Major Courses Alphabetically
Many students will attend both major and minor classes. Students attend the same major class Monday–Thursday mornings and all day Friday, and attend a different minor class Monday–Thursday afternoon. A few classes are all day every day majors as noted in individual class descriptions.
Participants will be placed in classes with students of similar ages. Age limits may be adapted as enrollment progresses. Class sizes are limited in space and fill quickly. We encourage early registration.
All Day Major • Ages 11+ - CLASS FULL
Ruth Ann Colby & Shannon Thomas
The focus of this class will be to learn experientially as we discover our innate woods wisdom and deepen our relationship with ourselves, one another and the earth. We will make fires by rubbing sticks together, learn shelters, how to purify water, basic tracking and practice awareness exercises. We will be spending time immersed in nature, playing in the creek and learning about the local flora and fauna.
All Day Major • Ages 12+ - CLASS FULL
Ruth Ann Colby & Shannon Thomas
This class is for students who have participated in the basic aboriginal survival arts class and want to fine tune their old skills and learn new ones. Skills this year will include basket making, solar still, Apache mouse trap, advanced tracking, and deepened awareness practices. We will also play games that awaken the senses and hone awareness while cultivating a cooperative community experience.
Ages 9-16 - CLASS FULL
This year campers will learn, rehearse and perform a musical adaption of J.M. Barrie’s classic Peter Pan. Students will learn audition skills before auditioning and being cast in a musical production that will be performed at the end of the week. Throughout the class students will also learn and develop skills in music, improvisation and acting.
This class will be an all-day major Tuesday, Thursday and Friday – so students will only have minors on Monday and Wednesday. STUDENTS MUST BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN FRIDAY EVENING PERFORMANCE!
Ages 10+ - CLASS FULL
Students will enjoy creating with clay using multiple construction techniques while being inspired by examples from various cultures.
Ages 8-14
Join us for a madcap romp through the classic comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace”. We will cast, rehearse, and perform this hilarious play in just 5 short days! Synopsis: When Mortimer and Elaine get married on Halloween, they return home to find that their families are not as normal as they seem. With two eccentric aunts and an uncle who thinks he’s the former president, you’ll see why “insanity runs in my family, it practically gallops". This class will be an all day major on Thursday and Friday. STUDENTS MUST BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN FRIDAY EVENING PERFORMANCE!
All Day Major • Ages 13+ - CLASS FULL
More than a game, Coyote Warriors builds upon a foundation of athletics to teach young people about teamwork, conflict, work ethic, awareness and maintaining a healthy mind and body. This course is about building confidence in teens. By facing hard work and struggle in a fun environment, we equip students with tools to bette prepare for work and school beyond nature’s classroom. Coyote Warriors relies upon an ancestral understanding of team sports blended with modern science and a hint of the spiritual. It is a chance to escape the contemporary world, examine ourselves in nature, and return to the challenges of modern life with new training for adulthood. Ironically, they lofty ideals are achieved through not trying too hard, from the ground up . . from a foundation that starts with lots of running and team rivalry.
Ages 8-12 - CLASS FULL
We will explore the marshes, creeks and woods of the Sun Foundation to observe the larger, natural world, taking sketchbooks with us to make “Nature Notes”. We’ll collect leaves and flowers to use along with other specimens (such as feathers, butterfly wings and maybe bones and shells) to take back in our barn to create more detailed art. We will also be observing and sketching some living creatures, such as fish, frogs, turtles, and snakes in aquariums. We will draw and paint with watercolor, pencils and cray pas for two days, incorporating our notes from the natural world. On the third day we will begin working with clay, learning how to translate our ideas into 3-dimensions. We will combine our own inspirations and observations of the natural world as well as use our imaginations to create drawings and paintings, and sculptures with clay.
Ages 10+ - CLASS FULL
Students will use a variety of fiber arts with an emphasis on the importance of reducing pollution by repurposing materials from “trash” and using natural and non-polluting dyes. Projects will include sewing and dyeing bandanas, making fabric scrap bowls and collages, making facemasks and hair scrunchies, knitting, weaving, and beading.
Ages 8-12 - CLASS FULL
Spend a week exploring the Sun Foundation’s natural spaces and the living things that build healthy ecosystems! In addition to plenty of hiking and science-based field activities, we’ll also build a mini museum collection of our favorite findings and research how they contribute to our environment.
