North Vancouver Recreation and Culture Commission wants kids to get outside this summer.
Its GO (Get Outside) Camp for kids ages six-eight years old is one of a dozen new outdoor camp options this year.
Although the recreation commission typically hosts camps at indoor facilities, it is working with North Vancouver City and District and their parks departments to offer more outdoor programming because parents asked for it, explains recreation programmer Samantha Morrison.
GO Camp will be held at Heywood Park, and Morrison says she is excited about the location because there isn’t a recreation centre in that area.
“It’s a wonderful park and it has great forest amenities, a fish hatchery, field space, (a) playground, so it’s got a lot of opportunities for the kids to do different things,” she notes.
There will also be a camp for older kids (ages eight-12) called Field Games and Sports Camp, also held at the same park.
“The program is focused on connecting with nature and allowing the kids to have opportunities to explore independently,” says Morrison of GO Camp.
The camp will include a variety of co-operative field and forest games, as well as trail walks. Campers will explore basic ecology, such as looking at plants, bugs, and birds. They will also participate in some art projects, such as fern and bark rubbings.
“This is for kids who want adventure, they want to touch things, they want to try it themselves, they want to explore,” says Morrison, adding the focus is for kids to learn outdoor awareness and observation skills in a supportive environment.
Eldon Park will also be hosting two outdoor camps this summer: Nature Nuts and Nature Play.
Morrison explains that the overall goal of the outdoor camps is to present nature play opportunities for kids who may not have backyards or who don’t get a chance to spend a lot of time in the surrounding natural environment rather than just the urban, built environment.
She notes that spending time outdoors is healthy for a variety of reasons, including fostering connectivity to place. With nearby mountains, ocean, lakes, ravines and creeks, Morrison says it’s important for local kids to have the skills to be able to safely participate in outdoor recreation on the North Shore.
For more information about North Vancouver Recreation summer camps visit northvanrec.com.
This story originally appeared in a North Shore News special section that focused on local summer camps.
