Spaces Available (last updated 3-25-20)
Note: We are not able to update this daily, so please refer to the online registration system to confirm that there is space available in a specific camp. If a camp is full, we encourage you to join our waiting list online because spaces sometimes do open up as the summer progresses!
List of Camps by Week also available.
Minnows (ages 3-4)
DOWN IN THE DIRT: June 22-26, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Investigate the hidden world below your feet. Dig in the dirt, build sandcastles, and create with clay. Plant seeds in the garden and make mud pies in our River Run play area!
HOP, SKIP AND JUMP : July 13-17, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Learn all about wild animals and how they move and groove. Play animal movement games and sing wiggly animal songs. Dance with our costumed Kinder Critter Frannie Frog and play music in the Sound Garden!
STONE SOUP: July 27-31, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Discover a rainbow of flavors in our Learnscape as we collect ingredients for our very own colorful Stone Soup. Sing harvest songs, play garden games, and splash in the Learnscape sprinklers. Make mud pies and sand cakes for extra pretend food fun!
CRAWLY CRITTERS : August 10-14, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Go on a crawly critter safari through our Learnscape garden and park meadows. Do the worm bin boogie, play bug games, and create critter crafts. Hop, flutter, leap, and twirl on the Star Stage!
SPLASH AND SPLATTER: August 24-28, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Explore the wonderful world of water. Meet water bugs, make splatter art, and dance in the Learnscape sprinklers. Play Poohsticks and create watercolor rainbow art!
Dragonflies (ages 4-5)
HOOT, HOWL & HUM: June 15-19, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Celebrate the sounds of nature in this naturally noisy camp. Hoot like owls, howl like coyotes, and hum like bees! Tap out tunes with drummer Rhian Arp and work together to create music from recycled and natural materials. Play in the Learnscape Sound Garden and put on concerts in the Hazelnut Hollow!
BIRDING BUDDIES: June 22-26, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Get to know your fine feathered friends. Check out real feathers and nests, explore park habitats, play bird games, and hear bird stories. Sing and hoot with our feathered Kinder Critter friend Olivia Owl!
BUSY BUILDERS: June 29-July 3, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Make nests, weave webs, and build beaver dams in this fun camp all about creative critters. Play with giant blocks in Nature’s Builders Playspace, learn about earth-friendly human homes, and build your own miniature shelters using lessons learned from animals! *Combine this camp with Wonder Keepers in the afternoon and free Lunch Care for an all-day experience!
WONDER KEEPERS: June 29-July 3, 1-4pm, Alton Baker Park: Help care for the wonders of the natural world! Save resources by baking with sunlight and building recycled art. Plant new seeds, find critters in the compost, and sample colorful goodies in the Learnscape Gardens. *Combine this camp with Busy Builders in the morning and free Lunch Care for an all-day experience!
CAMO CREATURES: July 6-10, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Explore garden, meadow, pond, and forest in search of hiding creatures – from birds to bugs. Play hide & seek games and create camouflage costumes. Meet real reptiles and amphibians during a visit from the Herpetological Society!
EARTHY ARTISTS: July 13-17, 1-4pm, Alton Baker Park: Dig into nature’s treasure chest of art materials as we create finger paints from flowers, Earth Art from our stones and cones collection, and critters from cool stuff we find in the forest. Enjoy edible art created from Learnscape Garden goodies!
MAGIC FOREST: July 20-24, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Explore our park’s magical green, growing forest. Tell tall tree tales and make wood gnomes from forest finds. Build fairy houses, name your favorite park tree, and get to know the trees in our Learnscape. *Combine this camp with Sun Fun in the afternoon and free Lunch Care for an all-day experience!
SUN FUN: July 20-24, 1-4pm, Alton Baker Park: Discover the rainbow growing in our Learnscape garden. Make sun prints, bake in our solar oven, and tell sun stories. Hike to the Eugene Science Center for a planetarium show! *Combine this camp with Magic Forest in the morning and free Lunch Care for an all-day experience!
BOUNTY OF BUGS: July 27-31, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Explore ponds, look under logs, and swing nets through grass as you hunt for bugs of all shapes, sizes, and colors! Learn all about insects, play creepy-crawly games, and do the Dragonfly Dance. *Combine this camp with Make a Splash in the afternoon and free Lunch Care for an all-day experience!
MAKE A SPLASH: July 27-31, 1-4pm, Alton Baker Park: Discover the wonders of water! Make drip sandcastles in our sandbox and mud pies in our Dig–Inn Dirt Box. Experiment with our model watershed, play Poohsticks, and dance in the Learnscape sprinklers. *Combine this camp with Bounty of Bugs in the morning and free Lunch Care for an all-day experience!
