Woodland Playhouse 2023 Summer Camp Details
1a. Music Camp - June 26-30, 2023
Ages: 4 - 8 years
Dates: June 26 - 30, 2022
Location: 5571 State Route 28
Times: 9:00a-3:00p
Come and listen, move and play with us! Uncle Rock returns with us for another year. Campers will use their whole bodies to feel, create, and appreciate the life and sounds in music. We will spend our time together dancing, singing, and making music! Your campers will feel the joy and power that comes with the expression of music while also enjoying ample time to celebrate and experience all the wonders of summer.
Program Special Guest:
Uncle Rock is a renowned Hudson Valley children's performer also known as writer-musician-teacher Robert Burke Warren. His "rock of all ages" family music is a mixture of Shel Silverstein meets Buddy Holly, the Ramones meets Pete Seeger. Uncle Rock songs have been satellite radio hits, placed in movies, and even performed by the Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Performances are interactive, high-energy, and educational. Cross-generational, enlightened, toe-tappin' tunes for kids from 2 to 92!
Program Leader:
Christina Davis (mom to Leo and Isabelle) is the owner, director, and full-time preschool teacher of the Grizzly Bear classroom at Woodland Playhouse. Christina holds the values of outdoor programming, experiential learning, and open-ended questions highly. She believes firmly that children learn best through their experiences, and intends to offer exactly those to children of all ages this summer.
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Music is in the air we breathe and the songs we weave. This camp is full. Please contact Christina to be added to our waitlist at ChristinaWoodlandPlayhouse@gmail.com .
1b. Outdoor Exploration - June 26-30, 2023
Ages: 5 - 12 years
Dates: June 26 - 30, 2023
Location: Traveling Camp (Off Site, locations TBA)
Times: 9am to 3pm
We all know that spending time outdoors is important - we know that feeling of physical and mental well being we have all experienced after spending time outside. This Outdoor Exploration camp has been designed around that feeling - to give campers quality time outdoors to explore their surroundings, learn new things, and build new skills and we are thrilled to offer it again this year.
This camp really utilizes our great Catskills setting! Campers will learn how important their role is on this earth and what they can do to help protect and preserve it. Campers will spend time identifying wild plants and trees and learning about their purpose within our ecosystem. We will also play team building games, wilderness survival games, and explore outdoor books during down time. This camp offers an opportunity to socialize while discovering new local areas and ways to feel connected to the earth and to each other.
Please dress for the outdoors! Campers will be outside hiking the woods every day in all kinds of weather. Proper footwear, high socks, and lots of water are essential - bug repellent and lots of snacks are recommended. Join us for a week in the wild!
Program Designer:
Belinda Torres has worked at various camps over the years, adding to her experience working with children along with raising her two boys Brantley and Kody ages 10 and 8. This is her fifth season of camp at Woodland Playhouse which she participates in each year in addition to the school year. Belinda has lead this particular camp for the past several years and is excited to be back again.
Belinda says:
“I have always had a great love for the outdoors. Growing up I spent a lot of time hiking and camping and I continue to do so now. Over the course of the years I have studied and gained knowledge on how to identify wild plants and trees right in our own backyard. I truly love working with children of all ages and really love sharing with them what I have learned. My goal for this camp is to give these children an experience they won't forget!”
2a. Music Camp - July 3-7, 2023
Ages: 2 - 6 years
Dates: July 3-7, 2023 (This is a 4 day camp - closed July 4th)
Location: 5571 State Route 28
Times: 9:00 am - 2:00 pm
Come and listen, move and play with us! Uncle Rock returns with us for another year. Campers will use their whole bodies to feel, create, and appreciate the life and sounds in music. We will spend our time together dancing, singing, and making music! Your campers will feel the joy and power that comes with the expression of music while also enjoying ample time to celebrate and experience all the wonders of summer. During the parts of the day Uncle Rock isn’t present at Woodland Playhouse, campers will continue to feel the beat and explore the magic of music with Alisha and her crew.
Program Special Guest:
Uncle Rock is a renowned Hudson Valley children's performer also known as writer-musician-teacher Robert Burke Warren. His "rock of all ages" family music is a mixture of Shel Silverstein meets Buddy Holly, the Ramones meets Pete Seeger. Uncle Rock songs have been satellite radio hits, placed in movies, and even performed by the Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Performances are interactive, high-energy, and educational. Cross-generational, enlightened, toe-tappin' tunes for kids from 2 to 92!
