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is a good place to learn about our: Philosophy, FAQ Location Programming Contact Info
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information for the current season: Forms and Letters For Parents Gallery |
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Information and Activities: Public Programs Open Houses and great tips for family fun in the outdoors |
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The Nature Place Day Camp is an American Camp Association (ACA) Accredited Summer Day Camp located in Rockland County, New York. We offer programming for children ages 4 -15 from Manhattan, Rockland and Westchester Counties in New York and Bergen County in New Jersey. |
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 A. Children have an inherent connection with the natural world. Activities using the outdoors as a safe, fun and wonder-full learning environment are designed to nurture a child's sense of wonder and enable him/her to feel comfortable in and joyful about the world around us. B. Children thrive in an environment that fosters cooperation. Camp activities are non-competitive, joyful, hands-on and positive. C. Each child is unique, possessing special interests and needs. We follow a non-competitive, age appropriate approach in working with children. Our low enrollment, camp structure and professional staff enable us to tailor the program to meet the needs of children.
Our Mission Statement: To
give campers a safe summer, in which they can be themselves,
have fun, be challenged, connect with others and the earth,
develop new skills, and be supported throughout. Why do we take children, young and old, out-of-doors? Some of the reasons follow: 1. The outdoors offers opportunities for direct, hands-on experiences. We all spend too much time thinking that life is something we view through screens. 2. To protect and nurture the senses. 3. Children have an innate sense of wonder and the outdoors is a place to practice and to hone that a bit further. "If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in." Rachel Carson 4. Children take in very deeply what they are surrounded by and are exposed to. 5. There is a sense of slowing down, of real time, of a breathing-out when we are outdoors. 6. Beautiful natural environments, and nature in general, are healing. “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in tune once more” John Burroughs
7. Our third planet from the sun is very often referred to as "Mother" earth, and for good reasons.
"Nature is not a place to visit. It is home." Gary Snyder
8. We are a part of the natural world that always surrounds and supports us.
9. Free, natural play happens most readily in nature.
10. Children take in, absorb, the whole (holistic) picture when they are outdoors.
11. Nature provides a non-imposing, open-ended place to be and to learn from.
12. FUN, FUN, FUN
13. Caretaking and responsibility as keepers of our home (planet stewards) naturally arise.
14. Nature is non-sexist, non-judgmental.
15. There is time away from the adult world.
16. Creativity can have time and space in which to blossom.
17. Surprises abound!
18. Nature can provide joy and reverence.
19. A sense of humbleness, of something greater than ourselves that we are a part of, can be found.
“There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream the earth, and every common sight, To me did seem Appareled in celestial light, The glory and the freshness of a dream.”
William Blake
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