WINTER OUTDOOR EXPLORERS:  for ages 7-16 • Tuesdays, January 31- March 6  with a weather make up day reserved on  March 13

Ages 7-16, Tuesdays, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. (parents welcome to stay or go).
Lead Teachers: gumby Montgomery and  Jimmy Magoo.
Program Director: Louise Omoto Kessel

We have two wonderful teachers this session and each is leading a specific focus group. Jimmy Magoo is working with the topic of Maps, recommended for ages 7-10. gumby Montgomery's group is called "Deep Woods Explore" and is for the person who likes to set out into the woods for the DAY! gumbys' group is recommended for ages 9-16.

Children are welcome to come as a guest for ONE DAY. Cost for one day participation is: $35/child/day.

See also the Spring Outdoor Explorers description below

STAR GAZE NIGHTS * WINTER-  *  Friday, February. February 17,  with Friday, February 24 as a weather back up • DONATIONS •           We plan to do this once each season!  So, check back for a Spring date.

Come to Clapping Hands Farm for an evening outdoors! Join astronomy enthusiast Steve Grathwohl to explore the night sky. Steve will bring a couple of telescopes and will give you the beyond-the-naked-eye view of things celestial and planetary. Participants are encouraged to arrive before dark and share dinner around the campfire. After sunset, we'll move into our back field for the sky viewing where we have an excellent site with a minimum of light pollution. The campfire will be tended for warming up between views!

COST: Donations gratefully accepted.

DATES and TIMES: 
*  Please arrive between 4:30 and 5:00 if you can,  and bring some food to enjoy around a campfire. Sunset is around 6:00 p.m. After dark, we'll head out to the telescopes and constellations! Sky gazing will be from about 6- 8, but you are strongly encouraged to arrive before dark in order to get oriented; we live 3/4 of a mile from the paved road and there are no lights back here (which is why it's such a great location for the night sky!)

REGISTRATION REQUIRED: Please email louiseok@mindspring.com to register. Please let us know how many are coming and how old any children are.

SPRING FAMILY PLANT WALK with Kim Calhoun •  Sunday,  March 11, 1-3 p.m.

DATE & TIME: Sunday, March 11, 1-3 p.m.

AGES: Recommended for ages 7 and up (call with questions!)

COST: Sliding Scale--- $5-$15 per person. please contact Louise if you find this fee an obstacle to joining us. louiseok@mindspring.com

Join "Planty" Kim as we meet the edible and medicinal plant friends growing wild in the fields, woods, and garden at Clapping Hands Farm. In this family friendly walkabout, we'll sing, smell, taste and touch the arrival of spring!

"Planty" Kim brings a deep knowledge of local plants, and a wonderful combination of fun and reverence to these plant rambles. There will be plenty of hands-on plant-centered activities for young and old to enjoy together. Once you've made acquaintance of these "plant friends" you'll be amazed to find them in your own back yard and everywhere you go!

This program is for parents and children to enjoy together, recommended for children ages 7 and up, unaccompanied adults also encouraged to join our intergenerational exploration. Fee is $15 for one person/first person; $10 for each additional person in the same family.

Size of group limited so register now. Call Clapping Hands Farm at 919-542-5599 or email louiseok@mindspring.com with questions or to register. Register by March 4. Please also note: March 11th is the first day of daylight savings time---spring ahead! Torrential raindate to be determined if necessary.

SPRING OUTDOOR EXPLORERS:  for ages 6-16 • Tuesdays,  March 20 - May 1, no camp April 2,  with May 8 reserved as a weather make up day

Ages 6-16, Tuesdays, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. (parents welcome to stay or go).
1/2 day program option for ages 4-7 with parent or caregiver--- please email or call me if you are interested.

Lead Teachers for 6-16 year olds: gumby Montgomery, Jimmy Magoo and Hope Wilder

Program Director: Louise Omoto Kessel is the founder of the Haw River Festival, 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 10 and Makayla age 7.

Dates: Tuesdays, March 20- May 1, no camp April 2 and with an additional weather make up day reserved on May 8, six sessions in all.

Cost: $200, $10 early bird discount for registrations received before Feb. 28, $10 discount for returning campers.

NOTE: ALL registrations for this program must include payment in full and CAMP FORMS if you have not filled out camp forms in 2012. I collect NEW camp forms at the beginning of each calendar year and we keep them for the year.

OUTDOOR EXPLORERS PROGRAM FOR AGES 6-16

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, songs and stories! Spring is my favorite season and  is a deliriously wonderful time to be outside! Come join us!

