summer camps

Registration opens in mid-January. Join our mailing list to get notified!

Summer Outdoor Day Camps

You can find our summer camps in Durham, Orange and Wake Counties.

Schoolhouse camps provide a unique combination of fun and growth, giving kids the opportunity to try new things, make lasting friendships, learn how to take risks, develop lifelong skills, and connect with nature.

Learn about our camp locations

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Parts of the camp day….

Our campers participate in a wide range of activities, from outdoor exploration and adventure to arts and crafts, music, and more. We believe in the power of play and creativity to inspire learning and growth. Our low camper-to-staff ratio allows a sense of freedom and adventure while providing a nurturing and supportive environment.

Adventurous Play

Some perceive activities like tomahawk throwing, climbing trees, swinging on a vine, and whittling to be too risky for kids. We believe that supervised risk-taking is an essential part of growing up and that these activities not only provide valuable experiences and opportunities to build skills and confidence—they’re fun!
Outdoor Games

Games played during Schoolhouse of Wonder summer camps can be sneaky and strategic, loud and wild, collaborative, or individual. The forests and fields provide a perfect backdrop for games you might have heard of like Kick the Can and plenty of Schoolhouse Originals like Six Feathers and Defeat the Lich!
Wilderness & Bushcraft Skills
Storytelling

Storytelling has always been a sacred and beloved tradition at Schoolhouse, and we believe there is a storyteller in all of us. Campers are invited to immerse themselves in the exciting and ancient art of storytelling by listening to old tales and helping to spin new ones.
Music
Nature Crafts

The sky is the limit and nature is our canvas when it comes to creating one-of-a-kind nature art, including fanciful creations like leaf art, mud faces, fairy and troll houses, monster masks, corn husk dolls, pine cone bird feeders, and whatever else our imagination can conjure!
Special Projects

Campers embark on any number of special projects, depending on the focus of their camp– these could include tracking and cataloging wildlife, building forts, making camouflage, service projects for our host sites, and all of the other things our staff have dreamt up over the winter!

The Schoolhouse Way

Camp FAQs

Campfire Cooking

Outdoor cooking combines adventuresome elements and skill — fire building, chopping food, handling pots and pans — in a controlled environment to keep kids safe while learning valuable life skills, allowing them to step outside their comfort zones in the midst of enjoying time with their friends.
Paddlesports & Water-Play

Many of our activities center around our various waterways, including rock skipping, building stick boats, identifying animal tracks in the mud, learning to observe and safely handle some of the animals we find, and of course—wading, splashing, and floating! We’ve added kayaking, canoeing, and paddle boarding to a few summer weeks as well!
Ecological Literacy

We believe that knowing the land around you can change you. Although environmental education isn’t our main priority (it’s growing good humans), we take every chance we can get to learn about the ecosystems we’re a part of. Through intentional, experiential learning opportunities, campers learn about everything that makes up the ecosystems we’re a part of.
Plant & Animal Identification

If you can identify a few plants and spot a few animal signs, the whole forest opens up like a child learning to read. In camp, we enjoy learning to identify various plants, spot signs of animals like a track or home, and hopefully see critters like crawfish, salamanders, snakes, turtles, toads, and more.
Growth Rings

Campers (7-12 years old), Counselors in Training, and staff can challenge themselves to grow their patience and skills by earning “Growth Rings” in areas like fire making, whittling, plant lore, and snake identification and handling. We use these “Rings” to encourage positive growth and development by setting appropriate goals and practicing follow through in a supportive environment. These levels are not meant to be earned with speed, but rather with patience and practice.
Team-Building

Each week we get to see it. Campers start out as strangers, perhaps a bit tentative or nervous. Through intentional activities and sequencing, campers come together to make decisions, complete challenges, solve problems, and play games. Whether they realize it or not, they grow together as a team, building social emotional and communication skills along the way.

We’re on a mission to shape kind, curious, & confident kids through nature-based outdoor adventures.

Camp Finder

Find our camp handbook, details about what to bring, when to drop off and pick up, and more.

Guidebook

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Our Award Winning Outdoor Summer Camps

Schoolhouse of Wonder has served North Carolina children and families since 1989, and we’ve been selected as Indy’s Best of the Triangle for 12 straight years in one or more Triangle counties.

Recognition

summer camps

Summer Outdoor Day Camps

You can find our summer camps in Durham, Orange and Wake Counties.

Parts of the camp day….

Our Award Winning Outdoor Summer Camps

Programs

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