Can’t wait for summer camp 2025? Take a look at this summer’s camps at The Mayapple School’s new location (2895 Old Fort Rd, Blacksburg) near our beloved Price Park and begin planning for summer 2025! Enrollment opens Sunday, February 23, 2025 and is offered on a first come, first serve basis. Check back here that morning for the enrollment link.
Summer Camp Handbook – your questions about scholarships, what to bring to camp, special needs, refund policy, and more, answered here. Reading is required for camp sign up.
Questions about camp? E-mail mayapplemelissa@gmail.com .
| Dates | Name of Camp | Ages | Times | Camp Tuition |
| May 30 | Backyard Campout Fundraiser | all | 5 pm – 10 am | donation-based |
| June 2 – 6 | Eco Immersion | 9 – 12 | 9:15 – 4:00 | $305 |
| June 9 – 13 | Nature Detectives | 6 – 9 | 9:15 – 4:00 | $305 |
| June 16 – 20 | Story & Stage | 4 – 7 | 8:30 – 1:30 | $225 |
| June 23 – 27 | Yes! Paint! | 7 – 10 | 8:45 – 1:45 | $225 |
| June 23 – 27 | Mess Makers | 3 – 6 | 8:30 – 1:30 | $225 |
| June 30 – July 4 | Little Limnologists | 3 – 6 | 8:30 – 3:30 | $315 |
| June 30 – July 4 | Outdoor Engineers | 7 – 10 | 9:00 – 4:00 | $315 |
| July 7 – 9 | Mini Forest School | 2.5 – 4.5 | 8:30 – 11:30 | $90 |
| July 7 – 11 | Wild Science: Earth, Wind, Water, Fire | 5 – 8 | 9:00 – 3:00 | $270 |
| July 14 – 17 | Dairy Camp at Keffer Dairy in Craig Co. | 4 – 7 | 8:45 – 1:15 | $165 |
| July 14 – 18 | IMPACT Art | 11 – 14 | 9:00 – 3:30 | $295 |
| July 21 – 25 | Fairies and Gnomes | 3 – 6 | 9:00 – 12:00 | $150 |
| July 28 – July 31 | How to Catch a Monster | 3 – 6 | 9:00 – 2:00 | $225 |
Continue reading for descriptions of all camps. All camps are outdoors and take place rain or shine.
Backyard Campout Fundraiser
Are you looking for a risk-free campout that’s just a tiny bit more challenging than your own backyard? Join us for a night filled with campfires and marshmallows, fireflies and friendship right here at The Mayapple School. Bring your own tents and sleeping bags to set up on the lawn or outdoor classroom, and fall asleep with the stars with the comfort of flush toilets only a short walk away. Stay until morning or leave at midnight for the creature comforts of home– it’s up to you. Demand for scholarships was high this school year, and your donation allows us to continue offering scholarships for camp this summer.
Dairy Camp
Experience life on a working dairy in the Sinking Creek Valley of Craig County at the Keffer Dairy, a three-generation farm. Campers will learn about farm animals and crops, insect pollinators, and farm machines from experienced farmers and educators. We’ll make dairy products, learn and experience proper calf feeding and handling first hand, hike the cow hill, explore tractors and farming implements, and play games on the hay bales. Keffer Dairy will offer early drop off for one day (date TBD) at 8 am so campers can see the milking process. Please note there is no camp on Friday. This camp is not recommended for campers with a dairy allergy.
Eco Immersion
What happens when we see ourselves as part of nature? At this immersive camp designed to strengthen our bond with animals, plants, and the natural landscape, we’ll engage in activities like creating art from natural materials, foraging, species identification, making and using tools, natural movement, and making and cooking over campfires. Our connection to nature benefits both ourselves and the Earth as we learn Leave No Trace principles and participate in Citizen Science projects that contribute to environmental knowledge. Join us for a transformative experience where we reconnect with nature and learn how to protect it for the future.
Please note, this camp involves activities with inherent risks, including handling fire, whittling with knives, and responsibilities such as off-trail travel and foraging. A signed camper code of conduct is required before participation.
Fairies and Gnomes
The natural world glimmers with magic and fantasy at this summer camp where it’s all about fairies and gnomes! Children will participate in themed read alouds, songs, storytelling, and dramatic play. We’ll also play with size and scale with our “tiny fairy selves” and by making gnome homes before we size up to decorate gnome hats that fit our own heads. We’ll mix “magic potions”, learn how to help garden fairies and tooth fairies, and create art while exploring The Mayapple School’s outdoor classroom and Price Park.
