Wellsview Summer Camps

WHAT TO ANTICIPATE: 

As "Inner Lands Adventurers" camp kids will enjoy nature and the outdoors as much as possible.

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• CIRCLE-TIME: We will start each day with a circle time "Check-in."  Campers will ring the singing bowl, introduce themselves, and pass it on to the next child! One of Wellsview's mental health professionals, with at least three other camp guides, will lead with "icebreakers" and inspire conversations between the children and set the framework for the day's activities and fun. This will also be a time for grounding and mindfulness activities. 

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• AFTER CIRCLE-TIME, each day there will be hands-on activities, crafts projects and outdoor (weather permitting) therapeutic play opportunities. At Wellsview we understand that play is profoundly important in human development and flourishing lives! Some activities will include: learning age appropriate cpr/first aid, learning to filter water with our paramedic(s); doing movement activities like yoga and/or dance among other nature-based activities.

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• At LUNCHTIME Wellsview's Camp leaders will teach and practice community meal time. Each Camper will help to set the common table for a shared meal experience.  (Of course each camper will bring their own food from home in accordance with their food preferences. Refrigeration will be provided.)

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• After eating together, we will all work to help clean and put our lunch things away for use the next day. And then we will all participate in a quieter aspect of the program. Some examples may be listening to Venetia's Singing Bowls, sharing stories..... taking turns talking and listening to each other, being present. 

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• In the AFTERNOON we'll also enjoy more carefully crafted outdoor programming - learning skills that relate to each day's themes and develop a special kids-gardening project through the week.

Play and learning will all work with the elemental themes and our local natural environment.  Working with nature's living classroom and Wellsview's skilled herbalists and guides ** (see note below), campers will learn about plants, basic botany, their gifts, and ways to protect the honeybees too.

We'll learn sustainable ways to care for our-selves using, hands-on historical and cultural lessons that have been passed on through time, and explore simple cooking skills. We will learn about the "balance" in our local ecosystems and how that balance makes us well, and relates to each of us with our families too. ​

• Later in the afternoon there will be 'CLOSING CIRCLE' where we will all set intentions for the evening and the next morning to come in age appropriate exchanges!​

Guides and staff will use their professional skills to identify teachable moments with the lightness and serendipity that will arise with the participants in each unique camping cohort.

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​By weeks-end, campers will gain new friendships, enjoy new learnings, have greater personal confidence and awareness of themselves in an environmental context that they are actively caring for too. From building new relationships, cultivating a sense of belonging, to: activities infused with learning and care for nature, humans, and the elements around them.​​​​​

​(** Note:  no campers will be given any tonics or herbal tastes. We will not be eating or drinking beyond what campers bring from home each day. Please be sure to tell us of any known allergens in the health documents.)

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