Program leader:
Alisha Olive has been running Woodland Playhouse summer camps for several years as well as being a part of the preschool program throughout the year. In 2022-23, she became the lead teacher of the Polar Bear classroom. Alisha loves getting creative and integrating art and science and jumps at every opportunity to get messy, make predictions, and engage in process art. She has two children of her own; 4 ½ year old Arya and soon-to-be 7 year old Ryker who enjoy camps just as much as she does.
2b. Science & Agriculture Camp - July 3-7, 2023
Ages: 4 - 8
Dates: July 3 - 7, 202 (this is a four day camp - closed July 4th)
Location: Traveling Camp (Off Site, locations TBA)
Times: 9am to 3pm
This camp is designed to introduce some of our youngest campers to a traveling camp while fostering an interest in science and in agriculture and to introduce them to philosophy and the necessity of permaculture. Campers will explore summer crops, harvest from an existing garden, and meet different types of animals (pigs and chickens and ducks, oh my!) as well as enjoy periods of free play, water play, and down time. Campers must be potty trained.
Program Designer:
Christina Davis (mom to Isabelle & Leonardo) is a full time teacher and owner of the Woodland Playhouse. She is a certified NYS teacher for grades birth-sixth grade. In 2018, she earned her Masters of Science in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) from SUNY New Paltz. Christina has a tendency to dive headlong into whatever new challenge comes her way, including designing and leading a science and agriculture camp for some of our youngest campers. This is the camp’s fifth! year and it has been a blast for all involved each season.
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We love to learn through experience! This camp is full. Please contact Christina to be added to our waitlist at ChristinaWoodlandPlayhouse@gmail.com .
3a. Movement Camp - July 10-14, 2023
Ages: 2 - 6
Dates: July 10 - 14, 2023
Location: 5571 State Route 28
Times: 9:00 am - 2:00 pm
Movement is an integral part of all that we do - so it seems natural that we would want to move our bodies in a more intentional way. As with all of our Woodland Playhouse camps, this is an all out-door camp designed with our local children in mind to provide opportunities to play, explore, grow, and learn.
Campers will spend afternoons hiking the mountain behind Woodland Playhouse and pausing to form yoga poses upon the rocks. They will spend mornings participating in physically active games designed to motivate them to challenge themselves each day. They will spend their days bending, stretching, and pausing to reflect and take in the world around them and they will spend spare moments splashing in water, digging in the sand, and engaging in creative activities. In this unusual combination of games, yoga, and mindfulness activities, campers will have a million opportunities to play, explore, grow, and most importantly - have fun! Last year, our theme was emotions and big feelings. This year, our theme is love, community, and interconnectedness.
Program Designer:
Christina Davis is back again wearing the hat as the leader of Movement Camp. Over the last four years, Christina has built her understanding of Yoga, Pilates, Movement, and how it’s all connected to our social and emotional well-being. Each Monday through the school years she has led a “Mindful Movement Monday” whole group activity in addition to her involvement in designing and providing the season-themed program over the last several summers.
3b. Survival Camp - July 10-14, 2023
Ages: 5 - 10
Dates: July 10 - 14, 202
Location: Traveling Camp (Off site, locations TBA)
Times: 9a-3p
Have you ever wondered how to safely start a fire? Or how to use a compass and map to orient if you find yourself off trail? What if you and a friend are in the woods and one of you gets hurt - do you know basic first aid for you and your comrades? These are all things that campers will be learning, hands on, through safe practice and fun. Through a healthy balance of the freedom to explore the outdoors, risky play, and dose of practice in safety and knowledge campers will leave Survival Camp with essential Cat-Skills!
Program Designer and Special Guest:
Jesse Rice has designed and orchestrated the last two years of Engineering Camp, but this year he wanted to try something new. A Catskills Native having grown up spending his summer days in the woods (largely unsupervised, because…90s) and working his way through boy scouts in his youth he realized that many of the children of today don’t have basic wilderness survival skills. So, he pivoted from Engineering to Survival camp to teach locals and visitors alike how to survive in unfortunate or uncertain circumstances.
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We will survive! This camp is full. Please contact Christina to be added to our waitlist at ChristinaWoodlandPlayhouse@gmail.com .
