Camp Kawartha's mission is to inspire environmental leaders and stewards of all ages through dynamic, accessible, year-round outdoor programming and powerful partnerships to create meaningful change. | |
Adventures in Regenerative Living | |
The 4 R's: Rewilding, renewing, replenishing and regenerating
What if we aimed for more than just sustaining the world as it is? What if we focused on regenerating it—on leaving every place better, richer, and more full of life? Regeneration is about healing the land, restoring habitats, and creating spaces where both people and nature can thrive together. Imagine schoolyards transformed into living classrooms, where trees grow, birds nest, and children learn among wildflowers. Picture communities where every backyard, park, and shared space becomes a haven for biodiversity. At Camp Kawartha, we believe that every child, parent, and teacher has the power to bring nature back—one garden, one tree, one act of care at a time. Let’s not just sustain. Let’s renew, replenish, and rewild the spaces we call home.
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March Break Camp at the Environment Centre
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'We always say this is the best camp in town!' (parent testimonial)
Join us for an awesome adventure during March Break! Our experienced, dynamic team of outdoor educators will help your child explore and enjoy the Trent Wildlife Sanctuary from one of Canada's most sustainable buildings!
At EC March Break Camp kids can connect with nature and friends through outdoor exploration, fun-filled games, and exciting lessons & activities.
Playing in the outdoors is essential for healthy childhood development. Give your kids the gift of a week full of Vitamin N.
- When: March 10th to 14th (9 am to 4 pm)
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Where: Camp Kawartha Environment Centre - 2505 Pioneer Road, Peterborough
- Who: Ages 6 to 12
- What: Fun, Games, Adventures, Friends, Music, Outdoor Skills, Special Guests, Snowshoeing, Nature Art, Animal Tracking, Wildlife Studies & more!!!
Registration is open now!
Visit our website for more information and to register or contact Serhii Chlek at (705) 652-3860 ext. 201 or by email.
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🌞🦋 Dreaming About Summer🪶🌞 | |
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Remember those nights around the camp-fire! And the laughs you shared with old and new friends? That first glimpse of the blue water as you get out of the car on the first day? The expectation of adventure? The joy of being one with the world?
We do too!
We're so excited for the 2025 season of summer camp! We can't wait to get out on the water on our Canoe Trips and Leadership Adventures! Or to head back onto the range with our Day Programs and Overnight camps. Summer is a time of growth and connection, relaxation and renewal, as well as play, fun and, of course, s'mores!
Come join us this summer! At Camp Kawartha we love seeing children's faces light up when a butterfly lands on their hand or the confidence that comes through the camaraderie and thrill of travelling the land by canoe.
At Camp Kawartha, we have top-ropes and climbing walls, archery and swimming, games and crafts. But our campers also experience the ease that comes with regenerative living: Camp Kawartha now hosts four neutral straw-bale buildings across both it's locations, as well as ecologically beneficial water purification, solar panels, organic and pollinator gardens. We aim to inspire the future leaders, artists and creative thinkers of tomorrow!
Join us at both our locations, at Clear Lake and at our Environment Centre! Each location offers children and youth a wide variety of experiences and wilderness adventures.
If you haven't yet signed up, come join us! We have Day Programs, Overnight Camps, Canoe Trips and Leadership Adventures. Our Environment Centre Summer Camp also has spaces left for Wild Clover, Day Camps and Leadership Camps. Book now! All registration is open and spots are filling up!
To register or inquire about sessions, please reach out to our registrar Serhii at serhii@campkawartha.ca.
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Inspiring Education for a Regenerative Future | |
"Camp Kawartha continues to provide the most thoughtful, challenging, inclusive, and engaging programming. Their knowledgeable staff never fail to thoroughly engage our students in ways that are considerably more challenging to execute in a traditional classroom setting. The location provides ample opportunities for students to disconnect from the myriad distractions of life at school, while simultaneously allowing them to connect with each other on a a deeper and more meaningful level. We aim to return every chance we get" | |
We are booking into next year but there are a few spots left!