How to Catch a Monster
Maybe you know the Big Green Monster, or perhaps Nibbles, the Terrible Whatzit, Wild Things, or the Gruffalo. During this camp, we’ll enjoy meeting these and other monsters in their books, and we’ll also imagine an escape! Yes, that’s right– it’s up to us to find and catch a monster, which we can only do by solving a set of “escape room” style puzzles that use all of our smarts and creativity. Through books, pretend play, a food-making project, and art, children will practice becoming masters of their own imagination, allowing the world of monsters to thrill them before packing that monster away (because after all, monsters are only pretend).
Impact Art
What makes an artist? In this camp, we’ll learn about artists that are making an impact on the world through their art and dive into their unique mediums. Campers will make and use their own spray paint stencils, design and paint collaborative murals, install land art with found natural materials at Price Park, and carve and exchange linocuts. This camp challenges campers to think critically about the public impact of art and to take responsibility for their own creative expression. Activities include using house paints, low voc spray paint, x-acto knives, and tools with carving blades; signed camper codes of conduct are required before attendance. Campers should bring a work glove for their non-dominant hand to wear while carving.
Little Limnologists
Our littlest scientists enter into the world of Limnology, the study of fresh waters, through hands-on experiences at Price Park. We’ll start the week by exploring creek creatures and their adaptations, such as caddisflies and crayfish. Finding and making model rafts out of natural materials, experimenting with buoyancy, making model watersheds, and searching for salamanders will continue our studies. Campers will also have the chance to become citizen-scientists by learning about water pollution and filtration, and testing the waters for nitrates, which we will then share online at Nitrate Watch.
Mess Makers
Young artists and materials scientists will explore their creativity with a variety of process-art and sensory filled experiences. We’ll make slime with psyllium husk powder, create reused materials collages, and make our own playdough. Of course, this camp can’t be complete without tie-dye, face and body painting, and water play! From too much glue to watermelon volcanoes, be prepared to make a mess! Let’s splatter some paint! (And don’t worry, you can wash your hands when you’re done!)
Mini Forest School
Our very youngest campers get an introduction to the rhythms and activities of Mayapple at this three half day summer camp. Each day, we’ll gather together for songs, games, and stories before venturing over to nearby Price Park. There, we’ll participate in creek play, look for crayfish, build animal “dens” out of sticks, and go on a scavenger hunt. Parachute play and daily crafts or sensory explorations contribute to make this a perfect first outdoor summer camp experience.
Nature Detectives
Discover the secrets of the animal world through exploration of animal signs, adaptations, predator/prey relationships, and the senses. Explore what animals eat, where they live, and how they communicate. Through games, dramatic play, art projects, nature explorations at Price Park, and even an owl pellet dissection, we’ll enter the world of birds, mammals, reptiles, and more. (Note: This camp has been re-named from “Animal Adventures.”)
Outdoor Engineers
Young architects, engineers, and makers will build structures and solve problems during five STEAM-filled days. Campers will experiment with simple machines, solve problems using unlikely materials, and practice teamwork. We’ll look at how fire works, and experiment with the properties of water, earth, and wind. We’ll read maps and take a look at urban planning before we go back to the basics and make our own (temporary) structures at Price Park. Whether we are making our own model rockets and learning about projectile science, or designing the best set of newspaper shoes to cross our handmade bridges, this camp asks us to meet a new challenge every day.
Story & Stage
Does your child live for the immersive, complex imaginary play that seems to take over and become their whole world for an afternoon… or more? This camp is for them! In this session, campers will role play different parts in stories and create and act out their own, with a performance for families held at 1:00 p.m. on Friday. Other activities can include storytelling and song by the campfire and making and using props, costumes, and puppets.
Wild Science: Earth, Wind, Water, Fire
Water, wind, earth, and fire- we’re just as fascinated by these elemental forces as you are, so let’s explore them! In this camp, we’ll make a campfire and learn about campfire safety, make and fly our own kites, and practice skipping rocks at Price Park. We’ll use the sun and fire to help us make art, experiment with a wind tunnel, and look for clues in real pieces of triceratops horn fossils. These are some of the many gifts that this planet gives to us, and in this camp we’ll show our gratitude by becoming Earth Protectors as we make “bug hotels” and participate in a creek clean up.
Yes! Paint!
This summer brings all new art projects to our Yes!Paint! Camp. From making plaster-of-paris masks, to painting en plein air at Price Park; from a beginner’s experience throwing clay on a pottery wheel to experimenting with the art of the collograph – young artists will take their love of arts and crafts to the next level. Along the way, we’ll adventure on some nature explorations at Price Park to inspire us and play games to hone our visual skills. The Camper Art Show for families will be held the last 30 minutes of camp on Friday.
