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our EWEB
sponsored scholarships application
information on the Day Camp Registration Form!
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Registration Form Here
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Daycamps Info: Daycamps
at a Glance, Daycamp
Descriptions, Summer
Nature Quests,
Look for New All Day Camps
Adventure,
Discovery, Art, Science
Nearby Nature daycamps are a medley of adventure,
discovery, art, and science. We hike, bike, canoe, play games,
do experiments,
and use nature study tools. We also celebrate the imagination.
We tell stories, do crafts, act out plays, sing, and write
in journals. Most camps include special guests or neat field
trips. This summer will feature visits from the Bug People,
Sparkplug Dance, the Eugene Stream Team, the Walama Restoration
Program, and Kalapuya storyteller Esther Stutzman. We’ll
take trips to the UO Natural and Cultural History Museum,
Revolution Cycles, the Science Factory Planetarium, Crux
Rock Gym, the Delta Ponds, the Native Plant Nursery, the
Alvord Farm and Museum, and more!
Small Group Size
Nearby Nature limits each camp to a maximum
of twelve kids. In addition to a lead instructor, most camps
also have an adult volunteer and a teen outdoor leader. Our
kids get lots of attention!
Local Parks
All of Nearby Nature’s daycamps take place in local
parks and natural areas—Alton Baker and Skinner Butte Parks,
the West Eugene Wetlands, the Cascades Raptor Center near the Ridgeline
Trail, and new this year, the Delta Ponds! Water and bathroom facilities
are available. Activities take place outdoors, rain or shine. Specific
information about drop-off and pick-up points is provided in confirmation
materials.
Experienced
Leaders
Each camp
leader is an experienced naturalist educator. All lead instructors
are certified in First Aid and CPR. Resumes are available.
Times and Dates
Camps start the week of June 23rd and run through the week
of August 29th. Each camp is one week long and has its
own unique theme. Most camps run three hours per day, 9
am-noon or 1-4 pm. New this year we are offering three
all day camps that run from 9 am-4 pm! Lunch care from
noon-1 pm may be available for some half day camps if there
is enough interest. See registration form.
Ages
Campers are divided into four age groups: 3-4½ years
(Minnows*), 4½-5 years (Dragonflies), 6-8 years (Tree
Frogs), and 8-11 years (Blue Herons). For families with kids
of different ages, during several weeks we have concurrent
sessions in the same park for different age groups!
*Note: Children enrolled in Minnows camps for our youngest
friends (3-4½ year olds) need to be potty trained. Parents
of children enrolled in Minnows camps (as well as parents of
children in higher level camps) are welcome to stay for all
or part of a camp session. Please let us know if you plan to
stay with us. We recommend that you join us at the beginning
of the day since you may not be able to find us later if we
are out exploring the park
Cost
Week-long, half day camps cost $80 per session for members
and $90 for non-members. Week-long, all day camps cost
$165 per session for members and $190 for non-members.
(The two four-day sessions the week of July 4th will cost
$65 for members and $75 for non-members.) Save
$5 per camp if you register by June 2! A minimum
deposit of $20 per
camp is required to hold your camp space when
you register. Full payment is always due a week in advance and can be
made by check or credit card.
EWEB-Sponsored
Scholarships 
Thanks to a generous grant from EWEB, scholarship
assistance is available for camps focusing on watershed ecology
or resource conservation. Look for camps bearing the raindrop
symbol. To apply for a scholarship, fill out the appropriate
section on your registration form.
Registration
To sign up for camps, please fill out both sides
of the Nearby Nature daycamp registration
form. To join Nearby
Nature and receive a camp discount, also fill out the membership
part of the form. Questions? call 687-9699.
Adult & Teen
Volunteers Needed
Come join us as an adult assistant or an
outdoor leader (ages 12-18)! Volunteers needed for each camp. Experience
working with children preferred but not required. Training is provided
in June. Call for an application, 687-9699. Outdoor
Leader Application.
Schedule
for Summer 2008 Daycamps
Minnows
(ages 3 - 4)
NATURE in a NUTSHELL
June 30-July 3, 9:00 am-noon, Alton Baker Park
Experience nature up close in this sensational introductory nature
camp! Listen to singing birds, touch friendly bugs, smell colorful
flowers, and watch wiggly worms. Meet a costumed Kinder Critter!