Immerse your students in a hands-on outdoor learning adventure. Camp Kawartha’s school trips include engaging, curriculum-linked activities, comfortable accommodations, healthy meals, and seamless support to ensure an unforgettable experience for educators and students alike.
Bring your class to:
- Experience nature firsthand, forging a lifelong bond with the environment.
- Engage in over 60 award-winning, curriculum-linked outdoor and environmental programs.
- Witness sustainable living practices in action and acquire vital knowledge and skills to care for our planet.
- Become advocates and leaders for a regenerative future that includes all living and non-living entities.
Our educators are highly trained professionals, equipped with the necessary certifications and experience. They are committed to inspiring environmental leaders and stewards of all ages through dynamic, year-round outdoor programming and strategic partnerships aimed at creating meaningful change
We are recognized leaders in environmental education with our innovative sustainable buildings; vegetable, herb and pollinator gardens; plus 185 acres of forests, fields, and wetlands located in the heart of the Kawartha Lakes that provide an ideal setting for teaching children and youth to love, understand, and care for the natural world. The hands-on experiences we offer to children and youth serve as living examples of how people and nature can thrive together.
Join us at both our Clear Lake site where offer Overnight Visits, Day Visits as well as our New Extended Day Visits (with campfires and s'mores!). Or book your class for a Day Visit at the Environment Centre, one of Canada's most sustainable and regenerative buildings. If you'd like to keep your class closer to home, why not book us to come to you! Our team of award-winning educators loves to bring our programming to your classroom and schoolyard!
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P.S. For local schools booking at the Environment Centre, we offer a bus subsidy generously supported by the Gainey Foundation to help make our mandate of connecting kids with nature a reality. | |
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Maple Syrup time is just around the corner!
Bring your class to learn about the marvels of maple syrup! We tap our own trees and offer invigorating and unforgettable programs about the importance that trees have in our world! Kids and teachers are gifted with some fresh maple taffy at the end of the lesson.
Book early to access our seasonal programs!
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CK's 'Outdoors for All Program'
Too often, children experience barriers to engaging with nature! Through our generous donors, Camp Kawartha's 'Outdoors for All Program' seeks to empower children from the greater Peterborough region and beyond, regardless of financial circumstances, have the opportunity to learn, grow, and evolve into engaged environmental citizens of tomorrow. Be a part of transformative outdoor education of all!
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🌈 Engage 🌞Learn 🦋 Inspire 🐝
Environment Centre Nature School
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Celebrating our Future Generations
The Camp Kawartha Environment Centre Nature School is a place where healthy kids grow into compassionate and empowered adults. We wanted to share this video with you, filmed by Rodney Fuentes (whose film the Monarch Ultra was also at Reframe)! It's one of our favourites from a few years ago.
Come join us for a transformative education that inspires future generations to care for each other and the planet. Our programs foster whole-child learning through experiential learning and play. Our students gain a deep understanding of and connection with the land. Their knowledge of plants, animals and the way nature works goes well beyond curricular expectations. At the Environment Centre Nature School, we foster well-being so that our students can engage fully with their world and become the environmental leaders of the future, whatever career road they end up travelling!
We still have some space in our Winter programs and registration is now open for our Spring sessions!
Forest Explorers (Mon & Wed: Ages 4-7); Woodsy Wednesdays & Forest Fridays (Wed & Fri: Ages 8-13); Rootwood (Tues: Ages 13-17); and Forest Adventures, our new monthly Saturday program for ages 8-13!
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Sharing what we do!
We were excited to have a film at the ReFrame Film Festival this year by renowned film-maker Anne Marie Jackson! What an amazing line-up for the Festival, featuring so many local people and communities. Here is an option to watch the WILD PATH HOME one more time!
