ART PARTY • Ages 2-8 (and up) with their parents. Tuesdays, October 5-26, 10 a.m - Noon. Rain or Shine.
Our Art Party morning begins with a circle with singing and games. Then comes the ART PARTY! An amazing array of projects and materials will be prepared each week. Come ready to marble paper, weave, draw with pastels, colored chalk and other medium, learn to embroider on burlap or sew your own stuffed animal, make your own toys, mix together colorful slime, paint, and so much more! The day closes with a story from professional storyteller and camp director, Louise Omoto Kessel. Participants are welcome to stay for lunch.
Age 2-8 and UP--- older children welcome, and I will set up "older kid" projects if I have 9+ year olds, and can accommodate some older participants as volunteers, particularly those ages 12 and up with Clapping Hands Farm experience.
Cost: $60 for 4 weeks.
Discounts: $5 off for returning campers. $5 for registration completed before September 15. (forms and fees received before then.)
Per Class Cost: you can sign up for one or more sessions, no discounts, $15/day.
Special Rate for Homeschool Groups of 10 or more participants: $12/day, $45 for the series per person. (prefer forms and fees for the group received in one envelope and before Sept. 15)
ARCHERY CAMP • Tuesdays in October 5- 26 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. rain or shine! Ages 9-12. COST: $100 for 4 weeks.
Instructor: Johnny Waken. You'll enjoy a visit to Johnny's website:
waken archery
Class size: Maximum 8 participants. If we have more than 5, there will be 2 adults experienced in archery leading the group.
Roam the fields and woodland shooting handcrafted
wooden bows & arrows with local bowyer Johnny Waken.
Students will learn good shooting form with an emphasis on safety,
experience classic archery lore, ethics and the self-empowerment that comes with hitting the mark!
Johnny Waken has been making, shooting and sharing his passion for wooden bows for well over 15 years. His bows are one-of-a-kind works of art with flowing lines that follow the nature of the wood. Around the bow's handle is buckskin that Johnny brain tans and smokes himself. Each bow has a name. Participants in this unique archery camp will be using Johnny's hand crafted bows while learning to shoot.
In addition to his skill as a bowyer, Johnny is well versed in primitive skills in general, is a musician and a songwriter. More over, he is warm, funny, and GREAT with kids. He's shared archery during our summer camps many times and we LOVE him
FALL OUTDOOR EXPLORERS: for ages 3-13 • Tuesdays,
November 2- December 7 with a weather make up day reserved on December 14
Ages 3-6, Tuesdays 10 am to Noon, WITH PARENTS
Ages 6-13, Tuesdays, 10 am to 3 pm (parents welcome
to stay or go)
Lead Teachers: Gumby Montgomery, Hope Wlider, Katie Chiosso Kenlan and various guest teachers.
Program Director: Louise Omoto Kessel
Dates: Tuesdays, November 2- December 7, with an additional weather make up day reserved on December 14
Cost: $180 for full day program for ages 6-13; $75 for morning only program for ages 3-5
Discounts Full Day Program---$10 discount for our returning Outdoor Explorers! $10 discount; for people who complete registration (including sending payment and forms) before April 1. (and yes, this means a max of $20 if you are a returning "explorer" and get your stuff in early!)
Discount Preschool Program--- same as above except with a max of $15 total discount.
Outdoor Explorers Program for ages 6-13
We will explore the outdoors for
the better part of a WHOLE DAY in nature! Our explorations will include tracking, shelter building, canoeing on the pond, learning about edible plants, games to open our senses to observation
and the wonders of nature, basic outdoor safety information, an introduction
to animal and plant life at our farm, skills in using field guides and other
identification tools, map making and trail making, “still
hunting” or sit
spots, nature art and nature stories! Part of each day will be spent in snall groups, Hope working with the younger explorers, gumby working with the older ones, and much of the day will be spent together sharing a variety of inquiries, games, and activities.
Fall is a wonderful time to be outside!
gumby Montgomery is a stellar naturalist, a great storyteller, and seasoned super teacher with plenty of “kid appeal!” He is also a wliderness first responder.
Hope Wlider lives in a house crafted from mud and local materials, is a singer, and a delightful spirit with lots of experience in outdoor education.
Both gumby and Hope have taught with School House of Wonder, The Haw River Festival and a variety of other environmental education programs. Both are dedicated to continuing their own learning or primitive skills and crafts and as naturalists, educators.
Outdoor Explorer Program for ages 3-6
This program for our youngest nature
lovers AND THEIR PARENTS will run from 10 a.m. till NOON. Louise Omoto Kessel will be coordinating this special program for parents and children together along with an assortment of guest teachers. Parents
will engage in activities with their children, creating a wonderful shared
experience in nature! We'll explore everything from trees to poop, feathers
to dirt! Activities will include hikes, finding a "secret special place",
canoeing, and bear hunts! After the morning class preschool explorers and
their parents are welcome to stay for lunch.
Katie Chiosso Kenlan grew exploring on the banks of a beautiful Chatham County creek and volunteering for the Haw River Festival. She now teaches at the Community Independent School where she recently directed a summer camp program celebrating local food.
Louise Omoto Kessel, the program director at Clapping Hands Farm is the founder of the Haw River Festival, and has worked as a naturalist for the NC State Parks System at Merchants Mill Pond State Park, with the Nature Conservancy on Damariscove Island in Maine, and lived for three years on the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater working with their environmental education program on the Hudson River. She is also a professional storyteller and printmaker, an art teacher, and home schooling Mom to Jabu age 9 and Makayla age 5.
