Summer Garden Nature Camp

Join our enchanting Garden Nature Camp with special guests (both human and animal!) from the Reid Park Zoo, for exciting natural science discoveries and ecology explorations.

During each camp, we will discover, play and learn in a variety of creative and intriguing ways. Along the way, we will meet Zoo animals and make ecological links between our plants and the animals that depend on them. We will visit with these Zoo animals up close and personal when they visit the Gardens with staff from the Reid Park Zoo!

Campers will enjoy an “away-at-camp” atmosphere right here at the Gardens. We will spend early mornings immersed in nature explorations. Mid-morning is time for indoor visual and performing arts, stories and science activities. Surprises will abound. Lunch time will bring games, outdoor fun and an introduction to our afternoon activities and discoveries (see individual camp descriptions for more details). Then, late in the afternoon, we will enjoy our refreshingly cool indoor space with glow-in-the-dark stars and a central “campfire” as we gather around for a magical away-at-camp “night” with stories of the wild and other camp games, songs, magic and mythology.

The director and lead instructor for Garden Nature Camp is Tucson Botanical Garden’s educational specialist Alyson Green, M.Ed. Alyson holds a master’s degree in environmental education and is a certified Montessori elementary teacher with many years of experience as a nature guide, outdoor program designer, park ranger naturalist and classroom teacher. Her great love is introducing children to the wonders of nature through outdoor discovery and hands-on projects and the sparking of young imaginations through storytelling and the creative arts.

Desert Wild (Grades 1 and 2)
June 3 to 7
8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Desert Wild explorers will discover the fascinating world of desert plant adaptations and ecology (prickly, pokey plants, oh my!). We will also discover the magic of seeds and the plant life cycle, as we uncover mysteries of the plant world including plant predators—our carnivorous plants!

Register Online

Garden Wild (Grades 3 and 4)
June 24 to 28
8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Garden Wild explorers will dive into water-wise garden care and ethnobotany–the many ways desert people interact with plants. We will discover foods made from cacti, make medicines from our desert plants, play ancient music and games, and find out how the water cycle works in the desert.

Register Online

Eco Wild (Grades 5 and 6)
July 15 to 19
8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Eco Wild explorers will dig into plant and animal connections, conservation and the many wild and woolly career options available in the natural sciences. We will discover secrets only animals know about their habitats, travel (in our imaginations) to the many biomes of the world, and create biogeography maps of our discoveries.  In our exploration of future areas of study, we will uncover secrets held in the DNA of fruit, examine repeating patterns found in nature (from the microscopic to the deep oceans and outer space!), and uncover other mysteries waiting to be discovered by scientists with creative, inquiring minds.

Register Online

All camps are $195 members/$220 non-members

Participants should come with their sunscreen already applied as well as a sack lunch and morning snack.  An afternoon snack will be provided.  Hurry, space is limited.

You can also  register by calling (520) 326-9686, Ext. 19.

 Email this page to a friend