Ages 11 + - CLASS FULL
Come explore some of the older ways of cooking, processing foods, foraging, processing wild game, using plant dyes, making lip balm, candles, home made kites and fermentation.
Ages 10+
We will explore the Sun Foundation property, looking for native reptiles and amphibians. We will show you how to find and identify animals. We will discuss what they eat and how to take care of them. You’ll get to catch, touch and hold them. Plan to get hot, wet and dirty! Please make sure to wear clothes that are appropriate.
Class will be an all day major on Wednesday.
Ages 8+
Uncover clues to Earth’s history. Check out how water has formed our Earth and has changed the landscape. We will explore the creek beds along the property to check out what glaciers have done to our home long before we were alive. When we aren’t working up a sweat looking for fossils and rocks; we will be talking about a much cooler subject, the Ice-Age.
Ages 8+ - CLASS CANCELLED
Learn about the major groups of insects, their biology and how to identify them. Learn how insects experience our world (spoiler alert – it is nothing like our experiences). Participate in our citizen scientist project to quantify the insects found at the Sun Foundation neighborhood. Learn what insects you may encounter in your backyard. Learn why insects are such an important part of our world. Learn at least one insect joke each day as well.
Pee Wee • Ages 5-7 - CLASS FULL
This class is an introduction to the Sun Foundation. Children will develop an appreciation for nature’s beauty and an understanding of their connection with the environment. Students will complete many fun art projects learn about nature, hike play games, visit the marsh and look for fossils in the dry creek bed.
Ages 8-12
This class provides an introduction to a fascinating world that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Children will learn how to use several different types of microscopes. They will learn to sample, identify, and develop microscopy skills while studying the samples brought back from different sites.
Ages 7-11 - CLASS FULL
In this class we will work on and complete a LARGE mural as a group. We will draw our inspiration from nature and the life around us using bright colors and vivid expressions that capture the artist/explorer in each of us. Get ready to get messy and creative and leave this class with the knowledge to make a painting of any size.
Ages 7–11 - CLASS FULL
Have you ever wondered if Fairies, gnomes, bigfoot or other mythological creatures really exist? In this class we believe! Campers will make art in clay, painting and found objects. They will also be learning basic skills of tracking, camouflage and wild edible herbs through games and stories. Of course camp wouln’t be complete without some games, songs and creating a mythological creature of their own.
Ages 10+
Join us to draw, sculpt, and use our creative minds. Within the first few days we will master the art of drawing with pencils to sculpting with clay. Throughout the week we will venture into the woods to take creative breaks and even get some inspiration. Finishing up the week we will start to create lifelike replicas of our faces along with animal faces in clay, called busts.
Pee Wee • Ages 5-7 - CLASS FULL
Children will spend their week finding and making rhythms as we explore the Sun Foundation. We will learn about the forest, marsh and creek environments and practice science skills like observing, classifying and communicating. We might even get wet and messy as we create art based on the discoveries we make! Stories, music, rhythm and DRUMS will all play an important part in our week.
Ages 10+ - CLASS FULL
Rocketeers will build rockets made of common household materials. They will learn basic equations of rocket thrust, stability and trajectory. Then they will launch their rockets and evaluate the performance.
Pee Wee • Ages 5–7
The youngest among us often notice the WONDER-full details of the natural world. This major is for those who love to make amazing discoveries right before their eyes! Join us as we explore the forest, marsh, grassland and creek. We’ll draw big inspiration from small wonders, like a caterpillar’s stripes or water flowing over pebbles – to sketch, paint and sculpt artistic treasures. There’ll be lots of games too. Come play and create with us!
Ages 8-14 - CLASS FULL
Fish, Birds, Bugs Bones & Boulders! Every day is an adventure! Spend Monday with John James Audubon catching, drawing and banding migrating birds. Tuesday we will meet Charles Darwin and catch bugs, explore geology and evolution. Wednesday is a day of fishing with Louis Agassiz. Thursday we will track animals, learn medicinal herbs, play Native Games and eat wild plants with Meriwether Lewis. Friday we will put it all together publishing our findings in an instant book that celebrates the wild life of the Sun Foundation!