Welcome to Summer Camp on the Farm!
At Zestful Gardens Farm Camp you'll find new things to discover each week. Natural programs taught with gentle care, focused on creativity, connection, and curiosity will be interspersed with farm chores, healthy snacks and free play. Each week will has a unique theme. (see below)
Weekly Themes
Zestful Gardens Farm Camp brings classic summer adventures to kids ages 4-14 on our organic working farm located in the Puyallup Valley. Each day includes farm chores: feeding the animals, gathering eggs, harvesting vegetables and fruit, and activities in the garden. Theme based projects, songs, stories, and a hearty mid-morning snack of organic fruits and vegetables picked fresh from the farm, round out the day’s activities. Farm camp strives to help kids develop a sense of self in relationship to community and the earth through fun, play-based nature education with uniquely individual themes each week.
Registration opens: March - April 2020
an announcement will be made on our Facebook page when registration opens. Like us there to stay in the loop.
2020 Farm Camp Programming TBD (below is an example summer program):
This year we will run 6 weeks of camp, each week has an overarching theme. (below)
Camp is split into two age groups "Willow" ages 4-9, "Cedar" ages 8-14
and will flow between the main camp yard and our satellite "base camps" throughout the farm!
July 8 - Aug 16 | 9am -1pm.
Willow
(ages 4-9)
Cedar
(ages 8-14)
Themes 2019
July 8-12
Nature Yoga
Willow Nature Yoga | (ages 4-9)
Through story, art, play and movement we build awareness of our body and its connection with nature and life all around us. Build skills for self-awareness and self-regulation. -Connect with ourselves - Connect with others - Connect with nature!
Cedar Nature Yoga | (ages 8-14)
Through story, crafts, and movement we build awareness of our self-talk/actions/habits. Daily practices of playful yoga, leadership, and quiet "inner listening" (mindfulness) facilitates new discoveries of the inner and outer landscapes of the farm. Create a beaded mala to use for meditation on and off the farm.
(Full)
July 15-19:
Eco Superheros
Willow Eco Superheros | (ages 4-9)
Through story, play, art, and DIRT! we will explore self-empowerment, how to be an ally to ourselves, our friends, and our environment. Kindness and freindship are superpowers!
Cedar Eco Superheros | (ages 8-14)
Through story, play, art, and DIRT! Empower youth to be a part of the solution and have a direct impact on social, and environmental wellness. Explore setting personal "golden rules" (mantra's), and bring home a unique piece of art to remind them of thier own golden rules and personal super powers.
July 22-26:
Mud & Creature
Exploration
Willow Mud & Creature Exploration (ages 4-9)
With our gentle bunny senses we will learn from the animals and wildlife on the farm about how to get down in the dirt/mud. Discover left behind treasures- creative exploration with mud, wool, chicken feathers! Found object arts, wool crafting, fiber arts, mud structures - stories, games, lots of play.
(Full)
Cedar Mud & Creature Exploration (ages 8-14)
With our stealthy fox feet, we will sneak about the farm to discover natural treasures! Observe animals and wildlife on the farm, dissect owl pellets, and try out some foraging and survival skills techniques including mud construction and camouflage.
(Full)
Concoctions
July 29-Aug 2:
Willow Concoctions | (ages 4-9)
Exploring life cycles through herbal exploration! Harvest, taste and smell the various forms of herbal and floral life on the farm. Get creavite with nature's recycling processes: mud play, compost concoctions, herbal crafting..."How does the earth use this?" and "How can we use this?" Cultivating harmony and appreciation for nature's bounty.
(Full)
Cedar Concoctions | (ages 8-14)
Exploring "well being" through life cycles and herbal exploration! Explore the literal (and metaphorical) gifts of healthy soil on the farm (and in our lives). Forage, taste and smell the various forms of herbal and floral life on the farm. Consider, "How can we find, and use, the botany of this land responsibly?" Nature crafts, and beneficial herbal concoctions to bring home. Cultivating harmony and appreciation for nature's bounty.
(Full)
Aug 5-Aug 9:
Pickel It!
Willow Pickle It! | (ages 4-9)
It's a fun and fruitful week on the farm, we're focused on the beautiful bounty of the garden! Tend the garden, and harvest fresh fruits and vegetables in season on the farm and preserve them through drying, and pickling! Stories, games, crafts, and play enhance our learning experience and fun on the farm!
(Full)
Cedar Pickle It! | (ages 8-14)
Practice our "helping hands".. we're focused on the beautiful bounty of the garden! Tend the garden, help our younger friends harvest fresh fruits and vegetables in season on the farm. Learn about preservation techniques through drying, and pickling, and bring some bounty home! Sharing stories, games, crafts, and play with our Willow friends will enhance our leadership learning experience and fun on the farm!
Aug 12-Aug 16:
Jam It!
Willow Jam It! | (ages 4-9)
The garden is bursting with fruits, vegetables and BERRIES, BERRIES, BERRIES! This is the perfect time to harvest the beautiful, fruitful bounty of the garden! We pick bushels full of berries ...lets be honest... more goes in their mouths and faces than in the bucket! .... but somehow we manage to pick enough to experience making refridgerator jam.
(Full)
Cedar Jam It! | (ages 8-14)
This classic summer adventure is ageless! The garden is bursting with fruits, vegetables and tons of BERRIES! We pick bushels full of berries with our friends ... get lots of berries in mouths and faces (and clothes) and still pick enough to experience making refridgerator jam, create natural dyes and paints, and bring home lots of fond memories of our summer(s) on the farm!