It may look like just fun and games, but deep connections to the environment are made minute by minute at Nature Center Nature Camps. Through daily outdoor activities, songs, games, crafts, hikes, and embracing children’s universal passions to build forts, sneak, and play unstructured in the woods, nature campers connect to the outdoors, and science naturally comes along for the ride. Camps are designed for children entering 1st-5th grades and a special middle school camp week at Bear Creek and Fountain Creek Nature Centers for students entering 6-8th grades.
Nature Camp Registration
Registration Opens: January 25, 2025, 8:00AM
2025 Nature Camp registration will be entirely online. Set yourself up for success by creating an account now and inputting all of your children’s information so you are ready to go when registration opens! For help with the online registration system, click the ‘Account Setup & Registration Help’ button below.
For members, military families, and scholarships, you will still need an online account. Discounts can now be automatically applied online. Please call Kylee Taylor at Bear Creek Nature Center at 719-520-6972 or Victoria Dinkel at Fountain Creek Nature Center at 719-520-6767 before registration day to have your account updated and your discount applied for future programs.
Aged out of Nature Camp? Return as a Nature Camp Assistant!
Nature Camp Prices
Full Day Elementary Camp
9:00 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.
$155 per member child
$165 per non member child
Full Day Middle School Camp
9:00 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.
$165 per member child
$175 per non member child
Half-Day Camp
$105 per member child
$115 per non member child
Scholarships Available
Apply below
Bear Creek Nature Center Camps
Dates: June 3 – 7, 2024 or July 22 – 26, 2024
Camp Type: Full Day 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Grades: For children entering 1st – 5th grades
During this week of camp, we will learn about the many important roles the sun plays by performing fun solar experiments, cooking with the sun’s energy, creating art using the sun, and enjoy plenty of times outdoors in the Colorado sunshine! At the end of this week, campers will “shine brighter” and have a great understanding of how crucial the sun is for life on Earth.
Dates: June 17 – 21, 2024
Camp Type: Full Day 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Grades: For children entering 6th – 8th grades
Bring out your “Inner Naturalist”! Hiking, compass skills, scavenger hunts, stewardship lessons, science experiments, stream explorations, stream studies, art projects, games, archery and more. Adventure abounds in this week of Middle School Camp!
Dates: June 24 – 28, 2024
Camp Type: Half Day 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Grades: For children entering 1st – 5th grades
Do you have a child who’s new to camp? Half-day camp may be perfect for them! Geared toward inexperienced campers, Water and Weather will not only introduce your child to the camp experience but also to Mother Earth. We’ll be cloud watching, conducting experiments, hiking, enjoying creek time, and learning!
Dates: July 8 – 10, 2024
Camp Type: Full Day 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Grades: For children entering 1st – 5th grades
New birds and expert birders alike are welcome at this camp! Your camper will take their understanding of Raptors to new heights! Learn how eagles, hawks, kites, owls, and falcons are adapted to hunt prey, how they raise young, and how they share the sky. Come join us as this exciting camp takes flight.
Fountain Creek Nature Center Camps
Dates: March 25-29, 2024
Camp Type: Full Day 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Grades: For children entering 1st – 5th grades
Campers will tap into their creative side and expand upon their communication styles during a week dedicated to various art mediums. Deeper connections with the natural world will be made through the use of music, acting, storytelling, drawing, and painting.
Dates: June 3 – 7, 2024
Camp Type: Full Day 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Grades: For children entering 1st – 5th grades
Does pineapple belong on pizza? What about ranch or honey? Regardless of your position on these great pizza debates, you are part of the food web! Campers will spend the week learning about different animal diets, trophic levels, energy transfer and our place in the food web through interactive activities, discovery time outdoors, and more!
Dates: June 10 – 14, 2024
Camp Type: Half Day 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Grades: For children entering 1st – 5th grades
Does pineapple belong on pizza? What about ranch or honey? Regardless of your position on these great pizza debates, you are part of the food web! Campers will spend the week learning about different animal diets, trophic levels, energy transfer and our place in the food web through interactive activities, discovery time outdoors, and more!
Dates: June 24 – 28, 2024
Camp Type: Full Day 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Grades: For children entering 1st – 5th grades
How do tadpoles become frogs? Where do the turtles and snakes go in the winter? Campers will learn the answers to these questions and more in a week dedicated to our cold-blooded counterparts: reptiles and amphibians. Interactive lessons, trail exploration, and meet-and-greets with our resident reptiles will make this a camp to remember!
Dates: July 8 – 12, 2024
Camp Type: Full Day 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Grades: For children entering 6th – 8th grades
This camp week for middle schoolers is a little more mature and relaxed. Team challenges, survival basics, fishing, and plant and animal identification get older children outdoors and thinking critically about the nature around them and the role they play in the world. Longer hikes and tougher lessons in a social setting set these older campers up for success.
Dates: July 29 – August 2, 2024
Camp Type: Full Day 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Grades: For children entering 1st – 5th grades
We love ending summer with the camp that has all our favorite activities! Bug sweeps in the meadow, cattail boat races in the creek, and team shelter building in the woods are some of the activities that will get our hands dirty and our minds full. Every child should have these experiences in nature before they grow up!
