Mountain Kids has just completed our eighth season of outdoor adventures in the mountains of Santa Fe and beyond! Our summer included a whole lot of learning and a whole lot of fun in nature! How about you? Learn more about our summer of fun in our Mountain Kids weekly Blog!
With so much research to support the benefits of time spent in nature for all ages, and the sentiments expressed by our intrepid two-day backpackers, we are thrilled to be offering more year-round progamming for kids and adults! Check out our After School Program, Mountain Kids Mondays and Mountain Biking for this fall, with Mountain Mamas Offerings Coming Soon! It’s finally time for the mamas to get out there and have some fun too!🙂 Have a look at our Mountain Kids! offerings now! Mountain Mamas coming soon!
Mountain Kids Core Beliefs
- Nature connection is a gift that lasts a lifetime.
- Safe, unstructured play provides powerful learning.
- Nature fosters self-confidence, awareness, and a caring community.
- Nature is beneficial to our physical and emotional well-being.
- We care for the earth and all its inhabitants.
Our Mission
Mountain Kids is an outdoor education and adventure program for children based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We aim to foster a sense of community and personal challenge, while instilling a love of nature and all that it provides. We offer hands-on experience in nature through exploration, imaginative play, games, stories, songs, art, hiking, and good-old fashioned fun!
Philosophy
Mountain Kids aims to unplug our children and “Leave No Child Inside.” With the current trends of nature deficit disorder and our highly scheduled, technology-driven lives, Mountain Kids aims to hearken back to simpler times where child-centered play in nature was the norm. Children who play in the natural world enjoy a wealth of benefits, including better physical and mental health and improved focus and concentration.
Our goal is to reach all children in Santa Fe and New Mexico, creating a new generation of people who care about the earth. Learn more about the Children and Nature Network and find research supporting the movement, or contact us to join the cause!
History
Mountain Kids began in 2009 out of a mother’s desire to connect her children with nature and a community of outdoor enthusiasts. With a borrowed “Adventure Van” meeting in a backyard, a handful of children and adults began to play in the mountains three days/week during the hot month of June. After the first year, we moved to the Children’s Museum, and three years later to our current location at Fort Marcy.
Seven years later, the concept of taking kids into the mountains to learn, play and grow in nature has caught on, big time! Our community has grown to hundreds of Santa Fe families, and we can now accommodate 39 children in three age groups, 5 days/week, for 12 weeks each summer. In 2015, we added overnight campouts, backpacking and mountain biking. In 2016, we added digital storytelling and more teen camps, due to demand.
