Kids 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. 

Kids Adventure Days:

  • Standard Rate: $105 + tax
  • Supported Rate: $90 + tax
  • Community Rate: $75 + 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)

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. 

Spring Break Adventure Camp:

  • Standard Rate: $525 + tax
  • Supported Rate: $450 + tax
  • Community Rate: $375 + tax

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.

If you are interested in our After-School Adventures program or have questions, please 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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Foraging in the Forest

Summer Camp Week 2: June 3-7, 2024

Foraging in the forest is an exciting week learning about plants as allies, tools, medicine, food, and fun!

On Monday, we explored plants as shelter by using down, dead and dry aspen to build the base of our shelters, and learning about Old Man’s Beard, Pine, and Grasses to waterproof our shelters. Trees and plants also served as great hiding spots for a classic game of Eagle Eye. Our Hummingbirds (youngest campers) got very excited about making their personal plant page; building their curiosity about each new plant friend.

Tuesday was tool day, exploring the uses of Yucca to make cordage, soap and clothing. We also talked about the uses of plants and made a salve to illustrate the many uses of plants. A hike to the Hyde Park waterfall was a wonderful way to cool off on a hot day in the mountains. Our oldest campers (Eagles) gained experience with safe knife-use learning how to whittle to make a spear, or a pair of chopsticks.

On Wednesday and Thursday we explored plants as food and medicine on the Big Tesuque trail; collecting edible plants to make nourishing and yummy teas. Of course, every conversation about edible plants includes a caveat that campers are never to eat any plant without permission from an experienced and knowledgable adult. We learned about edible dandelions and talked about juniper, mullein and some plants to avoid (Monk’s Hood).

Friday at the Norski trail was an opportunity to learn to identify trees, tell stories, and press some of the plentiful wildflowers in the forest. Team building with games like Otter in the Water and shelter building gave everyone an opportunity to consider how to work together toward a common goal; an important skill to bring back into our daily lives.

What a wonderful week of plants and playing in the mud (Eagles). Thanks to our plant expert, Bek, for designing the curriculum for a fun and educational week of foraging in the forest.

foraging in the forest
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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 19: Cooking Adventures in Nature

Monday morning greeted the Mountain Kids with the chance to harvest apples at the beaver ponds, which of course included some tree climbing for those who felt called to do so!

The Eagles were very successful in the apple hunt, picking more than 200 apples in a short amount of time! They did most of the coring and slicing of apples to make apple sauce for everyone to take home. (The Hummers would have their turn on Thursday with the peaches!)

On Tuesday morning we sliced and strung apples to dry them for a lovely dried fruit snack.

The remainder of the day was spent hiking at Tsankawi,
part of Bandelier National Monument. The children learned about how the Ancestral Pueblo people once lived. While enjoying lunch in a wonderfully cool cave dwelling. Mountain Kids learned of the many different types of food and animals in the local area and the ways in which the Native peoples would have gone about harvesting and hunting them for food.

 

On Wednesday, we headed out to Rio en Medio, where we were able to gather fallen acorns and experience the sweet taste of freshly plucked red currant berries and a few raspberries along the trail.

The heat of the afternoon was spent splashing about the crisp river water, creating dams and building boats from nature to sail down the river. On our travels back to Santa Fe, the Mountain Kids spotted a couple of beautiful fruit trees full of apricots and apples, which they harvested for a juicy afternoon snack! Foraging sure is fun, and tasty. 🙂

The Eagles hiked to the Rio en Medio waterfall, crossing the river many times, an adventure in itself. It was a challenge if you wanted to keep your feet dry!  We and had a blast getting wet and exploring the frigid waterfall at the end of the hike.

That afternoon the Eagles headed to Chupadero for our Cooking Adventure Campout. We roasted our dinner in the ground (Chicken, sweet potatoes, and corn), learned how to use a handdrill and bowdrill to start a fire, and pitched a large shade structure to provide respite from the hot sun.

We enjoyed time around the campfire roasting apples, apricots and telling stories. A quick rainstorm didn’t deter us from a fun evening under the stars.

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday morning started with an early trip to the Tesuque Pueblo, where the Hummingbirds and the Eagles joined together to pick peaches for the Pueblo people.

In return for the hard work gathering the fruit, we were able to pick our own peaches to enjoy and take home. Soon after we found our way to Chupadero where we spent the afternoon slicing peaches for a fruit compote and practicing archery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everyone got to take home fresh peaches that afternoon. YUM!!

With our bellies full of sweet fruit, it was nice to spend Friday playing in the woods and exploring our creative side. The Mountain Kids headed up and into the mountains where we spent the afternoon building shelters at Aspen Vista, creating hand made bows, arrows, and spears (from sticks, rocks, and yarn). It was a ‘sweet’ end to a super sweet and tasty week of foraging, eating, camping and archery! What an awesome end to an amazing summer 2019! Thank you families for being a part of it! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

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