No-School Adventure Days

— When School Is Out, Adventure Is In! —

After days spent inside the classroom, kids are ready to stretch their legs, breathe fresh air, and let their imaginations run wild. Our No-School Adventure Days give children the chance to trade desks and screens for trails, creeks, and forests—where learning happens through play, movement, and discovery.

Each day is packed with hands-on adventures like shelter-building, animal tracking, crafting, hiking, and storytelling. These activities spark curiosity, build confidence, and inspire a lifelong connection to the natural world. Our camps provide a safe, fun, and energizing way for kids to recharge in nature during their time off from school.

Open to: Ages 5-12

Drop-off & Pick-up: Patrick Smith Park

Hours: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm 

Spring 2026 Dates:

  • Friday, May 1, 2026
  • Monday, May 4, 2026

Cost: See below: “Sliding Scale Pricing”

Challenge Level: (Age-Appropriate)

NEW: Sliding Scale Pricing

We’re committed to making Mountain Kids! programs accessible to all families. That’s why we now offer Sliding Scale Pricing—no scholarship application required. When you register, choose the tuition level that works best for your family. If additional assistance is needed, please don’t hesitate to contact us. 

No-School Adventure Days:

  • Option 1: $75 + tax
  • Option 2: $90 + tax
  • Option 3: $105 + tax

Space is limited, so don’t wait. Register Today!

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Spring Break Adventure Camp

 

— Spring into Adventure! —

Join us for Spring Break Adventure Camp!

Celebrate the season of growth, exploration, and fresh air with Mountain Kids! During Spring Break Adventure Camp, kids will spend their days discovering, playing, and adventuring outdoors. Each day features hands-on exploration, nature-inspired art, games, hiking adventures, and skill-building activities—designed to spark curiosity and joy in the changing spring landscape.

Rain or shine, we’ll explore a different outdoor location in the Santa Fe area each day, traveling together in our Adventure Van and letting the natural world guide our adventures.

Our programs build confidence, encourage creativity, and foster a meaningful connection to nature. Designed for children ages 5–12, Spring Break Adventure Camp offers a safe, fun, and energizing way for kids to unplug, recharge, and welcome spring during their time off from school.

Open to: Ages 5-12 (Grades K-6)

Drop-off & Pick-up: Patrick Smith Park

Hours: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm daily

Dates: Monday, March 30 – Friday, April 3rd

Cost: Sliding Scale – Choose the tuition level that works for your family.

Challenge Level: (Age-Appropriate)

Space is limited. Register Today!

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After-School Adventures

Join Mountain Kids! for an adventurous, nature-filled, skill-building, and wildly fun after-school program this fall.

We are now offering school pick-up and longer hours to support working parents and get more kids out to play!

Mountain Kids will explore a diversity of trails around Santa Fe. Kids will learn and play through engaging games, activities and hiking adventures. Themes include ecology, nature awareness, survival skills, and seasonal cycles.

Spending time in nature is beneficial to children’s social, emotional, and physical health. Children develop greater confidence, teamwork, and build tolerance for adversity by spending time outside. Kids have fun, get dirty, and (best for parents) tired!

Winter/Spring 2026

Open to: Ages 5-12 (K-6th Grade)

Parent Pick-up: Patrick Smith Park or Santa Fe Canyon Preserve

Program Days & Hours:

  • Tuesdays & Thursdays: ~3:00 – 6:00 pm
  • Fridays: ~1:00 – 6:00 pm

Dates:

  • Winter Session (8 weeks): February 3 – March 27
  • Spring Session: (7 weeks): April 7 – May 22

Cost: 

  • Sliding Scale Tuition: We remain committed to accessibility. Tuition for both sessions will include a sliding-scale option.

Challenge Level:  (Age-Appropriate)

School Pick-Up Requirements & Locations

  • 2-child minimum per school for pick-up:
    • If fewer than two children from your child’s school are registered, families are welcome to drop off at the park. 

      • Parent Drop-off:
        • Tuesday & Thursday, 4:00 pm; Santa Fe Canyon Preserve
        • Friday, 1:30 pm; Patrick Smith Park.
  • 6-child minimum per program day:
    • We need at least six participants to run each day of programming.
  • 14-day refund window:
    • We encourage families to try the program for two weeks, and welcome cancellations and refunds within that time frame.
    • No refunds will be issued after 14 days from the start of each session.

Space is limited, register your child today!

Have questions? Don’t hesitate to get in touch with Program Director, Gwen Lyons, at gwen@mountainkidsnm.org.

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Repetition is Good!