Each camper will chose a FOCUS GROUP that will meet with one instructor for two hours each morning. There are 3 focus group options for Spring 2012: Earth Stewards with gumby Montgomery; Green, Wet and Wild: The Mysteries of the Microcosmos with Hope Wilder; Out and About Discovery Hikes with Jimmy Magoo.

After lunch we'll have an assortment of choice classes led by our lead teachers Hope and gumby,  Louise and camp counselors (Jimmy might be working mornings only, depending on enrollment). Afternoon workshops may include games, songwriting and poetry, fort and fairy house building, singing, crafting from local materials, as well as outdoor skills such as fire building, shelter, tracking, etc.

Here are the details on the FOCUS GROUPS:

EARTH STEWARDS with gumby Montgomery recommended for ages 9 and up
The Earth Stewards group will spend the spring session exploring our role as caretakers of the land, stewards of the Earth.  Get ready to explore the land with a special eye for connections and interconnections, and to leave with a whole new way of viewing the forest.  Our focus will be on ecology and learning to see the woods as a whole, single organism. We'll approach the land as doctors might approach their patients, and as doctors, we'll investigate the "anatomy" of the forest by discovering the roles and important jobs that all the wild inhabitants perform in order to make the forest work. We'll wander the land, identifying plants and critters, poking around under rocks and logs, blending quiet and playful moments. We'll "check the blood" of the land, getting our feet wet in order to catch underwater indicator species, and building a deeper understanding of wetland ecology and hydrology. We'll learn what a healthy forest looks like and then use that knowledge to find parts of the forest that need help. Expect projects and missions that'll improve the health and well-being of the land and as we are not separate from our habitats, of ourselves.  We have our own ecological niche or job to do out there as well. Let's learn how to do it together!

gumby Montgomery is a stellar naturalist, a great storyteller, a wilderness first responder, and a seasoned super teacher with plenty of "kid appeal!" He has worked with the Haw River Learning Celebration, School House of Wonder and the Piedmont Wildlife educational programs.

GREEN, WET & WILD: THE MYSTERIES OF THE MICROCOSMOS with Hope Wilder
Imagine a world where giant, armored creatures with many legs and eyes battle for a living. . . where slimy alien creatures lurk who can breathe water or air equally well. . . where signals of danger could mean deadly poison, or a friend in disguise. this world is all around us, waiting to be revealed by a closer look.

Join our Green, Wet and Wild explorers if you want to delve deep in to the world of the small, and get to know the base of the ecosystem we live in. We'll go from blooming hilltop meadows to knee-deep in mucky ponds to collect curious creatures. We'll use hand lenses and microscopes to better see tiny flowers bloom into huge tropical orchids, as well as to reveal swimming salamander embryos inside gelatinous eggs, and to count the delicate gills of a mayfly. As naturalists, we'll learn to observe more closely the cycles of life and the changes of spring. We'll get to be friends with the plants, insects, and amphibians who live in our backyards, and listen to what they have to tell us about the future of our small planet.

Hope Wilder lives in a hand made house crafted of mud and other local materials. She is a singer and a crafter and delightful spirit. Hope has many seasons of experience working in Outdoor Education with the Haw River Learning Celebration, School House of Wonder, among many other locations.

OUT AND ABOUT DISCOVERY HIKES with Jimmy Magoo recommended for ages 6 and up
This focus group will spend the mornings playing games and adventuring! We'll set out to explore the forests, fields, puddles and ponds of Clapping Hands Farm with an eye for DISCOVERY! We'll get eye to eye with insects and amphibians, notice signs of mammals who trekked the land before us, and revel in the unfolding green of this season. Along the way we'll stop to play games, build things, and rise to various physical challenges! Some games, like "tree tag"--- "I'm it and I can tag you unless you are touching a SYCAMORE tree!"--- reinforce what we are learning about the plants and animals of Clapping Hands. Others, like "photography" --- "I'm the photographer and you're the camera. Close your eyes, I'll line up the picture and when I tap you on the shoulder, open your eyes and take the picture!" ---- help us see, smell, touch, and hear the forest in a new way. Come along for this glorious romp through a wondrous season!

Jimmy Magoo is a husband, father, singer, songwriter, musician, mask-maker, actor, artist, educator, playwright, poet, and puppeteer. For the last five years he has taught art, academics, and "outdoor explore" to children ages 3 to 13 at Community Independent School in Pittsboro, NC

SPRING CAMPS OVERVIEW!

• TOYS AND GAMES CAMP- April 2-6, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ages 7-13. Full week $250; single day $60/day
• SPRING JAMBOREE CAMP- April 9-13, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Ages 5-13. $200 
• MAY ART PARTY CAMP- May 21-25, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Ages 2-8 with a parent.

Please see the Summer Camps Page for complete details on our Spring  and Summer Camps!