“Look, Aunty, loooook!! It’s a TORTOLE!!”

My 5 yr old nephew Augustine was over-the-moon with his discovery of a real, living reptile crawling through the forest edge on our nature walk that first morning of camp.

The other kids rushed to the scene immediately and the box turtle froze. We hushed the crowd just in time, and the turtle perked back up, blinked a few times, and slowly started moving again. The delight was palpable.

You probably know this,Reader, but allowing yourself to be captivated by wild things with the same degree of awe and attention that children devote to these moments is HEALING.

Every year my mom hosts Grandkids Camp for all her little rascals.

This was the 7th camp, and it was the largest with all 5 of my siblings in town for the first time in years. One lives in Pittsburgh, another in Boston and another in Hawai’i, while the others live nearby.

Collectively they have 15 kids under the age of 16 (and the youngest turned 1 that week)!

Each morning of grandkids camp, Tyler and I gather the kids for Nature School on “sky blanket” (just a big blue cloth haha) so there’s a home base. We teach them an easy owl call so they know when to come back if we send them on a sit spot, or a walk in the woods to explore.

We always review a few skills we’ve learned in past years, so the new kids can catch up, like “deer ears” and “owl eyes” and “fox walk.” We ask them to tell stories of when they practiced at home, and we hear about how they got “this close!!!” to rabbits and birds in the yard.

Then we play games that incorporate these sensory and observation skills. Much of what we teach/facilitate is found in the best book on the subject: Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature by Jon Young, a mentor I highly respect.

A big garden basket is filled with nature journal supplies: notebooks, pencils, tape and glue to press and save flowers, leaves and sketches of their discoveries, which they take home with them to continue filling all year.

This year we included songs. I shared a simple one I learned at my training -

They loved it. And grandma’s bee hives were only a few yards away too.

When we notice the kids have hit their wall for being “managed and directed” we send them off to the woods where we have been building forts with sticks and logs since I was a child in those same woods. I credit my current career as a habitat builder to THIS activity haha.

Grandma (my mom) plans all the other activities, field trips, games, crafts and the best meals with treats, snacks and desserts too. My oldest nieces are super helpful, make an annual film with the kids and sleep outside with them all week. Having a big family is such a blessing.

It’s full blown chaos at times, and other times you’d think it was a military bootcamp, haha. It’s the perfect blend of moments for these kids. Core memories are being made for life.

And much of it is held by the land. The kids are safe to be wild and free much of the time.

I don't know how it would work without that setting. (We’d be overwhelmed and relying on screens.) So I’m really grateful to my dad too, for having the foresight to buy this land (6 acres, in a great location with lots of woods around us) and for working hard to provide for us.

Grandpa (my dad) took a few of the kids fishing each day to lighten the load at home and give them special field trips. They brought home sunnies and smiles.

He made sure the swimming pool was ready and safe with salt water instead of chlorine, mowed the pathways to prevent ticks and poison ivy from being a problem, and he led an epic water gun battle on the last day, among other wonderful contributions. It really takes a village.

By the last night of this week of wonder, the yard was filled with the magic of fireflies on their first skyward venture of the summer. The children were enchanted (some for the first time) by this bioluminescence, attempting to catch the ephemeral lights, while I laid on a blanket to watch them and the stars.

In those moments of total presence the truth is alive - that we are all part of something so magical and healing, that it’s worth protecting for future generations.

I hope this story inspires you to create something engaging and memorable for the children in your life to connect with nature at an early age… and for the adults you know too.

I hope my mom writes that book about how to host a grandkids camp (hi, if you’re reading this, I love you mom! I’m so lucky to have you, you’re the best grandma in the world haha).

And I hope to design more interactive events like this for children and adults as well.

Connecting with nature as a young child forged a sacred bond that has served me well for my entire life and is the foundation of what I find so fulfilling now to share with others.

Feel free to reply with any ideas or collaborations you think of!

Stay wild and full of wonder,

Kendra

PS. You’re also invited to join me on a local adventure, in a place I often visited as a child!

​Learn more about this daylong retreat, Encounter the Wild Unknown, which I am hosting with Zoe from Wild Minds on Monday June 15th.

I can’t count how many times I’ve returned with more clarity and connection than I could have expected, and I want you to experience it, too. <3 Learn more and sign up here! ​

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Written by a human - Kendra Marie Hoffman

"To raise a nature-bonded child is to raise a rebel, a dreamer, an innovator… someone who will walk their own verdant, winding path.” – Nicolette Sowder