Summer Classes Tuesdays & Wednesdays in August
Join our parks expedition to explore and play in the river, forest, field and ponds! We’ll go on treasure hunts, play games, climb trees, and wade in the shallows. We’ll create art, and build shelters and temporary hiker camps. We’ll learn maker skills with knives, natural fibers and knots, find animals and edible and medicinal plants.
We’ll also enjoy story telling, sharing circles, and care for our collective safety and comfort in wild places. And we’ll grow our peacemaking and conflict resolution skills. All the while, we’ll honor and protect our natural places (leaving no trace and leaving it better than we found it)!
We’ll also enjoy story telling, sharing circles, and care for our collective safety and comfort in wild places. And we’ll grow our peacemaking and conflict resolution skills. All the while, we’ll honor and protect our natural places (leaving no trace and leaving it better than we found it)!
We’ll ponder big questions, such as:
- What’s the best way to find a beetle?
- What do turtles think about?
- How do plants move around?
- What is beautiful to us? What is beautiful to a dragonfly?
- Do geese like us?
- Who lived and worked on the land before us? How did it become a park? Who comes here now?
Details
Class meets in Ann Arbor parks, including Bird Hills, Nichols Arboretum and Furstenberg/Gallup Park, on August 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, and 18 (six Tuesdays and Wednesdays) from 10 am - 2pm. Class is limited to 12 campers, ages 8-12, with three Nature Mentors. The cost is $280 per child. Scholarship is available upon request.
Campers should enjoy wandering and exploring new places and be comfortable and experienced spending time in natural settings. They must be ready and able to cooperate with leaders, following directions and make decisions with peers for the good of the camp. And finally, because this class takes place in public parks, campers should be comfortable encountering unfamiliar dogs.
Class meets in Ann Arbor parks, including Bird Hills, Nichols Arboretum and Furstenberg/Gallup Park, on August 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, and 18 (six Tuesdays and Wednesdays) from 10 am - 2pm. Class is limited to 12 campers, ages 8-12, with three Nature Mentors. The cost is $280 per child. Scholarship is available upon request.
Campers should enjoy wandering and exploring new places and be comfortable and experienced spending time in natural settings. They must be ready and able to cooperate with leaders, following directions and make decisions with peers for the good of the camp. And finally, because this class takes place in public parks, campers should be comfortable encountering unfamiliar dogs.
Covid Protocols
The Farm-Nature and Nurture Seeds
July 7-10, 2025
Monday-Thursday 10am - 2pm
Ages 5-12
$250 per child per week
Aaaaah back at the farm, such a fun place. We could do everything we did the first week or something new. Do you want to make a burned wood bowl? Weave a basket. Make wild onion pancakes? (They are excellent with maple syrup). Draw butterflies? Paint with plant dyes? Cook potatoes on coals buried in an underground stove? Spy on/admire birds, deer, salamanders?
Camp takes place at NLC's beloved Nature and Nurture, an 85 acre seed farm in Dexter with ponds, enormous fields, forests and vernal pools. Did you know there are forest clams? There are! They're here! We’ll explore from a central basecamp and have an opportunity to work on shelters, hang hammocks in the woods, and create our own mini village over 4 days. At the farm we can try ambitious camp cooking and carving projects that use fire. We’ll use wild foraged plants for art, weaving, making tools, food and medicine. We’ll discuss honorable harvest practices.
Lillie Park
July 21-24 , 2025
Monday-Thursday 10am - 2pm
Ages 6-12
$250 per child
Lillie Park - is a beautiful Ann Arbor treasure filled with ponds, boardwalks and all sorts of birds and wildlife and blessed with great spots to explore and play. We will meet and greet the plants, mushrooms and animals, try our hand at fish and turtle charming. Maybe we’ll hang out by the pond and weave a small basket, make a net bag or carve a staff, a wand or a fish charming pole. We’ll build cook fires in the bbqs and who knows what else?
The Farm-Nature and Nurture Seeds
July 7-10, 2025
Monday-Thursday 10am - 2pm
Ages 5-12
$250 per child per week
Aaaaah back at the farm, such a fun place. We could do everything we did the first week or something new. Do you want to make a burned wood bowl? Weave a basket. Make wild onion pancakes? (They are excellent with maple syrup). Draw butterflies? Paint with plant dyes? Cook potatoes on coals buried in an underground stove? Spy on/admire birds, deer, salamanders?
Camp takes place at NLC's beloved Nature and Nurture, an 85 acre seed farm in Dexter with ponds, enormous fields, forests and vernal pools. Did you know there are forest clams? There are! They're here! We’ll explore from a central basecamp and have an opportunity to work on shelters, hang hammocks in the woods, and create our own mini village over 4 days. At the farm we can try ambitious camp cooking and carving projects that use fire. We’ll use wild foraged plants for art, weaving, making tools, food and medicine. We’ll discuss honorable harvest practices.
Lillie Park
July 21-24 , 2025
Monday-Thursday 10am - 2pm
Ages 6-12
$250 per child
Lillie Park - is a beautiful Ann Arbor treasure filled with ponds, boardwalks and all sorts of birds and wildlife and blessed with great spots to explore and play. We will meet and greet the plants, mushrooms and animals, try our hand at fish and turtle charming. Maybe we’ll hang out by the pond and weave a small basket, make a net bag or carve a staff, a wand or a fish charming pole. We’ll build cook fires in the bbqs and who knows what else?