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Check out the happenings from the Summer STEAM Farm camp!
Summer 2026
Week 1 - Mountains
Wow, what a week! The summer started off with an unprecedented heat wave, which was a pretty big challenge! Luckily with good spirits, an oscillating fan and well timed ice pops we managed to beat the heat and still have fun while learning together.
To kick things off we started with a walk through our nature preserve. While we don't quite have mountains on site, we observed the difference in the environments in the lower bog land and the upper forest hill! After getting to explore "mountains" in person, we discovered how mountains are formed. Using play dough tectonic plates, we simulated the creation of our very own mountain ranges. Once our mountains formed, we then explored how mountains help our environments. We simulated rainfall on the mountain ridges and watched how the water collected in the low spots. Lastly, we thought about the impact on humans when mountains form. We engineering buildings out of toothpicks and marshmellows that could survive a "quake" of their jello base.
On top of all this we of course had a blast with our farm chores, tending to the goats and chickens and even harvesting some radishes and lettuce in the morning before the true heat set in. We played lots of circle games in the shade and the whole barn was full of paper airplanes and "snapper" mouths.
Week 2 - Water
Where week 1 was hot, week 2 has been wet! It's a nice break from the heat, and very fitting with the theme of the week!
On Monday we started by learning about density. After a group game of sink or float, campers then worked in small groups to design and build boats using crafting materials. We had some really awesome constructions! On Tuesday we let out inner artists out by making "shadow" paintings, spraying water color paint over found nature materials to leave a negative space. We talked about dilution and watched out colors spread and get darker with more applications. On Wednesday we had our first sunshine of the week and took advantage of it to check out the stream ecosystem on our nature trail. While we didn't find many critters we had a blast flipping over rocks to look for salamanders, fish and crawdads! After talking about natural waterways, we then discussed water conservation and how we can maintain (and create) fresh water. Campers worked in teams to create their very own water filters, competing to see who's water could be clearest after being filtered.
Even in the rain we found time to run and play. Indoor picnic lunches, mugwort stores, origami stars and fortune tellers have been the hit this week!
Week 3 - Pollination
The "fun" weather didn't stop in week 3, but despite the wild fire smoke we still had a wonderful week!
On Monday we learned the basics of pollination by making pipe cleaner insects that "pollinated" paper flowers. We watched as the different colors of "pollen" mixed and mingled as the pollinators went from flower to flower, and we ended with a pollinator relay race! On Tuesday we considered what adaptations pollinators might have, particularly their physical characteristics. We made pollinator masks and had a blast showing off our creations. On Wednesday we had special visit from our bee keeper friend Bob, and we got to see a live hive right in the barn! Bob taught us that bees can see UV, and we explored this idea in our afternoon activity by making flowers with UV beads that change colors in the sun. We were bummed to miss Thursday because of the smoke but we had a lovely farmers market on Friday to wrap up our week.
More photos to come soon!
Week 4 - Heroes in Science
This week our theme was a little different, taking us on an exploration of scientists through history and their incredible impacts on our world today!
On Monday we learned about Kupe, a Polynesian explorer and wayfinder from about 1300 CE who supposedly was the first person to step foot on New Zealand! After learning about wayfinding and how nature can be used to help navigate, campers built their very own boats using a mix of craft supplies and found natural materials from the farm. On Tuesday we learned about the astronomer Galileo (1600s CE) who was one of the first Europeans to realize the earth revolves around the sun, not the reverse. In honor of his discovery we made sun catchers! On Wednesday we went on a nature walk after learning about Rachel Carson, the author of Silent Spring (1962), and one of the first people to sound the alarm about pollution after the rise of plastics and postwar chemicals. On Thursday we talked about the some of the pioneering women in space exploration, Valentina Tereshkova (1961), Sally Ride (1983) and Mae Jemison (1992). For afternoon activity campers built their very own spaceships!
Along with our afternoon activities, we also had morning activities to learn about Vandana Shiva, Euclid, Mary Anning, Pei Xiu, and George Washington Carver. All our crafts and projects were great decoration during our Friday Farmers Market.
Week 5 - Sun, Moon and Stars
This week we zoomed out to look beyond our planet to consider the sun, moon and stars! A bit ironic considering almost the entire week was rainy, but that never stops us from having fun!
