SUMMER OFFERINGS 2025

REGISTER HERE:  https://form.jotform.com/250266571954160

Classes offered at The Izaak Walton League 5641 Myers Lake Ave

All camps meet from 9:30-2:00

Each week is cohesively themed and there will be some fun overlap between and among groups as well as time separately. Our aim is to offer age appropriate experiences while also creating community and connection with mixed ages.

June 9-12 WILD FOOD, FORAGING AND HUNTING

Kids will be immersed in a week of nature connection through foraging, hunting, cooking wild foods over the fire and sharing in community meals. 

Nature’s Kitchen

With Ashley Meek and Jenna Gray-Shomler

Ages 3+

Cost $250

From mud kitchen play to mortar and pestle, our littlest foragers and chefs will experiment with their own recipes in the wild as well as contribute to those of the group that will be shared and eaten together with the wild foraging camp. There will be time for them to come together with the wild foraging camp and ample time for them to explore, experiment, create and most importantly, play on their own. They will be introduced to edible plant friends as well as sustainable foraging practices and put this all to use to create nourishing wild snacks! 

Wild Foraging

With Victoria Monigold and Rhianna Warrick

Ages: 7+

Cost: $250

Come share in our  passion for wild foods and medicines.  During our four days spent together, we will be immersed in foraging, tasting and cooking wild foods, as well as preparing handcrafted medicinal remedies. Children will deepen their knowledge of identification, use, and relationships to the local flora here in West Michigan. We will practice ethical and sustainable foraging practices, reciprocity and gratitude to the Earth and all it gives to us. There will be times that the group separates into smaller groups to allow a slower pace/more play for the younger kids. The wide age range allows for a beautiful experience for all. We will enjoy a foraged community meal with the Wild Hunter’s Camp on the last day! 

Wild Hunters

With: Asher McLaughlin and Matt Fowler

Ages 9+

Cost: $250

Imagine crawling through the thick underbrush on your belly, every moment inching closer and closer to a deer. You notice their breath, their footsteps, what they eat, what makes them nervous. You notice your movements, each slide forward, each leaf touching your body, each breath. You notice the stillness, there is nowhere else to be but here, in this moment, in this forest. 

These moments are what we hope to share with your child through this camp. We will learn stalking, tracking, and camouflage, as well as practice archery. Though we won't be hunting any living animals in this camp, we will be learning and honing our skills of hunting with foam-tipped boffing arrows. With these foam arrows and play bows we can "hunt" each other and practice our skills, just as a young bobcat would do with its siblings. 

We will also get the opportunity to cook some wild game meat over the fire. We will share gratitude to the animals for their life, and work together to cook  while singing songs and playing our drums and flutes.

We will talk about hunting ethics as well as what feelings this whole experience brings up. 

We hope for this class to be a beautiful mix of so much play and fun as well as a lot of slowness and learning about the ancient practice of the honorable hunt.

JUNE 23-26 WILD WATER AND LAND EXPLORATIONS

Kids will immerse themselves in land and water habitats, playing games, being challenged, making discoveries and having so much fun!

Creekside Adventures

With Victoria Monigold and Iona Ruiter

Ages 3-6

Cost: $250

Gather round for songs, stories, and the wonder of nature. We shall frolic in the forest and splash our toes in the cool water of the softly singing creek. Each day will include an invitation for creative exploration, whether it be building boats and fairy houses, investigating with nets, making mud pies, or painting with water from the creek. Come play with us!

Wild Water Exploration

With Ashley Meek and Rhianna Warrik

Ages: 7+

Cost: $250

From kayaking and fishing to water relays and splash tag, this camp is endless water fun in the summer heat! Campers will make discoveries about creek and pond ecosystems while meeting the bugs, frogs and other creatures that inhabit them. This camp is all about outdoor exploration, games and watery fun!

Nature Ninjas

With Asher McLaughlin and Matt Fowler

Ages 7-12

Cost: $250

Nature ninjas is a playful exploration of what it would be like to move over the landscape completely undetected. We will learn to move silently and slowly in the shadows of the forest in order to sharpen our awareness and know nature more deeply. On this journey the Coyote and Fox will be our close guides teaching us to be stealthy, tricky, and wise. Like them, we will get muddy, close to the earth, and close to each other so we can know our landscape and our community more deeply. It is our deepest vision that your child will have a beautiful week of play, connection, and magic while also walking away with a bit more awareness of themselves and our natural world.

August 11-14 EARTH SKILLS AND TRADITIONAL ARTS CAMP

With Ashley Meek, Victoria Monigold, Matt Fowler and Rhianna Warrick

Ages 4+ (We will divide into ages 4-6, 7-9 and 10+ for parts of the day)

Cost $250

This will be a very special multi-age camp where kids will have many opportunities to connect with nature and explore ancestral skills in a “village like setting” where olders work alongside younger and both benefit from the beautiful relationship in that work. From spinning wool into yarn and weaving baskets, to whittling or flint knapping to cooking traditional foraged foods over the fire,  campers will step into a village-style world filled with old games, songs, drumming, stories and the timeless wonders of the natural world. With four guides who are skilled foragers, artists and musicians so many opportunities will be presented. Kids will choose what meets them best and what they are most interested in learning.  This is an opportunity you won’t want to miss. It goes beyond the basics and gets into the depths of the traditional arts and primitive skills! There will be time in smaller age groups as well as in the whole group.