*Reduced fee for short week—no camp July 4—$65/$75.
WIGGLERS and WADDLERS
July 14-18, 9:00 am-noon, Alton Baker Park
Check out what’s wiggling in and waddling near the water!
Play water games and tell water tales. Do the Dragonfly Dance with
Rachael Carnes from Sparkplug Dance! Boogie with a costumed Kinder
Critter!
GROWING UP GREEN
August 4-8, 9:00 am-noon, Alton Baker Park
From the tiniest seed to the tallest tree, discover the world of
plants through games, songs, and stories. Meet our favorite green
Kinder Critter!
HOP, SKIP, and JUMP
August 18-22, 9:00 am-noon, Alton Baker Park
Learn all about animals and how they go! Play animal games and
sing animal songs. Make music with one of our costumed Kinder Critters!
Dragonflies
(ages 4 1/2 - 5)
EARTHKEEPING for TOTS
June 23-27, 9:00 am-noon, Alton Baker Park
Bake with sunlight, create recycle art, and play Poohsticks!
Plant terrariums, make tunes from trash, and catch cool creepy
crawlies.
PUPPETS, PAINTS, and PAWPRINTS
July 7-11, 9:00 am-noon, Alton Baker Park
Enjoy imaginative nature games, animal face painting, footprint
art, storytelling by our Kinder Critters, finger puppet making,
and nature exploring.
BUSY BUILDERS
July 21-25, 9:00 am-noon, Alton Baker Park
Discover how animals make their homes. Check out nests, watch
webs, and look for beaver sticks. Make your own miniature
houses using lessons learned from animals!
CIRCLE of LIFE
July 28-August 1, 9:00 am-noon, Alton Baker Park
Learn all about nature’s cycles. Do the Water Cycle
Boogie, search for nature’s recyclers, explore our
garden, and look for baby bugs. Act out the Great Big Sun
Song with Rachael Carnes of Sparkplug
Dance.
BUTTERFLIES to BEAVERS
August 11-15, 9:00 am-noon, Alton Baker Park
Go on a critter patrol! Catch pond bugs, check out beaver
trees, make bird nests, tell animal tales, and create wild
animal art.
SUN FUN
August 25-29, 9:00 am-noon, Alton Baker Park
Discover how the sun helps trees and flowers grow. Create seed
art, build houses for flower fairies and wood sprites, make sun
prints, and hear tall tree tales. Catch bugs and play games.
Tree
Frogs (ages 6 - 8)
WETLAND WONDERS
June 23-27, 9:00 am-noon, West Eugene Wetlands
Explore our local wetlands with naturalists from WREN! Meet critters
from ponds and pools. Learn about our local dragon (flies)! Catch
bugs, play water games, and tell wetland tales. *Extra fee for
this camp. See registration form.
COYOTE TRACKS
July 7-11, 9:00 am-noon, Alton Baker Park
Explore the park and learn about our area’s native people,
the Kalapuya. Learn Kalapuya words and visit the Talking Stones.
Create cool coyote art and search for animal tracks and traces
with special guest trackers Anna and Matt Bradley. Field trip to
UO Natural History
Museum!
WORLD of WATER **All
Day Camp**
July 14-18, 9:00 am-4:00 pm, Alton Baker Park
Dive into a watery world! Experiment with model wetlands, build
a solar still, and learn all about salmon migration. Explore the
park’s canal in canoes with Oregon River Sports! Make drip
sand castles and learn about erosion. Check out the mighty Willamette
River and play Mountain Melt. Discover how ice and salt turn milk
into ice cream! *Extra fee for canoeing. See registration form.
RIVER RHYTHM and RHYME
July 21-25, 1:00-4:00 pm, Alton Baker Park
Discover nature’s rhythm and melody! Create rain sticks and
drums for the water cycle boogie. Find out how animals use sound
for survival. Hike by the rolling river and play the musical river
walk game. Create river riddles and sing nature songs with local
musician Emily Fox.
CREEPY CRAWLY, SLITHERY SLIMY
August 4-8, 9:00 am-noon, Alton Baker Park
A bug that eats fish?! A frog that eats birds?! Explore ponds,
look under logs, and swing nets through grass to discover all that
slithers, crawls, or swims. Meet the Bug People with their giant
millipede and other live creepy crawlies!
