Summer Camps

 2024 Summer Camps

We have various day camps for different ages and interests.
Choose one or more!

Camps fill quickly. REGISTER NOW to avoid disappointment.

ART & NATURE Day Camp (ages 8-12):
July 1 – 5, 2024 (Mon-Fri)

FOREST EXPLORERS Day Camp (ages 4-6):
July 15 – 18, 2024 (Mon-Thurs)
FULL

HERBAL ADVENTURES Day Camp (ages 9-12): 
July 22 – 26, 2024 (Mon-Fri)
SPACE STILL AVAILABLE

NATURE NINJA Day Camp (ages 7-13):
August 5 – 9, 2024 (Mon-Fri)
FULL – Register for Waiting List

TOOL MAKERS Day Camp (ages 9-14):
August 12 – 16, 2024 (Mon-Fri)
SPACE STILL AVAILABLE

For DETAILS about each camp and to REGISTER, click on camp name or see below. 

ART & NATURE Day Camp

AGES: 8 – 12 years

DATES & TIMES:  JULY 1 – 5, 2024

MON – FRI,  9:00am to 3:00pm

COST: $425 plus GST

LOCATION: Salt Spring Island, BC, south end

For creative kids that want to explore the wonders of nature through earth-based crafts, art, nature play and fun games.

Come curious about hands on art making & playful theatrics, with a desire to learn more about how they come together in magical ways. Nature provides many incredible opportunities for art making right under our noses… in a pond, on the shore, even in the rocks.

Join us for a week of discovery, getting creative, and making new friends.

Nature-based crafts and fun include:

• Cattail weaving

• Needle felting

• Ocean visit & shore crafts

• Natural face paint & forest costumes

• Song and Music

• Games in nature & theatrical games

• Storytelling

• Laughter and oodles of fun!

  INSTRUCTORS:

  CLAUDELLE CHARETTE was blessed with a childhood of catching frogs and play in nature and studied Fine Arts, horticulture and more before graduating from the Wisdom of the Earth Immersion and Apprenticeship. She is a popular nature mentor for children (WOLF Pups, Cahoots), as well as running ancestral arts and bird language workshops for adults. She brings both grounded compassion and playful enthusiasm to her work with youth, and is passionate about nature connection, community building, mentoring children, crafting, scouting, play, creativity, music making and much more.

  MARIE WHIMBEY (aka Sweetpea) graduated from the Wisdom of the Earth Immersion and Apprenticeship, after years of studying Pochinko clown and mask, working as a roving clown and puppeteer, and in many community arts positions including Vancouver Arts and Cultural festival management. Marie has been a warm and laughter-evoking nature mentor for children in various setting for many years, values creativity as a gateway to growth, and particularly loves sleeping under the stars, fire making, hide tanning, foraging plants, opening senses in nature, song circles, storytelling, therapeutic care, nature mentoring, and theatrical play.

FOREST EXPLORERS Day Camp

AGES: 4 – 6 years  FULL

DATES & TIMES:  July 15-18, 2024

Mon-Thurs,  9:30am to 1:30pm

COST: $385 plus GST

LOCATION: South end,  Salt Spring Island, BC

Birds! Plants! Mud!
This exciting nature-based camp for 4 – 6 year olds has a different theme every day!

Fun, age-appropriate activities include plant identification, wanders in the forest, exploring the beach, learning about birds, playing games, singing songs and more.

The instrcutors have a particular love for this age group, with kindness, compassion, and an attachment-centred approach forming the container for so much fun and play.

Each day takes place at a different beautiful location (forest, beach etc) in the south end of Salt Spring.

Limited space for small group size.

NIKOYA CATRY-BAUER has breathed nature connection since birth and grew up attending WOLF programs for 11 years before continuing her education and work life, which has included travel to wild places, dance performance and choreography, gymnastics coaching with Salt Spring Gymnastics, gardening, creative childcare for active families, and ongoing training in natural horse training and equine bodywork. Nikoya loves to move and laugh, brings both a gentle attunement to children’s sensitivities and a vibrant sense of aliveness and play, is deeply connected to nature, and has a special place in her heart for young children, horses, and chickens.

Nikoya has been leading Forest Explorers for many years. 

2nd instructor TBA

HERBAL ADVENTURES Day Camp

AGES: 8 – 13 years – SPACE STILL AVAILABLE

DATES & TIMES:  July 22 – 26, 2024

Mon-Fri, 9am to 3pm

COST: $435 plus GST

LOCATION: Salt Spring Island, BC, South end

Explore the magical world of the plants that surround us!  

In this hands-on camp, we’ll dive into the edible, medicinal, and artistic uses of local plants. We’ll make herbal preparations, tasty creations, and crafts that your child can bring home. All materials are included.