4a. Art Camp - July 17-21, 2023
Ages: 4 - 8
Dates: July 18 - 22, 2022
Location: 5571 State Route 28
Times: 9:00am - 3:00pm
Come and join our returning Woodland Playhouse staff as we play, create, and explore! Our theme for this year’s 4a Art Camp is the natural world. Our artists will enjoy their time at Woodland Playhouse exploring a variety of natural art materials and discovering what they can create with them. You’ll be amazed at the things they find and the ideas they come up with when paired with some other basic materials like string, paint, and wooden beads. Campers will find a new appreciation of the world around them through their exploration and utilization of some of the things The Catskills has to offer.Our daily art projects we will be creating will focus on the process of creation rather than the desired end result. We will spin, splat, spray, and observe what creations we can make. We can’t wait!
Program Designer:
Alisha Olive has been running Woodland Playhouse summer camps for several years as well as being a part of the preschool program throughout the year. In 2022-23, she became the lead teacher of the Polar Bear classroom. Alisha loves getting creative and integrating art and science and jumps at every opportunity to get messy, make predictions, and engage in process art. She has two children of her own; 4 ½ year old Arya and soon-to-be 7 year old Ryker who enjoy camps just as much as she does.
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We are all artists. This camp is full. Please contact Christina to be added to our waitlist at ChristinaWoodlandPlayhouse@gmail.com .
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4b. Quest Camp - July 17-21, 2023
Ages: 6 - 12
Dates: July 17 - 21, 2023
Location: Traveling (Off site, location TBA)
Times: 9a - 3p
Back by popular demand, Quest Camp returns! The story continues…what kinds of tricks does Sylvetris Luna have up his sleeves this year?
This camp is designed for lovers of adventure and those looking for a way to challenge their minds. Campers will work both competitively and collaboratively to solve daily riddles and puzzles to Save Woodland Playhouse. Think Percy Jackson meets Children of the Forest! Each day, campers will escapade through forests, create their own adventures, and outsmart their foes armed only with their wits, their friends, and their creativity.
As with our other outdoor camps, children should come dressed for all day outdoor adventures. By the end of the week, parents and caregivers should expect to have exhausted and exhilarated adventurers returned to them.
Program Designer:
Christina Davis was inspired to design this camp by the immense love her own children have shown for the riddles, tricks, and connections in mythology and for the outdoors. Besides, Christina is always up for a new challenge...and what better challenge than to devise an interconnected and complex web of activities, puzzles, and adventures with a story arc to Save Woodland Playhouse!? It’s a teacher-writer-explorer’s dream come true…and was an exhausting, boat-load of fun in 2021 and 2022!
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5a. Theater Camp - July 24 - 28, 2023
Ages: 6 - 12
Dates: July 24 - 28, 2023
Location: 5571 State Route 28
Times: 8:30a to 3:30p
Performance: Friday at 3pm
Actors will do everything needed to create a performance by the end of the week! They will participate in improvisation, stagecraft, script writing, songwriting, singing, character development, and so much more! At the end of the week, the actors will put on a performance of their own creation. Some children prefer more behind the scenes work (which we welcome), while others enjoy the spotlight and some like a little of both. Our theater camp offers countless opportunities for our campers and their specific interests. This original production will offer different options for different campers, with speaking-only parts, singing parts, musical parts, stagehand and/or visual art and set design positions, as well as any combination. We will practice theater exercises and games during the week that will help get ideas flowing to support camper’s to create a show that is made up of their words and original ideas.
Theater campers will also enjoy exploring the mountain, multiple outdoor activities, games, snacks and some free time to enjoy with their peers. Sweet Friday treats may also be shared! However, the focus of the program will be about theater..
Program Designer:
At Woodland Playhouse, Christina Davis wears many different hats and has a hand in every ongoing activity. While Christina has participated in college level acting courses, the bulk of her learning has happened on-the-ground with campers over the last five years of summer camps with three different program leaders. In 2020 due to COVID-19, Christina found herself in a situation where she needed to lead a group of 10 six-to-twelve year old campers in writing and designing a performance. A huge storm lost a day of camp and so the group had four days to be ready. Not only did they successfully accomplish their goals, all campers and staff felt confident, happy, and proud of what they had done - so they did it again in 2021 (and didn’t lose a day, but created two plays!) and then rocked the house once more in 2022. The show must always go on!
