushi, we cooked a tasty new dish every day!

Lost and Found: In this exciting K-2nd camp, we learned important wilderness survival skills, so that we would know what to do if we were ever lost in the woods. We built shelters, made a water filter, and built a small campfire, too!

Mystery Science: This week, we became junior scientists in this K-2nd camp. We learned about flight, properties of water, sound waves, geometric shapes, and solutions. We really enjoyed imagining what type of scientist we would want to be.

Smile, Crocodile!: Our final week of Pre-K camp was based on the book What If You Had Animal Teeth!?, by Sandra Markle. We learned all about how unique the teeth of different animals can be and imagined what it would be like to have another animal's chompers!

Thank you so much to all who participated! We hope you'll join us next summer!