NATURE TRAILS and TALES **All
Day Camp**
August 11-15, 9:00 am-4:00 pm, Alton Baker Park
Stroll the meadows, hike the riverside, and discover the tales
that nature has to tell! Learn multicultural nature stories about
rivers, salmon, oceans, and more. Make masks and act out the story
of the Earth on Turtle’s Back. Visit the Science
Factory’s
Planetarium to learn the stories of stars and take a field trip
to the Alvord Farm and Museum near the West Eugene Wetlands!
RIVERS and ROCKS
August 18-22, 1:00-4:00 pm, Skinner Butte Park
Hike the butte, play nature games, and build a volcano. Check out
Eugene’s famous rock columns and the River Play playground.
Learn about pioneers and hear Esther
Stutzman’s Kalapuya
tales. Visit the Crux Rock
Gym for an introduction to indoor climbing!
*Extra fee for rock climbing. See registration form.
NATURE DETECTIVES
August 25-29, 9:00 am-noon, Alton Baker Park
Spy on birds, go on a fossil hunt, and learn about animal tracks.
Go on a treasure or scavenger hunt every day! Solve mysteries using
nature’s clues. Learn all about wilderness wayfinding and
tracking with Rees
Maxwell, Co-founder Dancing Sol: Nature Education
Program.
Blue
Herons (ages 8 - 11)
BUDDING BOTANISTS
June 30-July 3, 1:00-4:00 pm, Alton Baker Park
Learn about eco-gardening and naturescaping with native plants.
Create your own park plant id book using a digital camera.
Visit the City’s Native Plant Nursery and do a special
butterfly habitat project with the Walama
Restoration Program.
*Reduced fee for short week—no camp July 4—$65/$75.
DRAGONFLY DISCOVERY
July 7-11, 1:00-4:00 pm, River House/Delta Ponds
Discover all that swims, crawls, and flies along the river
and in the Delta Ponds observation area by Valley River Center.
Work on a Eugene
Stream Team habitat restoration project. Use
nets, magnifiers, and microscopes to explore along the river
and learn about dragonflies and their fellow aquatic insects!
WHEELS to WATER **All
Day Camp**
July 21-25, 9:00 am-4:00 pm, Alton Baker Park
Explore the Willamette riverside by bike. Learn about bike
maintenance and safety. Visit Revolution
Cycles and see bikes
made with recycled parts. Use water quality testing tools in
park waterways and canoe on the canal with Oregon
River Sports.
*You must have or borrow a bike for this camp. *Extra fee
for canoeing. See registration form.
OUT on a LIMB
July 28-August 1, 1:00-4:00 pm, Alton Baker Park
Get to know the coolest trees in Alton Baker Park—tall,
twisted, wide, and weird! Tell tall tree tales, identify common
tree species, and create your own tree id book using a digital
camera. Take a field trip to the Spencer
Butte Challenge Course for a unique tree-themed adventure with experts from the Eugene
Outdoor Program! *Extra fee for Challenge Course. See registration
form.
WINGED WONDERS
August 4-8, 1:00-4:00 pm, Cascades Raptor Center
Meet live owls, eagles, and other birds of prey at the Cascades
Raptor Center. Create owl masks and share raptor tales. Hike
the Ridgeline
Trail and learn about raptor adaptations and
habitat. *Extra fee for this camp. See registration form.
ROCK, RIVER, and ROLL
August 18-22, 1:00-4:00 pm, Skinners
Butte Park
Climb the butte and wander the riverside. Make volcanoes, check
out fossils, and learn about Oregon geology. Hear Esther
Stutzman’s
Kalapuya Indian tales and learn about pioneer history. Try
climbing at Crux Rock Gym! *Extra fee for rock climbing. See
registration form.
WET and WILD
August 25-29, 1:00-4:00 pm, River House/Willamette Greenway
Dive into the world of water! Learn all about salmon migration,
aquatic insects, riparian plants, and more. Experiment with
model watersheds and go on a rafting expedition down the Willamette
River with professional guides from the City of Eugene Outdoor
Program. *Extra fee for rafting trip. See registration form.
Download
Registration Form Here
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