Keep a watch out for Jacob Rodenburg's and Cathy Duek's new book: Wild Home: A Guide to Raising the Earth Stewards of Tomorrow. This book offers practical guidance and inspiration for fostering a culture of stewardship and connection. This invaluable resource will hit the shelves this fall!
We have other online resource to engage and inspire our community! Check out our Resources for Teachers and Parents!
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Camp Kawartha isn't just for kids... | | |
Team Building for Businesses
Camp Kawartha’s award-winning team-building programs are designed to energize, motivate, and strengthen your team. Through interactive activities and expert guidance, we help build communication skills, foster collaboration, and inspire new strategies to thrive in today’s fast-paced work environment. Perfect for corporate retreats, group workshops, and professional development.
Come bring your team to do cooperative games and team-building or enjoy our range on snow-shoes or skis. Businesses love combining work with pleasure. Book team-building activities for the morning, enjoy a delicious lunch and then settle down for some work sessions in the afternoon!
We also book Weddings and other Events at both our Clear Lake and Environment Centre Sites!
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Our Annual Report
Read all about our amazing accomplishments this year!
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Our Annual Report is out!
What an amazing year we had! We've shared a lot of our accomplishments through our newsletters and will be sharing more in this upcoming year!
This will be our 10th summer camp season. Campers will enjoy a newly rebuilt straw bale cabin that has won environmental awards even before it's finished it's build! Our Kinder Hub playscape is now complete and we have our new Biofilter waste management system that will benefit our shorelines and waters.
Our summer camp is the mother tree of Camp Kawartha, a tree which now has many daughter trees and saplings growing alongside her. We offer year-round environmental education opportunities at both our Clear Lake and Environment Centre sites. Last year we welcomed over 4,000 students from 76 schools. Through our partnerships with foundations and other generous donors, we strive to make these educational opportunities available for all, regardless of financial situation.
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We are a hub for conferences and community connections! We recently hosted the Council for Outdoor Educators in Ontario (COEO) for their annual 'Make Peace With Winter Conference'. Earlier this year, the annual Adventure in Understanding program that brings Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth together in an unforgettable canoe trip, stopped at Camp Kawartha's two sites on their way from Nogojiwanong to Curve Lake.
Check out our Annual Report to read more about all the exciting opportunities happening at Camp Kawartha.
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Birch Cabin: Embodying Sustainability Education
In late January, Cam Douglas brought his Youth Leadership and Sustainability class to help build Birch Cabin!
Their task was to insulate the floor. Instead of using Styrofoam (full of toxins and high embodied energy), the YLS students shoveled glavel (recycled glass made into briquettes) in between the joists. This light-weight, high compressive and moisture resistant material has a high embodied carbon value and is an excellent choice for sustainable architecture.
We're thrilled that 24 more youth are now empowered to make sustainable and regenerative architectural choices that give back to the planet! Many of our regenerative buildings have been built through educational opportunities. YLS students also helped to build our new award-winning Health Centre. Our Environment Centre was entirely designed and built by Fleming students and the post-and-beam shelter there was built by high-school students from Holy Cross (who always pay a visit each year to help us with a project!). We're always excited to raise our embodied educational footprint to inspire youth for a regenerative future.
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Check Our New Gifts!
Check out our gift store for the nature lovers in your life! Our merchandise supports ecologically responsible companies. Our Eco Nation stuffies are made from recycled materials and are so soft and cuddly! We've got new clothing and accessories (we consider carabiners and guide books to be essential accessories!).
All of the proceeds from the gift store supports our programs!
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Rainbow Cupcakes!
Take your favourite vanilla cupcake recipe and bring them alive with colour and creativity! Just some of the amazing food from our chefs at Camp Kawar
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Here are some amazing pictures of the life all around us! Send in your pictures and a story! We'd love to hear about your moments of awe and adventure! In our next newsletter, we'll share some of the moments from around our community. | |
Quiet walk in Mark S. Burnham Park | |
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☃️ ~Enjoy the Outdoors~ ☃️ | | | | |