We started by talking about the phases of the moon, complete with a moving demonstration from the counselors! After that groups worked together to make mural collages of the different phases, and the collages were then used for a game of four corners. The next day we talked about the sun's power to heat and melt objects with a game of "will it melt?". Unfortunately we had to use a hair drier in the end, but there were great conversations and hypotheses based around states of matter, textures, and general knowledge. The next day we learned about cyanotypes, a form a pictures made through solar conversion! Campers went on walks to gather natural materials to then take "pictures" of using pretreated cyanotype paper. Lastly we connected with the moon, taking some time to mediate and reflect on our goals for the upcoming month, and months to come.
More pictures to come soon!
Week 6 - Music and Sound
This week the weather swung back to hot, but we still had a blast! Speaking of blasts, the theme this week was music and sound!
We started by making "first instruments" in the style of instruments made by the first humans. Campers went on a nature walk to collect their materials and ended the day with a talent show demonstrating their instruments. The next day we created denden daikos, Japanese spin drums! They went perfectly with the songs we wrote for morning activity. The next day we took advantage of the nice weather and went for a nature walk to collect materials for group collages of music notes. The last STEAM activity of the week stayed on the nature theme when we created rain sticks! After talking about the different sound waves created by different items, we used seeds, shells, beads, cardboard and gravel to create the soothing sound of rain right in our hands. Of course we ended on our farmers market, filled with our newly ripe tomatoes, lots of basil and even gourds!
More photos to come soon!
Week 7 - Insects and Bugs
Campers spent the week learning about all the little friends around us at farm camp! We started by going on a walk through our nature trail, looking for bugs and insects. Along the way we also saw mushrooms, frogs, moss and learned to identify some shrubs and trees! Next, we discussed the different habitats of different insects, and then we built bug homes out in our back field and discovery garden. Campers used the natural materials around them to try to build homes to best suit specific bugs of their choosing. After that we discussed camouflage, and painted butterflies to blend in with our camp area! I bet if you walk through the discovery garden you'll still find a painted butterfly camouflaged in the trees and bushes, we couldn't find them all! Next we learned about the greater role bugs and insects have in our ecosystem through a "web of life" activity. Each camper had a role of two within a food web, and we passed a ball of yarn to show all the different ways the parts of an ecosystem are interconnected.
Despite the odd weather this summer we still had crops for our farmers market, including a generous donation of squash from the farmers! Campers got to go into the actual farm fields and pick squash from a "trap crop", and learned about different ways we use integrated pest management on the farm. There sure were lots of bugs to see there!
More photos to come soon!
Summer 2024
Week 1 - Growing Our Roots Together
This week we learned all about tree and community through the theme “Growing Our Roots Together”. We started the week with a walk in the nature trail, taking bark rubbings from different trees and starting to identify the wide range of species in the woods around us!
Moving on from bark, campers collected leaf samples, strengthening their tree identification skills. The patterns and colors of the leaves were perfect for making crowns and collages!
To tie it all together we had an art specific day, using thumbprint and q-tips to make our very own tree paintings!
As always, we had farm chores through the week. Campers helped care for our new batch of goats and our 8 week old chicks! Along with animal time, campers have also been harvesting from the education garden and helping maintain the discovery garden. There’s nothing to keep spirits up while weeding quite like munching your way down a garden bed of kale, radishes, broccolini and more! We also have mint a plenty this year, so keep an eye out for some dried and fresh samples at upcoming farmers markets!
Week 2 - Shapes and Patterns in Nature
This week was hot! Even 90+ degree days couldn’t get in the way of our learning and fun though! This week we explored the theme “Shapes and Patterns in Nature”. We started the week with an engineering challenge, trying to determine which shapes are the strongest. Campers built towers out of mixed materials like paper, straws, popsicle sticks and q tips. The tallest freestanding tower was 24 inches tall! On Tuesday we went out to the nature trail and collected materials to make our very own mandalas, and discussed how we can find symmetry in round patterns. Wednesday included a nature weaving activity, where we gathered natural materials and created our very own woven pieces of art. Following the “over, under, over, under” pattern all of our materials were able to stay snug! We had another engineering challenge on Thursday with a classic egg drop! Campers designed structures and shells to protect an egg being dropped from a great height. We had two teams that were even able to protect their egg when it was dropped onto a rock for the finale round!
Of course between all of it we had tons of fun playing in the sprinkler to stay cool, taking care of the animals, and of course working in the garden! Thank you to everyone who came to our Friday Farmers Market, the campers really loved being able to show off all their hard work!