How do we identify these plants? When and how do we harvest? What can we make with them?
We’re excited to explore all this this together, as well as enjoy games, songs and stories with a spotlight on the wonders of the plant world around us.

Deepen plant connections and grow new friendships!

• Discover, identify, and get to know local plants 

• Enjoy local tea taste testing

• Make an herbal healing salve

• Create herbal honey, cordials and kombucha

• Flower hammer printing

• Plant dyes

• Make your own herbal first aid kit

• Song, stories and games
  

INSTRUCTORS:

KATIE FISCHER grew up on a small farm surrounded by plants and animals, and is a graduate of the Immersion and Apprenticeship program, and a current nature mentor for youth and teens at Wisdom of the Earth. Her many past achievements include BSc in Environmental Science and Geography, induction into Gamma Theta Upsilon International Geographic Honor Society, years of herbalism studies and Wild Rose Herbalist Certication, extensive experience working with children in nature and forest schools, and more. Katie loves the green world, brings a friendly, warm, curious, and keen energy to all she does, and is committed to a safe, supportive, and enjoyable experience for everyone.

 CAOIMHE MERRICK is a graduate of the Immersion and Apprenticeship program, and a current youth nature mentor at Wisdom of the Earth. She earned a B.Sc in Anylytical Science, Chemistry and Microbiology from the Universty of Dublin, and since discovered that she’d rather connect with the natural world directly in the woods, meadows, garden, and shoreline. Caoimhe (pronounced quee-va) is an avid cyclist, champion of the environment, and loves gardening and growing food, being in nature and with friends, mentoring children from preschoolers to teens, and learning ancestral skills and stories. She can often be found with a guitar in her hands, a song on her lips, and a twinkle in her eye.

NATURE NINJA Day Camp

AGES: 7 – 13 years. FULL – Register for waiting list.

DATES & TIMES:  August 5 – 9, 2024

Mon-Fri, 9am to 3pm

COST: $425 plus GST

LOCATION: Salt Spring Island, BC, South end

Learn the amazing skills and secrets of the ancient ninjas from a real Ninja master, in this exciting camp! Practice stealth and camouflage, travel silently and invisibly among the shadows, communicate with secret codes, discover animals and plants, learn stick fighting, jumping and climbing skills, and more through games, stories, and traditional Ninja training methods.

Real skills, real challenges, and real adventure:

• Natural Camouflage (get down and dirty!)

• Stealth and Invisibility

• Animal Tracking

• Immersion in Nature and Sensory Awareness Training
  

• Sneaking & Natural, Silent Movement

• Secret Codes

• Plant Medicines

• Stick Fighting, Jumping and Climbing Skills

• Martial Arts Ethics & Role of Protector/Helper

• Games and Stories

• And much more!

Instructors:
FRANK DOSS is a highly skilled martial arts teacher and nature mentor, who has been practicing Ninjutsu for decades and brings these ancient practices to life with passion and enthusiasm. Frank has been a popular instructor for Wisdom of the Earth since it’s inception, and has been leading Ninja Camp for more years than we can count. He never seems to tire of mentoring youth with playfulness and skill, and this camp often fills quickly.

2nd instructor TBA

TOOL MAKERS Day Camp

AGES: 9 – 14 years – Space still available.

DATES & TIMES:  August 12-16, 2024

Mon-Fri, 9am to 3pm

COST: $425 plus GST

LOCATION: Salt Spring Island, BC, South end

 Learn to make fun and useful tools out of simple materials like wood and rope and a knife, in this exciting hands-on creative camp! A great camp for kids who love to make practical things with their hands. Every tool has a story and so of course, Frank will bring his great stories and Ninja lore, as well as exciting and fun games! 

Real skills, real challenges, and real adventure:

•  Make a mallet

• Fashion nails out of wood

• Make a wooden box
  

• Design a stool to sit on

• Create least 5 tools/items you can make and bring home

• Immersion in Nature and Sensory Awareness Training
  

• Play Games and hear great Stories

• And much more!

Instructors:
FRANK DOSS is a highly skilled martial arts teacher and nature mentor, who has been practicing ancient bushcraft and wilderness skills for decades and brings these ancient practices to life with passion and enthusiasm! He has worked with Wisdom of the Earth since the beginning, and teaches all over Vancouver Island. (see bio)

CANDICE SEAGULL is a graduate of the Wisdom of the Earth Immersion and Apprenticeship, and is a popular summer camp mentor, as well as working for Cahoots Outdoor Programs for 2 years. When she not leading Summer Camps for Wisdom of the Earth, Candice is leading nature connection programs for youth through Fianna Wilderness School in Powell River.