Openings are Still Available at the "Adventures and Nature Camps"

The Audubon Center kicked off our fourth year of Adventure in Nature Summer Camps this week! Campers were all smiles as they loaded into the canoes this morning, nets and buckets in hand, ready to explore the ponds. These campers in the Pondemonium session of camp were searching for our native painted turtles. They captured a few and were able to look at them up close as they learned about natural history and saw how scientists weigh and measure turtles. Meanwhile, the young ladies in Nature Girls camp went hiking over to Norm's Island and experienced the riparian ecosystem first hand. They learned to identify (and avoid) poison ivy, as well as several friendlier native plants like Skunkbush Sumac and Red Osier Dogwood. Later this week, they'll be investigating careers in everything from green architecture to ornithology to cultural history at the Western Heritage Center.

Its not too late to join us for a summer of outdoor explorations! This is the first of eight weeks of Adventure in Nature camps at the Audubon Center, located right here in Billings on South Billings Blvd. We still have spaces in several of our camps - registration info is available on our website at www.mtacec.org. Here are just a few reasons why we repeatedly hear our campers say "This is the best camp ever!"

* Individual attention: we have a low camper:counselor ratio of 1:4

* Our counselors are expert teachers and naturalists. Two of our staff have Master of Education degrees, two more have Master of Environmental Science/Natural Resources degrees, and one is enrolled in graduate school in education. We also have four high school Naturalists in Training on staff who are learning about teaching techniques and natural history while assisting with camps.

* We offer a diversity of full-day and half-day programs for children ages 4 - 14. Each week we run two sessions of camp with different themes for two different age groups (4 - 6 year olds, 6 - 8 year olds, etc). Activities are tailored to a specific age camper; We make sure the activities are developmentally appropriate and educationally relevant.

Still not convinced? You don't have to take our word for it... Here are what some of the parents of our campers said:

“The student to teacher ratio was great; feels like the best value for our summer activities yet.” – Mother of 8-10 year old boy

“I liked that the program was hands-on. My son would come home and say, ‘Mom that was great! We got to go canoeing and catch frogs and take apart an owl pellet’. Those are things I haven’t been able to do with him and I’m so glad he’s gotten to do them and so much more” – Mother of 8 – 10 year old boy

“My daughter had a fantastic time. She talked non-stop about her day… and came home tired every day. Thank you for a camp for 5-year olds. She loved every minute!” – Mother of 5 year old girl

“My son loved the camp! I liked best that my child was able to experience nature firsthand” – father of 5-7 year old boy

“I love that it was science-oriented. My son loves science and we would like to continue to encourage that interest” – mother of 5-7 year old boy

“I loved the amount of teachers and how personable they all were.” – Mother of 5 yr old

“Both my children loved every minute of it and I think it sparked a greater appreciation for our ‘wetland wonders’.” – father of 8 – 10 year olds