Why Repetition Matters in Nature-Based Learning

At Mountain Kids! camp, you might notice that certain themes, stories, and activities reappear from year to year—like building survival shelters, exploring insect habitats, or learning how to purify water. This repetition isn’t just tradition—it’s intentional, and it plays a powerful role in your child’s development.

Here’s why children thrive when themes and experiences repeat in outdoor education:

1. Familiarity Builds Comfort and Confidence

Returning to a familiar story or activity—like hiking a beloved trail or learning how to whittle—gives children a sense of security. In nature, where so much can change with the weather or season, predictable rhythms help children feel grounded and safe.

2. Mastery Through Repetition

Each time a child revisits an activity, they deepen their understanding and build new skills. Whether it’s identifying birdsong or safely using hand tools, repeated practice allows campers to grow more capable and confident each year.

3. Deepening Learning Over Time

Nature is a rich teacher, and repetition gives children the chance to notice more details with each encounter. A frog pond visited last year becomes a deeper source of curiosity this year, revealing new layers of learning as their brains and interests develop.

4. Emotional Connection and Joy

Familiar activities carry emotional memories. Singing the same campfire song or walking the same morning trail evokes joy, creates traditions, and builds a lasting bond with the natural world.

5. Pattern Recognition and Seasonal Awareness

Repetition in nature—like watching leaves change color each fall or tracking animal tracks in the snow—helps children recognize natural cycles. These patterns foster ecological awareness and support early scientific thinking.

6. Lifelong Learning and Transferable Skills

As children repeat and refine their outdoor experiences, they begin to apply what they’ve learned to new situations—understanding how weather affects different ecosystems or how teamwork improves a group project. This generalization is key to lifelong learning.

In Nature, Every “Repeat” Is a New Discovery

Even when we revisit the same activities, nature ensures that no two experiences are ever exactly alike. With each return, children notice something new, grow a little more, and deepen their connection to the world around them. That’s the magic of learning through repetition—especially when it’s rooted in the rhythms of the natural world.

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Raising Resilient, Confident, Aware, Nature-Loving Kids

As a parent of young adults (my kids are now 18 and 20), I look back on the years my kids spent with Mountain Kids! with gratitude for who they have become as a result of their time in nature. I know that the qualities of resilience, confidence, problem solving, awareness, and a deep love of the natural world stem from the summers they spent in the mountains.

At Mountain Kids! campers build resilience by climbing a mountain peak or camping for the first time. They build confidence by learning skills such as building a campfire or a survival shelter and sleeping in it. They develop problem solving skills by working together, resolving conflict, and helping each other through compassionate, self-aware actions. At Mountain Kids! we learn that we need to function as a team to thrive.

Our campers develop a deep love of the natural world by learning about it; tracking animals, gaining plant knowledge, and spending mindful time in nature which translates to greater awareness in all areas of life. Importantly, kids also have fun! They are developing a love of the natural world, a relationship that lasts a lifetime.

Because of who my kids have become, I am even more passionate than ever for all kids to spend time in nature. I know that these experiences have made them who they are today; confident, resilient, aware, compassionate, lovers of nature. These values contribute to their sense of trust and adventure in the world, and their willingness to try new things. 

My son spent last semester in Chile, living in a new culture with a family, learning a new language, climbing mountains, and navigating it all with confidence and grace. He is now bilingual and has gained even more confidence by thriving in a new environment.

My daughter is a high school senior, and despite the challenges that adolescence brings, she remains keenly aware of her surroundings, resilient in the face of disappointment, and one of the best problem solvers I know. 

I can rest at night knowing that nature did its job. Their nature-rich childhoods have given them the tools to thrive as young adults in an ever-changing and challenging world. 

My wish is for your kids to have the same opportunity and the gift of time in nature. 

Together, let’s build resilient, confident, compassionate, problem solving, aware and nature-loving kids. 

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A Walk on the Wildside

Our Saturday Wildside group had a blast this past week hiking along the Santa Fe River.

We started the day finding north and orienteering for treasure; it turns out kids can use their spidey senses to find treasure (apples and oranges), rather than compasses. 😉 We also used a stick compass to find north and all four directions, so easy and useful.

We were challenged in some physical agility; walking across logs, climbing and descending muddy slopes, and playing King of the Log; where one person tries to  bounce an opponent off a log without touching them. A fun new game!

The rope swing was another fun-filled challenge, with some giddy swinging and Tarzan whoops filling the warm winter day. Only two kids took to the river for a wee splash and were none the worse for wear. Plastic bags and extra socks sure come in handy for wet feet on a winter day outside.