Week 3 - Pollinators
What a week! In week 3 our theme was “Pollinators” and there was non-stop learning and fun to be had! We started the week with the all important question “what is a pollinator?” After discussing the important role of pollinators and giving some examples, we went out and collected flowers from around the farm to dissect. Campers used magnifying glasses to identify the stamen, pistons and anthers in their flowers! The next day we discussed the the amazing monarch butterfly, and ran an activity called “launch-fling-fly” where we invented contractions to help monarchs “migrate” from Canada to Mexico! On Wednesday we had a special visit from Bob the Bee Man, a local bee keeper who brought in a real bee hive and let us try some of the honey he harvested from his hives at home. That afternoon we made paper towel roll bees to decorate the barn, and had a parade of the weirdest bees we had ever seen. On Thursday we learned about hummingbirds, and each group made hummingbird feeders to hang around the farm! Of course, we ended the week with our favorite farmers market.
Week 4 - Sunshine
After two weeks of heat waves, we finally started our Sunshine week only for it to rain! We still had a blast doing rain dances in the barn, catching raindrops on the back porch, and picnicking on the barn floor when it was too wet to each outside. Even with the rain, we did a ton of learning!
We started with making cyanotypes, also known as sun prints. After gathering materials from the nature trail we made “photographs” of the negative space using a chemical reaction from the sun. On Tuesday we used our engineering skills to make shelters for pipe-cleaner animals that had light sensitive beads on them. After that we let our inner artists out made shadow puppets. On Thursday we explored the farm and nature trail to find a whole rainbow of colors in nature!
Week 5 - The Colorful World of Nature
We’re officially in the second half of the summer! Time is flying by, but were’ making the most of every day we have.
This week we explored the colorful world of nature! To start off, we went on a walk on our Nature Trail collecting different samples of the color green. We brought them back to the barn to add to our nature journals! On Tuesday we learned all about camouflage, designing our own critters that could blend in either in the barn or discovery garden. From blending in we went to standing out! After learning about particularly colorful animals, we made kites inspired by birds of paradise. On Thursday we had a mix of individual and collaborative art through stamp printing. Each camper was able to take home their own mini flag, but we also created a giant banner that was painted all together as a camp!
Week 6 - Natural Cycles
Well, if there was ever a week to talk about natural cycles, this sure was a good one! The on and off rain from Hurricane Debby threw a wrench in some plans, but overall it was a delight to enjoy the breezy weather and play in the rain.
This week we started by talking about the changing seasons, and more specifically about the changing leaves. Hopefully you saw your child’s painting of the different tree colors each season! The next day we zoomed out, and discussed the earth’s rotation and how that causes day and night. Despite the rain clouds blocking out the sun, the kids got to make their own sun dials! Continuing the rainy day theme, the next day we learned about the water cycle and made our own rain stick instruments. On Thursday we talked about the plant life cycle, and campers got to take home their own winter squash seed. Hopefully all the campers will get to watch the progression from seed to sprout!
Week 7 - Decomposition
This week we started focusing on what some people thing of as the grimier side of agriculture, decomposition! While it’s always fun to play we worms, we also learned about topics like biodegradable materials and riparian zones.
The week started with a basic introduction to decomposition, plus a scavenger hunt around the farm looking for different creepy crawlies that help break things down. After that, we had a lesson about soil blocking, a method that lets farmers cut down on the amount of plastic used in seedling growth. Campers all had the chance to try using the soil blocker and got to take home a seeded radish block in a newspaper pot! On Wednesday we went back to creepy crawlies, but with an artistic flair: campers got to create their own worm marionette puppets! On Thursday we had a special treat when CIT Sylvia’s dad came in to lead a lesson about riparian zone repair. After folding paper boats made from biodegradable mulberry paper and decorated with natural vegetable dyes, campers loaded up the boats and set let them sail down the creek in the nature preserve.
Week 8 - Native Animals
As camp always goes, the end of summer snuck up on us after what felt like simultaneously no time at all and a thousand years! Instead of feeling down about the end of camp though we had another joyous week of friendship, learning, and connecting with the land.
The week started a conversation about eels and the construction of eel habitat dioramas. That was followed by a walk through the nature preserve to participate in a native animal scavenger hunt. Campers saw all sorts of animals including rabbits, snakes, birds and newts! On Wednesday we helped warblers “migrate” by engineering devices to help our model birds get from New York to Puerto Rico by way of the Atlantic Ocean. Thursday had another engineering project, and classic egg drop to help protect the eggs of endangered and extinct species!