Amiko in the Woods Summer Camp | Kids Out and About Rochester <

Amiko in the Woods Summer Camp


*The event has already taken place on this date: Fri, 08/19/2022
We are thrilled to host our summer camp programs for 6-12 year olds in the gorgeous forest of Webster Park. Every day is jam-packed with engaging nature-based activities, while focusing on several themes: Forest Survival Skills (Mondays), Science in the Woods (Tuesdays), Art in the Woods (Wednesdays), Wildcrafting (Thursdays), and Forest Journaling (Fridays). In small groups led by expert guides, your child will be supported to explore their curiosities, learn new skills, and make new friends!

Please help us keep this calendar up to date! If this activity is sold out, canceled, or otherwise needs alteration, email mindy@kidsoutandabout.com so we can update it immediately. If you have a question about the activity itself, please contact the organization administrator listed below.

We are thrilled to host our summer camp programs for 6-12 year olds in the gorgeous forest of Webster Park. Every day is jam-packed with activities that engage children with nature-based activities, while focusing on several themes: Forest Survival Skills (Mondays), Science in the Woods (Tuesdays), Art in the Woods (Wednesdays), Wildcrafting (Thursdays), and Forest Journaling (Fridays). Detailed descriptions are available below. As we learn and play together in small groups led by expert guides, your child will be supported to explore their curiosities, learn new skills, and make new friends!

Past summer camp participants have enjoyed splashing in the creek, forest obstacle courses, and cooling mud spas – come prepared for this and other outdoor fun! We warmly welcome children from all backgrounds, support empathetic communication skills, and promote appreciation for diverse perspectives. Registration includes use of high-quality course materials and equipment at camp. Enrollees are also welcome to enjoy the healthy and delicious snacks we often cook over the fire. Register for the whole season, a week, or you can even just come try a single day! Enrollees who register for any 5 days or more by May 31st will receive an Amiko tee-shirt!

In Forest Survival Skills, we will spend the day immersed in nature, building our capability and confidence to enjoy the rich beauty of the forest in all kinds of weather. We will learn basic survival skills, investigate animal traces and tracks, develop our sensory skills, go on hikes and get silly and muddy. We will use lessons, games, free play, guides’ expertise, children’s curiosities, and spontaneous discoveries to shape our learning. This program is designed to foster good decision-making, personal responsibility, self-initiated collaborations, and joyful and respectful engagement with nature. We can adventure through the park, experiment with camping and backpacking gear, and practice tuning our owl eyes and deer ears.

Science in the Woods is a chance to learn about our environment through play, science investigations, and free exploration. Each week, enrollees will be encouraged to explore their own interests and questions within the setting of our shelter area at Webster Park and on short hikes around the park. We’ll play games, learn about the plants and animals we encounter, make observations, ask questions, make hypotheses, and collaborate on scientific investigations and experiments. We might solve challenges by building simple machines using only materials we find in the forest, experiment with strategies animals use to keep cool, or design our own experiments to learn about the creek. Each day will bring something different as we never know what we will discover in the woods!

Art in the Woods is your chance to connect with nature in ways you may not have considered before! Each week, we’ll be working to develop our artistic communication skills by creating and interacting with artwork while in the forest. We’ll work independently and collaboratively to craft art supplies from nature, like paints, drawing sticks, cordage, and pitch glue. We’ll experiment with a variety of media, debate “What is Art?”, explore meaning and symbolism, and brainstorm and test solutions to practical challenges of working with natural materials. Projects vary every week, and include crafts like basket weaving, papermaking, sculpting, candlemaking, and constructing and using primitive looms and flower presses.

In Wildcrafting, enrollees will begin to understand the value of wild plants as sources of nutrition and medicine as we practice identifying, harvesting, and utilizing native plants and herbs. Enrollees will spend time reviewing the Golden Rules of Wildcrafting, making sure to forage for plants in the safest and most responsible way. Together we’ll explore Webster Park, strengthening our observation skills as we reference guidebooks and begin to recognize beneficial plants such as nettle, wild violet, chickweed, red clover, yarrow, plantain, elder, pine, and dandelion. We’ll dissect different plants as we gain knowledge about their unique structures, characteristics, and benefits. Enrollees will engage in projects such as brewing teas, infusing oils and vinegars, making poultices, and concocting campfire recipes, all while using the plants around us! Native folk stories will be woven into our days as we discover how local herbs have been used throughout history.

In Forest Journaling we will deepen our connection to the environment as we observe and document the world around us in Webster Park. Through play, exploration, group activities, and guided hikes we will build our scientific skills as naturalists. Enrollees will practice slowing down and paying attention to even the tiniest details of the forest as we compare objects, search for nature patterns, practice shifting our perspectives and notice connections among living things. Enrollees will be supported to record their observations and ideas in a personal field journal where they can document with a combination of sketched images and words. We’ll zoom in on the environment to create depictions of the “tiny worlds” we observe, draft poems influenced by our natural surroundings, create collages using nature findings, and make records of the animal tracks we spy. Together, we’ll gather journal writing inspiration by bird watching, cloud observing, plant exploring and everything in between! We’ll use our findings to spark curiosity, ask questions and strengthen our relationship with the Earth. 

Enrollees are responsible for carrying their belongings, wearing appropriate clothing, and abiding by all safety requirements. Please contact us at info@amikolearningcenter.org for information about our current COVID-19 safety practices.


*Times, dates, and prices of any activity posted to our calendars are subject to change. Please be sure to click through directly to the organization’s website to verify.

Location:

Webster Park
255 Holt Road
Webster, NY, 14580
United States

Phone:

(585) 703-6871
Contact name: 
Jennifer Green
The event has already taken place on this date: 
08/19/2022
Time: 
8:45