Director's Message

Many camp parents came with their teens for the Winter Teen Adventure and Parent Gathering (see description below). What continues to touch me is the marvelous interaction between family members -- mothers and fathers deeply invested in their children, as well other children, in all the planned and unplanned activities. There was a remarkable joy in carefully listening to one another.

I saw this mutual appreciation of the inestimable worth of each person in the joyous camaraderie, warmth, and frivolity among parents and counselors. They shared thoughts, feelings, and hilarious stories with one another for over six hours.

The next day I noticed several books on the library shelf that needed putting back. Two of the treasured old books that my mother read at Elmira College in 1937, full of her enlightening penciled comments, were John Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. I looked up to where they belong, high on the sixth shelf almost putting them back -- being the tidy soul that I am. Yet I sat down to look through the dark blue textured covered books -- perhaps wanting to remember something from my mother's notes.

In Paradise Lost there was a thank you note addressed to me dated 1962 from a high school friend, thanking me for loaning the book for her college studies, sharing how touched she was to use the well read book, writing that it "helped me enormously, especially with your mother's helpful explanatory remarks!" I turned the note over and in my penciled handwriting read: The strength he gains is from the embrace he gives. I smiled and knowing sighed.

Perhaps that's the source of what took place during the TA/Parent gathering -- that everyone seemed to experience.

And, it seems to me, this has occurred since the beginning of time, and is what we are witnessing globally, and within our own special families, as we embrace one another.

Come meet us, THIS Sunday!

Nature Camps will be at the Baltimore's Child Camps and Summer Programs Fair from 12-3 p.m. on March 6, 2011 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 2004 Greenspring Drive, Timonium, MD.

Come meet our director and several staff members, ask questions, and get answers!

All are invited to attend. See you there!

February's Teen Adventure and Parent Winter Gathering and Potluck

The first Teen Adventure and Parent Gathering of 2011 was held at Don's home along Deer Creek in Pylesville, Maryland. Activities included a "mystery tour" of the 1803 home: figuring out answers to thirty questions about the house, it's surroundings, and what it might have felt like to live here 210 years ago; replacing two sections of split rail fencing; playing music (guitar, mandolin, clarinet and French horn!), and catching up with one another in the parlor and library; a pre-dinner hike along Deer Creek up to the high meadow led by Counselors Autumn Ayers, Esmail Hamidi, Andrew McGowan, and intern Maddie Fishburn; returning in the dark with electric lights off -- using fourteen oil lamps and many candles in all the rooms for the rest of the evening-- getting a further sense of what the original family of two parents and thirteen children experienced after sunset; roasting marshmallows over a fire on the patio; and near the end of the evening, sharing favorite childhood stories, and singing.

Afterwards everyone eagerly shared in cleaning up various rooms, and washing dinner and dessert dishes.

Parents shared some of these experiences with their children, and spent the late afternoon and evening delighting in each other's company in the kitchen.

A similar Spring Gathering of TA teens with their parents is being planned.

Two Open Houses

Join us for our Open Houses on Sundays, May 8 and May 22, from 1 - 4.

Returning families, come for an afternoon of reconnecting with the staff, enjoying the woods, and welcoming new families.

New families, you'll have the chance to meet Don, other staff, and veteran NC parents. You can also tour the grounds, ask questions, swing on the tall swings, and visit NC's unique Adventure Challenge Ropes Courses. NC water bottles and Camper T-Shirts will be available for purchase.

Directions

Family, Counselors & Friends Workdays

On May 14 & 15, from 9 am to 5 pm, come join the many hands needed to get Nature Camps set up! There will be projects for all family members.

Brings rakes, energy, lunch, and supper. As each year, it will be a wonderful family time together in May!

We invite you to be Ambassadors of Nature Camps

Do you want your child to be the Last Child in the Woods?* If not, consider being an ambassador of Nature Camps. Spread the word about why you think NC should be an essential part of every child's summer. You know a good thing when you see it. Take a moment to share it with others!

* Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, Richard Louv, 2008.

More on Nature Camps' philosophy on Nature Studies.

It's that Time Again! Register Now!

Are you tired of the annual rush to set your child's summer schedule? Beat the rush! Nature Camps is currently accepting registrations for the 2011 Summer Season!

We offer the Camper Program for children ages 5-12. In a mixed-age learning environment, children choose their own activities -- Adventure Ropes Course, swimming, horseback riding, canoeing, nature crafts, carving & whittling, hiking, Nature Journaling, stream exploring, singing, bicycling, new games, Family Overnights and Concerts, etc.

Teen Adventure is for teens 13-16, and offers a four week program of hiking, biking, white water rafting, community service learning, and more! Two weeks are spent at Nature Camps, and two five-day away trips take teens to a local farm and to the Appalachian Trail.

Camp Wonder, for 4-year olds, is a program designed to be a miniature version of our camper program -- at the relaxed pace of a four-year-old!

Camp Little Feet is for toddlers, aged 2-1/2 to 4, and provides a unique opportunity for the parent and child to explore nature as only toddlers can do -- one wonder at a time.

So, whatever the age of your child, and whatever your summertime schedule brings, Nature Camps has a program just for you!

Register now online.

2011 Calendar

Schedule

Nature Camps Videos

Watch the fun!