FURRY FRIENDS: August 3-7, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Beavers and squirrels and moles, oh my! Learn about park mammals as you hunt for hidden homes, search for tracks and traces, tell critter tales, and create wild animal art. Enjoy a visit with naturalist David Walp and check out his amazing pelt collection.
EARTH MOVERS: August 10-14, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Move your body like the rocking and rolling Earth as we explore in the park and our gardens. Learn about the volcanos in our backyard and create rock art. Whirl like the wind, grow tall like trees, and roll like the river as we learn kid-friendly yoga moves. Create musical instruments with gifts from the earth – stone, wood, water, and more!
PLAYFUL POLLINATORS: August 17-21, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Discover how plants and animals communicate and cooperate in nature. Catch butterflies in the meadow, taste goodies from our Learnscape gardens, and learn how bees make honey from a special guest beekeeper. Meet our Kinder Critter Bella Butterfly!
PUPPETS, PAINTS & PAWPRINTS: August 24-28, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Enjoy animal face painting, make footprint art, create puppets, and explore in nature. Play in the Nature’s Builders Playspace and pretend to be wild animals with a costumed Kinder Critter!
Tree Frogs (ages 6-8)
EARTH ART (ALMOST HALF FULL!): June 15-19, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Discover the amazing colors, patterns, textures, and sounds of nature as we explore the diverse habitats of Alton Baker Park – from sunny meadows to shady forests, lush pondsides to winding waterways. Build and create with everything from sticks to stones, clay to cones! Enjoy artful outdoor movement and music with drummer Rhian Arp! *Combine this camp with Up in the Air in the afternoon and free Lunch Care for an all-day experience!
UP IN THE AIR: June 15-19, 1-4pm, Alton Baker Park: Discover what’s up in the air as you explore the park to find things that fly, glide, float, and fall. Use binoculars to scan the sky for birds, catch bugs in the grass, create mini-parachutes out of recycled materials, and make toys that fly. Visit the Eugene Science Center Planetarium for an up-high look in the night sky. *Combine this camp with Earth Art in the morning and free Lunch Care for an all-day experience!
ROCK ‘N’ FOSSIL FUN (OVER HALF FULL!): June 22-26, 9am-4pm, Alton Baker Park: Visit Fossil Beach, do the Rock Cycle Rap, and learn the story of your own special stone. Spend a day at Skinner Butte Park where you’ll visit the famous rock columns and get a chance to try real rock climbing with experts from City of Eugene Outdoor Program!
WORLD OF WATER: June 29-July 3, 9am-4pm, Alton Baker Park: Dive into a world of watery fun! Hike by the mighty Willamette River, play Mountain Melt, and have a canal race with mini hand-made boats. Discover how ice and salt turn milk into ice cream, build dams in our model watershed, play in the River Run, and canoe in the canal with Northwest Canoe Tours!
SCALES, TAILS & SAILS: July 6-10, 9am-4pm, Alton Baker Park: Discover how aquatic critters make waves in the water. Learn how boats float and build creations that sail in the water and soar on the wind. Meet live reptiles and amphibians on a visit from the Herpetological Society and explore the canal by canoe with Northwest Canoe Tours!
FOREST FORTS (FIRST SESSION FULL — BUT OPENED A 2ND SESSION AND SPACE STILL AVAILABLE!): July 13-17, 9am-4pm, Alton Baker Park: Hunt for animal homes in the park and get inspired to build your own special shelters. Create forts in the Nature’s Builder’s Playspace and from things you find in the forest and design crazy castles from recycled cardboard boxes. Climb tall trees with experts from the City of Eugene’s Outdoor Program!
NATURE DETECTIVES AT MOUNT PISGAH: July 20-24, 9am-4pm, Mount Pisgah Arboretum (ONLY 4 SPOTS LEFT!): Go on a scavenger hunt or a Gnome Roam as you hike in the park each day – and create a treasure map of natural wonders to share with your family! Use magnifiers to see nature mysteries up close and binoculars to check out what’s happening in the distance. Visit Mount Pisgah’s fascinating wetland, forest, and oak savanna exhibits and cool off in the Willamette River’s Coast Fork.
EXPLORE EN ESPAÑOL (HALF FULL!): July 27-31, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Investigate the park and our gardens and learn the Spanish words for what you discover in this fun bilingual Spanish/English camp. Hike in the forest, catch bugs, and canoe on the canal with Northwest Canoe Tours! *Combine this camp with Arte de la Tierra in the afternoon and free Lunch Care for an all-day experience!
