No School Camps

Fernhill Wetlands is a success story for ecological restoration in the Portland Metro area! On this camp you will experience the importance of wetlands for wildlife and the role that humans can play in protecting these key ecosystems that provide safe havens for hundreds of animals that depend on them to survive. Spend the day searching for wildlife and investigate specimens that live in the area.

Put your detective hat on and come out and spend the day investigating the clues that animals leave behind. Learn how to read animal tracks and discover what other signs animals leave behind and what they tell us about those animals! Investigate real animal specimens, hike the trails in search of clues and create your own track to take home!

As you are fast asleep at night what kind of animals are scurrying about wide awake? Come out and learn all about these nocturnal species and their amazing adaptations that help them survive the PNW dark nights. Look at owl specimens, play games using echolocation and make crafts that focus on our nocturnal friends. If you’ve ever wondered what happens in nature while you are asleep then this is the camp for you!

What is it like to be a bug? How enormous can everything really seem from their perspective? Crawl, fly and buzz on over to our Nature Sanctuary to learn about a day in the life of our favorite 6 and 8 legged friends!

On this Junior trekking camp we will go to Tillamook State Forest and hike one of their amazing medium-grade trails as we learn to interact with nature in a sustainable way, leaving no trace behind and practicing the 10-essentials to outdoor survival. This camp is for students in grades 4-6.

Have you ever thought about what it takes to survive in the winter? Band together with your fellow campers to learn the ins and outs of wilderness survival. Learn about edible plants, helpful knots and leave no trace principles! These important skills will help build outdoor confidence and competency in the outdoors for your camper!

We are going crafty, very crafty! On this camp we will recreate art with natural materials found in our Forests, we will engage all of our sense and reimagine a world where humans and nature coexist in harmony and peace. This is where ecology and the arts meet to make a better world for all.

Spend the day at our Sanctuary learning about the animals that awake when we go to sleep. Investigate owl and bat specimens to learn about the similarities and differences between the two. We will conduct experiments with our own eyes to see human adaptations for seeing at night and then go out in search of some of these creatures in our forest sanctuary!

Let's head into our sanctuary to practice our stealth and hiding skills. We will learn what type of movements allow us to travel undetected through the woods, how we can learn from animals to better camouflage ourselves and hone our observation skills. Spend the day hiking the trails, camouflaging into the forest and investigating animals that live right here in our forest!

Discover your creative side in this one day camp using materials from nature. We will hike the trails finding inspiration and materials like rocks, sticks, fallen leaves and invasive weeds that will turn into creative arts and crafts projects. This is where nature and crafts meet in artsy ways!