Shuswap Wild Wonders outdoor learning camps offer kids a chance to get out into and connect with nature.
Geoff Styles, a Salmon Arm teacher and camp instructor, began the Wild Wonders camps five summers ago with fellow Salmon Arm teacher and camp instructor Ceren Caner.
“Our model basically is connecting children in a deep way to the natural space around then,” explained Styles.
What began as one camp is now seven, running July and August for different age groups ranging from a kindergarten/Grade 1 camp to a camp for kids in Grades six to 10.
Styles said this is the second year for the Shuswap Wild Wonders’ sponsorship program, where businesses can sponsor a child to go to camp.
“Last year we had 16 kids in our district sponsored to go to camp which is fantastic, and this year we’re hoping to have as many or more,” said Styles.
When asked if there’s a learning curve for young campers not used to the outdoors, Styles noted how during the first camp, while on a lookout over the Mara/Grindrod valley, the kids were gathered in a circle and asked to name their favourite chocolate bar and cereal, which they had no problem doing. Then they were asked to identify any living thing they could see around them – plant, insect, bird, no matter – and they could not.
“It was interesting, with this crew, these are families that already spend a lot of time in nature… and when nobody had any answers to that question, the parent and the kids’ eyes both went as wide as saucers,” said Styles, adding how through the camp experience that group quickly came to be able to identify what they saw and make connections as to what grows where, what animals made which tracks and so on.
“We said to them last year, they’re probably in the top 10 per cent of all inhabitants of Salmon Arm, not just children, who can identify 25 to 35 different species of plant, they can tell you a few uses of each plant, they can identify any animal tracks they come across,” said Styles. A Shuswap Wild Wonders dance fundraiser, silent auction and gear swap is being held on June 18 at the SASCU Recreation Centre, featuring the Scattered Atoms Blues Band. For more information about the event and the camps, visit http://shuswapwildwonders.wix.com/camps