summer camp

Explorers

Entering Grades 3 – 4
Age 8 and Age 9
Explorers camps offer kids summer science, nature, cooking, and art activities.

NEW! Two-week, full-day camps
The Garden now offers two-week full-day camps for Explorers! We have grouped four of your favorite camps into a fun-filled, outdoor, educational two-week-long camp program. Choose one or all four!

Registration

grade level: Grades 3 – 4
Most kids are ages 8 – 9

Days: Monday – Friday

fees:
Half Day: $205 nonmember per child per camp
Full Day: $840 nonmember per child per two-week camp
Garden Plus members receive a 20 percent discount
Register by February 29, 2012, for a $5 early bloomer discount

emergency form
We must have a completed form on file for your child to attend camp.

Refund and Cancellation Policy

Camp Guidelines

class information

Attire
Dress for the weather

What to Bring
Pack a water bottle and peanut-free snack daily.

location
Children's Learning Center

Half-day camps

Alfresco Art
June 18 – 22, 9:30 a.m. – noon
July 23 – 27, 12:30 – 3 p.m.
Campers will become artistically inspired by the Garden and will try their hand at botanical illustration, sculpture, printmaking, and painting. We’ll explore new techniques each day of this outdoor art program.

Amazing Adaptations
July 9 – 13, 9:30 a.m. – noon
August 13 – 17, 12:30 – 3 p.m.
Explorers will unearth the secrets of plants, animals, and insects as they discover how each has adapted in cool, scary, or wacky ways in order to live in their habitats.

Botany in the Kitchen
July 16 – 20, 9:30 a.m. – noon
July 30 – August 3, 12:30 – 3 p.m.
Young chefs will discover how fruits, vegetables, herbs, and nutrients make cooking fascinating. They’ll harvest vegetables and plant an herb garden.

Camera Craft
June 25 – 29, 12:30 – 3 p.m.
July 30 – August 3, 9:30 a.m. – noon
Campers will learn the elements of composition and framing snapshots, and practice shooting photos around the Garden. They’ll create a pinhole camera and rediscover the magic of nineteenth-century photography. Each camper must bring two disposable cameras on the first day of camp.

Dirty Jobs
July 23 – 27, 9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.
August 6 – 10, 12:30 – 3 p.m.
Have you ever wondered how dirty, grimy, and grubby you can get working in a garden? Campers see what is in a day’s work at the Garden—keeping our worm bins healthy, learning about the importance of compost, designing and planting a garden, and meeting a Garden scientist!

Forensic Investigators
June 25 – 29, 9:30 a.m. – noon
This year’s all-new mystery will require young CSI team members to try investigative techniques used by the pros to help us get to the bottom of this summer’s hot case.

Garden Caching
July 16 – 20, 12:30 – 3 p.m.
August 6 – 10, 9:30 a.m. – noon
A new Garden adventure awaits! Explorers will search for hidden caches using compasses, maps, and GPS as they learn the etiquette of geocaching. They’ll also create a cache for others to find.

Konnichiwa Japan
August 13 – 17, 9:30 a.m. – noon
Time for immersion in Japanese culture as we explore Sansho-En, learn the art of bonsai, create sushi-inspired snacks, discover the art of calligraphy, and visit the Shoin House.

Surviving Outdoors
June 18 – 22, 12:30 – 3 p.m.
Explorers will discover the secrets pioneers used to find water, make a collection of safe and useful plants, create a shelter, and learn about how to predict weather and storms.

Wicked Plants
July 9 – 13, 12:30 – 3 p.m.
Proceed with caution—this camp will explore plants that have held bad reputations for centuries! We’ll discover the importance of proper plant identification, historical spells and potions, and go on our own plant hunt in the Garden—who knows where a wicked plant may lurk?!

NEW! full-day camps

NEW! Plants & the Arts
June 18 – 29, 9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Explorers can discover the Garden’s art and bounty in the following camps: Alfresco Art, Camera Craft, Botany in the Kitchen, Konnichiwa Japan.

NEW! Explore CBG
July 9 – 20, 9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Campers will explore the many gardens, while discovering some new places and facts about plants: Dirty Jobs, Konnichiwa Japan, Wicked Plants, Garden Caching.

NEW! Science Explorer
July 23 – August 3, 9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Explorers will investigate plant, animal, and human adaptations, while utilizing the scientific process: Amazing Adaptations, Surviving Outdoors, Wicked Plants, Forensic Investigators.

NEW! Explore It All
August 6 – 17, 9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Campers can try some of our most popular camps: Forensic Investigators, Camera Craft, Alfresco Art, Surviving Outdoors.