Prepare for Summer Camp: What You Need to Know
Here is some information that will help you in planning for our week together. Please take the time read all of the information below and make sure to go over what to expect with your child to put them on the right foot for their first day. If you still have any questions, please don't hesitate to let us know!
Helpful Links:
If you've already received this information from us and are here looking for links to consent forms or info about ticks, here they are! Otherwise, please continue reading below.
Information for Parents
Location: Stillwater Stables, 5219 Russel Rd, Ottawa.
Drop off: 9:00 - 9:15am.
If you arrive much before 9am, there may not be anyone there to meet you. Please do not leave your child unattended as there are large animals, sharp tools, and other hazards naturally present at a working stables.
Pick up: 4:00-4:15pm
What to Bring: All of our programming is held outdoors in Nature, though we will spend some time under various roofs to keep us out of the sun or rain. Please remember, there is no such thing as bad weather - only inappropriate clothing. Set your child up for success and send them prepared with:
Dress Code:
Payment: If you have not paid in full, the remainder of your payment is due on or before the first day of camp. Payment is made easy on our website with secure checkout, or you can also pay by cash or cheque made out to Nature Connections.
Contact During Camp: We DO NOT have internet access during programming, so if you need to reach us urgently make sure to telephone us (no facebook or email, please):
Ticks: Ticks are not new, but have been growing in population in the Ottawa area. They are not any reason to fear, but it is important to be cautious and get informed. In addition to wearing long pants and socks, the most important thing for you to remember as a parent is to check your child's body at the end of the day for ticks. If you are unfamiliar with ticks, or simply want to know more about them and our approach including how to remove them safely, please visit our ticks page.
Drop off: 9:00 - 9:15am.
If you arrive much before 9am, there may not be anyone there to meet you. Please do not leave your child unattended as there are large animals, sharp tools, and other hazards naturally present at a working stables.
Pick up: 4:00-4:15pm
What to Bring: All of our programming is held outdoors in Nature, though we will spend some time under various roofs to keep us out of the sun or rain. Please remember, there is no such thing as bad weather - only inappropriate clothing. Set your child up for success and send them prepared with:
Dress Code:
- Long pants tucked into long socks (tick and scratch protection)
- Loose long sleeve to put over t-shirt for protection against mosquitoes, plant scratches, sun protection.
- Closed-toe shoes. No open-toed sandals please.
- Wide brimmed hat for sun protection
- Morning snack
- Healthy lunch
- Afternoon snack
- Trail snack / Emergency snack
- Reusable water bottle (we will have extra water on site)
- Rain jacket and splash pants if it's expected to rain
- Extra shoes, rain boots, or moccasins in case one pair gets wet.
- Extra socks. Always extra socks.
- Optional: Notebook and pencil, magnifying lens, field guides, hand shovel, collection bags, etc.
Payment: If you have not paid in full, the remainder of your payment is due on or before the first day of camp. Payment is made easy on our website with secure checkout, or you can also pay by cash or cheque made out to Nature Connections.
Contact During Camp: We DO NOT have internet access during programming, so if you need to reach us urgently make sure to telephone us (no facebook or email, please):
- Brittany - 613-413-8277.
- Alister (Ogui) - 613-744-1156
Ticks: Ticks are not new, but have been growing in population in the Ottawa area. They are not any reason to fear, but it is important to be cautious and get informed. In addition to wearing long pants and socks, the most important thing for you to remember as a parent is to check your child's body at the end of the day for ticks. If you are unfamiliar with ticks, or simply want to know more about them and our approach including how to remove them safely, please visit our ticks page.
Information for Children: What to Expect
Bathrooms: We teach children how to "take care of business" outdoors - meaning peeing behind a tree or well-covered bush. That said, there is a bathroom inside the front room of the stables for us to use if needed.
Animals: At Stillwater Stables, there are plenty of animals around - including cats, rabbits, dogs, horses, and many wild animals as well. Wild or domestic, we are allowed to invite animals to come say hello and may pet them if they let us, but under no circumstances are we to chase, catch or grab any animals (big or small) if they do not want to be chased, caught or grabbed.
Horses: We will not be doing activities with the horses unless your child is part of the Horse & Forest combo camp, but we will certainly be able to say hello to the horses, learn their names and watch their behaviour.
Your Child's First Day:
Animals: At Stillwater Stables, there are plenty of animals around - including cats, rabbits, dogs, horses, and many wild animals as well. Wild or domestic, we are allowed to invite animals to come say hello and may pet them if they let us, but under no circumstances are we to chase, catch or grab any animals (big or small) if they do not want to be chased, caught or grabbed.
Horses: We will not be doing activities with the horses unless your child is part of the Horse & Forest combo camp, but we will certainly be able to say hello to the horses, learn their names and watch their behaviour.
Your Child's First Day:
- Welcome Circle: At 9am we will gather in a circle to welcome everyone, introduce ourselves and go over and any important instructions to keep your children safe and having fun during our week together.
- Basecamp & Plan: Then we will travel together to our group's base camp for the week to put away our lunch boxes and backpacks. Here, we will go over the plan for the day together and come up with some group agreements.
- Morning Snacks & Games: Once we've established our home base, we will have some snacks and then venture into the field to play some group games.
- Morning Skills: Before lunch we will separate into smaller groups for the morning's Skills of the Wild learning activity.
- Lunch: Around noon we will come back to our base camp and eat lunch together.
- Free Time: Once everyone is finished eating we will put our things away and children will have about an hour for some unstructured time to play and explore and create.
- Afternoon Skills: After this, we will split into smaller groups again for the next Skills of the Wild learning activity.
- Afternoon Games & Snacks: When we've finished with this we will play some more games and have afternoon snack.
- Crafts & Creations: In the late afternoon we will have an opportunity for some quiet colouring, arts and crafts, stories, or music.
- Closing Circle: We will end the day together with a closing circle where we acknowledge all that we've done together and campers' personal and group achievements.
- Back to Stables: We will say so-long to our basecamp and the natural areas we've visited and travel back up to the stables and wait in the picnic area or under the willow tree for pick up. Your child will come home full of stories and likely sleep extremely well.