ARTE DE LA TIERRA (ALMOST HALF FULL!): July 27-31, 1-4 pm, Alton Baker Park: Enjoy both art and nature in this fun bilingual Spanish/English camp. Build and create with everything from sticks to stones, clay to cones – all while learning in a second language! *Combine this camp with Explore en Español in the morning and free Lunch Care for an all-day experience!
LET’S GO (HALF FULL!): August 3-7, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Get up and GO! Bike, hike, and paddle your way to all corners of the park in this fun camp for kids who like to move! Spend two mornings biking, two hiking, and one canoeing with Northwest Canoe Tours. Note: Kids must be able to ride a bike without training wheels for a distance of three miles (with breaks) and have/borrow a working bike and helmet that fits for this camp. Bike loans may be possible on advance request. Combine this camp with Hazelnut Hollow in the afternoon and free Lunch Care for an all-day experience!
HAZELNUT HOLLOW: August 3-7, 1-4pm, Alton Baker Park: All the (outdoor) world is a stage in this fun nature theater camp! Spend the week acting like animals, singing songs, and creating mini-shows inspired by our favorite nature tales. Make masks from recycled and natural materials and present your productions in the Hazelnut Hollow Theater and on the Star Stage! *Combine this camp with Let’s Go in the morning and free Lunch Care for an all-day experience!
LA NATURALEZA SILVESTRE (EN ESPAÑOL): August 3-7, 9am-4pm, Alton Baker Park: Discover what’s wild outside in our park and Learnscape in this full immersion Spanish nature camp. Build like a beaver, sing like a bird, and sneak like a snake! Hike park trails in search of animal tracks and traces and watch for water wildlife on a canal canoeing adventure with Northwest Canoe Tours. Check out real bones and feathers plus furs from naturalist David Walp’s amazing pelt collection. *Note this camp will be conducted entirely in Spanish. Participants must be able to follow directions and use basic Spanish.
GO WITH THE FLOW AT MOUNT PISGAH (OVER HALF FULL!): August 10-14, 9am-4pm, Mount Pisgah Arboretum: Explore the hiking trails and discover the waterways of Mount Pisgah while practicing mindfulness, trying out yoga moves, and creating poetry. Get to know one of the river’s inhabitants from the inside out as you dissect a fish with a wildlife scientist. Catch bugs in the water – salmon’s dinner – and enjoy tales told by Kalapuya elder Esther Stutzman. Wade at special Willamette River Coast Fork splashing spots!
WILDLIFE CYCLERS (ONLY 4 SPOTS LEFT!): August 17-21, 9am-noon, Alton Baker Park: Explore the park and beyond in search of wildlife tracks and traces in this beginning biking camp. Roll through the phases of the sun and moon as we learn about diurnal, crepuscular, and nocturnal creatures and their habitats. Also spend one morning canoeing the canal with Northwest Canoe Tours and another learning about the lifecycle of bees from a guest beekeeper. *Note: Kids must be able to ride a bike without training wheels for a distance of five miles (with breaks) and have/borrow a working bike and a helmet that fits for this camp. Bike loans may be possible on advance request. Combine this camp with Tiny Worlds in the afternoon and free Lunch Care for an all-day experience!
TINY WORLDS (ONLY 3 SPOTS LEFT!): August 17-21, 1-4 pm, Alton Baker Park: Take an up-close look at nature nearby – on a tiny world scale! Use magnifiers and microscopes to check out the wild and wiggly world in a drop of water, dig in the dirt to discover the micro-critters who live beneath your feet, and discover how trees talk! Enjoy a visit to the Eugene Science Center Planetarium for a big picture look at Earth’s fantastic web of life. *Combine this camp with Wildlife Cyclers in the morning and free Lunch Care for an all-day experience!
CAMP COOK-OFF (OVER HALF FULL!): August 24-28, 9am-4pm, Alton Baker Park: End the summer with a bunch of munchin’! Bake in a solar oven, go on a who’s-eating-who hike, and create silly veggie art. Have a rainbow salad making contest and learn about pioneer gardening from a Singing Creek Education Center visitor.
Blue Herons (ages 8-11)
RAPTORS AND THE RIDGELINE: June 22-26, 9am-4pm, Ridgeline Trail (morning) and Cascades Raptor Center (afternoon): Discover where raptors roam in real life as you hike and explore the Ridgeline Trail each morning with staff from Nearby Nature. In the afternoon, hang out with Cascades Raptor Center staff and learn about all things raptor through games, art, and meetings with real live hawks, owls, and more!