We hiked down the river through towering cottonwoods, in awe of the beauty, and the two hawks we encountered, who were just as interested in watching us as we were them.

We finished our day with a lesson on how to harvest willow and used our kitchen peelers to take the medicine rich bark from the plant. Each Mountain Kid went home with a paper sack of bark to make tea as a remedy for fever, diarrhea or sunburn.

What a beautiful winter day to wander and play along the Santa Fe river.

#mountainkids #santafe #simplysantafe #letyourkidsouttoplay #kidsnature #kidsoutside #plantmedicine #winterwander #adventures

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August 12 : The Artist’s Adventure

What better way to start an adventure than by making a pouch to place all of your treasures in! On Monday we began our week by setting up a felting station in Hyde Park Campground, from where we played games, took a hike to a waterfall nearby and got wet and soapy. The smell of wet wool and lanolin was an interesting experience for the children. We learned that heat, water and friction together create an effective felting technique.

On Tuesday we had a go at needle felting a picture each. This is a fun art project to do – painting through color and form with felt onto a flat piece of felted fabric. These pictures were completed the following morning as we had a hike to make and some old-style camp shirts to turn into handy shopping/gear bags! We did this in the field down from Big Tesuque after lunch by cutting the sleeves and neck off the t-shirts, cutting one inch sections along the bottom part of the shirt and then knotting these together in pairs – Et Voila! A bag with a Mountain Kids Logo and design!

Games, of course, are a most important piece of our days together – tail Tag was voted as a number one experience this week, and Eagle Eye was also liberally enjoyed!

On Wednesday we went to Los Golondrinas for a day of learning about the times gone by and their life styles. The school room was tiny, our children looked well fed and way too big to stay seated and work at those desks! There was a little something interesting for each child there, but we sure were tired on our return!

Thursday saw the completion of the felted pouches at a second felting station by the river at the Ski Basin. We made a quick pot of Osage Orange bark to dye our cotton yarn for to make finger knit handles with, then left these to dry and settle while we took a hike down to the meadow below. Two female cows and their calves were in the middle of the trail at some point but we navigated the protective parents and this sweet scene with ease and frolicked in and over a river lined with wildflowers, clover and big mushrooms.

It sure was a busy and productive week with a lot fun to be had while crafting our way through!

 

 

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August 5: Mud, Clay, & Camouflage

It’s been another muddy good week with the Mountain Kids! It all began with an adventure to Deer Creek, where the Hummingbirds and the Eagles discovered several puddles of mud, camouflaged themselves from head to toe, and cooled down with an afternoon spent playing in the flowing water. While the Hummingbirds played in the stream much closer to the trailhead, the Eagles enjoyed a lengthier hike up to the ‘swimming pools’, where they practiced their [what felt to be] cold plunge and admired the beauty of the waterfall!

Tuesday, the two teams parted for different adventures. While the Eagles explored their way up the Santa Fe river, from Patrick Smith Park, the Hummingbirds took a sweet little adventure to Glorieta, where they gathered local clay, before heading back to the park due to incoming weather. While the adventures in Glorieta were short lived, the two teams enjoyed the opportunity to recombine at the park and spend an afternoon sculpting sweet pieces of art with our freshly harvested clay.

Wednesday morning started with a fun craft which showed the Mountain Kids how to create paintbrushes from yucca and painting pigments from different crushed up elements and stones. Before long, both teams were on their way to Abiquiu Lake, where the Mountain Kids found ample amounts of mud, dug through the dirt, sand, mud, and clay, and made a splash for several hours in the lake.

The Eagles and Hummingbirds headed up to the Big Tesuqe Trail for their Thursday adventures. While the two teams participated in separate hikes, both, the Eagles and Hummingbirds were able to practice their camouflage skills through games such as Eagle Eye” and “Pig”. Of course there was plenty of time, too, for the kids play in the water as they wished! Several of the Eagles competed in a dam building competition and used their wild imaginative creativity in order to build fairy houses along the river.

Friday found both teams exploring the Santa Fe River with an adventure up to the nearby tire swing. During our hike up the River, the Mountain Kids found several different berries and plants which we broke down into vibrant body paints. The afternoon was filled with much fun, playing at the Cerro Gordo Park, in the river, and on the tire swing! Our day was finished with a sweet little treat and a lovely lesson on bee keeping. One of our Hummingbird campers is a local bee keeper and brought a jar of his recently harvested honey to share with us, in addition to showing us his gear and talking us through the process of beekeeping. It wasn’t long after our lesson on bees that each Mountain Kid began running around and involving themselves in a massive water fight to end an exciting week!

 

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