CYCLE FORCE: June 29-July 3, 9am-4 pm, Alton Baker Park: Learn all about how bikes go as we explore Willamette River bike trails. Visit the Center for Appropriate Transport. and try out their amazing fleet of unusual bikes. Create bike part art, learn basic bike maintenance skills, and use human power to make bike smoothies! *Kids must be able to ride up to 10 miles total per day (with breaks) and have/borrow a working bike and helmet that fits for this camp. Bike loans may be possible on advance request.
CHILL CRITTERS!: July 6-10, 9am-4pm, Alton Baker Park: Travel back in time to discover the links between today’s cold-blooded critters and their distant dino relatives. Solve scaly mysteries and use your reptile radar to search for herps in nature nearby. Enjoy hands-on interactions with live reptile and amphibian visitors from the Herpetological Society and invent a cold-blooded critter of your own!
TREE TREKKERS: July 13-17, 9am-4pm, Alton Baker Park: Discover who’s hiding, hooting, and hovering in the forest as you explore our Willamette riverside parks by bike. Find our area’s coolest trees – the tall, twisted, wide, and weird! Look for treetop heron, osprey, and eagle nests as you wander in the woods along the Willamette River. Visit Tall Trees Park, the Eastgate Woodlands, Skinner Butte, and more. *Kids must be able to ride up to 10 miles total per day (with breaks) and have/borrow a working bike and helmet that fits for this camp. Bike loans may be possible on advance request.
NATURE KNOW-HOW AT MOUNT PISGAH (ONLY 4 SPOTS LEFT!): July 20-24, 9am-4pm, Mount Pisgah Arboretum: Wayfinding and water safety, knives and knots, maps and mountain climbing. You’ll learn about all these skills and more as we hike in the hills, play in the Coast Fork of the Willamette, and explore the hidden corners of this amazing park. Sturdy shoes and a sense of adventure essential!
WILD WAVES AND WHEELS (FULL!): August 3-7, 9am-4pm, Alton Baker Park: Ride the Willamette River bike paths in search of the best wading and exploring spots. Learn about the river’s amazing journey from the mountains to the sea and enjoy your own wild ride on the Willamette as you raft with guides from the River House! *Kids must be able to ride up to 10 miles total per day (with breaks) and have /borrow a working bike and helmet that fits for this camp. Bike loans may be possible on advance request.
RIVER RUNNERS AT MOUNT PISGAH: August 10-14, 9am-4pm, Mount Pisgah Arboretum: Discover the watery world of the Willamette River’s Coast Fork as you explore in this amazing park and beyond. Swim like a fish and navigate through a salmon migration obstacle course. Listen to native tales told by Kalapuya elder Esther Stutzman and sharpen your observation skills as you dissect a fish with a wildlife scientist!
DIG IN, COOK OUT (ONLY 4 SPOTS LEFT!): August 17-21, 9am-4pm, Alton Baker Park: Discover urban farming and outdoor cooking! Bake cobbler in the solar oven and make preserves to share with friends. Create seed bombs, brew herbal teas, make bike smoothies, and have a fun camp cooking contest using goodies from our Learnscape Garden. Visit Living Earth Farm and meet real farmers and their critters!
Owls (ages 11-13)
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL: July 20-24, 9am-4pm, multiple locations/drop-off spots: Explore the Willamette River watershed by bike! Pedal along rolling rivers and past tall trees on the Willamette River Bike Path and the Middle Fork Bike Path (near Dorris Ranch). Get a close look at local geology when you visit Skinner Butte Park to try climbing at the famous rock columns, taught by the City of Eugene’s Outdoor Program. *Note: Kids must be able to ride up to 10 miles total per day (with breaks) and have/borrow a working bike and helmet that fits for this camp. Bike loans may be possible on advance request. Participation limited to those who have previously attended a Nearby Nature biking camp or have had biking skills verified by our instructor in advance.
WANDERING WHEELS: August 10-14, 9am-4pm, multiple locations/drop-off spots: Wander our community on wheels in this advanced camp for avid bikers and community adventurers. Explore the Willamette River and Fern Ridge Bike Trails in search of good wading and wildlife viewing spots. Hone your bike maintenance and safe riding skills and practice using in-town bike lanes! Visit the Farmer’s Market and stock up on tasty treats to complement what we harvest in the Learnscape. For some extra fun, take a ride on LTD and explore urban green spaces accessible by bus! *Note: Kids must be able to ride up to 10 miles total per day (with breaks) and have/borrow a working bike and helmet that fits for this camp. Bike loans may be possible on advance request. Participation limited to those who have previously attended a Nearby Nature biking camp or have had biking skills verified by our instructor in advance. Different drop-off locations will be required for off-site rides.