5b. Outdoor Exploration - July 24 - 28, 2023
Ages: 4 - 8
Dates: July 24 - 28, 2022
Location: Traveling Camp (Off Site)
Times: 9am to 3p (Friday 8:30-2:30)
We all know that spending time outdoors is important - we know that feeling of physical and mental well being we have all experienced after spending time outside. This Outdoor Exploration camp has been designed around that feeling - to give campers quality time outdoors to explore their surroundings, learn new things, and build new skills and we are thrilled to offer it again this year. This camp really utilizes our great Catskills setting! Campers will learn how important their role is on this earth and what they can do to help protect and preserve it. Campers will spend time identifying wild plants and trees and learning about their purpose within our ecosystem. We will also play team building games, wilderness survival games, and explore outdoor books during down time. This camp offers an opportunity to socialize while discovering new local areas and ways to feel connected to the earth and to each other.
Please dress for the outdoors! Campers will be outside hiking the woods every day. Proper footwear, high socks, and lots of water are essential - bug repellent and lots of snacks are recommended. Join us for a week in the wild!
Program Designer:
Belinda Torres has worked at various camps over the years, adding to her experience working with children along with raising her two boys Brantley and Kody ages 10 and 8. This is her fourth season of camp at Woodland Playhouse which she participates in each year in addition to the school year.
Belinda says:
“I have always had a great love for the outdoors. Growing up I spent a lot of time hiking and camping and I continue to do so now. Over the course of the years I have studied and gained knowledge on how to identify wild plants and trees right in our own backyard. I truly love working with children of all ages and really love sharing with them what I have learned. My goal for this camp is to give these children an experience they won't forget!”
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Our summer will be full of adventure! This camp is full. Please contact Christina to be added to our waitlist at ChristinaWoodlandPlayhouse@gmail.com .
6a. Science Exploration Camp - July 31- August 4, 2023
Ages: 2 - 6
Dates: July 31 - August 4, 2023
Location: 5571 State Route 28
Times: 9:00a-2:00p
We will bring our science experiments outdoors in this fun, unpredictable camp! Get ready to explore, create, predict, and observe various physical and chemical reactions. Every day we will conduct an experiment, consider what it is to be a scientist, and become aware that we are all in fact scientists as we go about our daily lives. This camp is sure to be a messy adventure.
Program Designer:
Alisha Olive has been running Woodland Playhouse summer camps for several years as well as being a part of the preschool program throughout the year. In 2022-23, she became the lead teacher of the Polar Bear classroom. Alisha loves getting creative and integrating art and science and jumps at every opportunity to get messy, make predictions, and engage in process art. She has two children of her own; 4 ½ year old Arya and soon-to-be 7 year old Ryker who relish in science experiments that Alisha does at home and loves to bring to her camps.
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Science is our whole world! This camp is full. Please contact Christina to be added to our waitlist at ChristinaWoodlandPlayhouse@gmail.com .
6b. Theater Camp : July 31- August 4, 2023
Ages: 4 - 8
Dates: July 31 - August 4, 2023
Location: 5571 State Route 28 (big yard)
Times: 8:30a to 3:30p
Performance: Friday at 3pm
Actors will do everything needed to create a performance by the end of the week! They will participate in improvisation, stagecraft, script writing, songwriting, singing, character development, and so much more! At the end of the week, the actors will put on a performance of their own creation. Some children prefer more behind the scenes work (which we welcome), while others enjoy the spotlight and some like a little of both. Our theater camp offers countless opportunities for our campers and their specific interests. This original production will offer different options for different campers, with speaking-only parts, singing parts, musical parts, stagehand and/or visual art and set design positions, as well as any combination. We will practice theater exercises and games during the week that will help get ideas flowing to support camper’s to create a show that is made up of their words and original ideas.
Theater campers will also enjoy exploring the mountain, multiple outdoor activities, games, snacks and some free time to enjoy with their peers. Sweet Friday treats may also be shared! However, the focus of the program will be about theater..
Program Designer:
At Woodland Playhouse, Christina Davis wears many different hats and has a hand in every ongoing activity. While Christina has participated in college level acting courses, the bulk of her learning has happened on-the-ground with campers over the last five years of summer camps with three different program leaders. In 2020 due to COVID-19, Christina found herself in a situation where she needed to lead a group of 10 six-to-twelve year old campers in writing and designing a performance. A huge storm lost a day of camp and so the group had four days to be ready. Not only did they successfully accomplish their goals, all campers and staff felt confident, happy, and proud of what they had done - so they did it again in 2021 (and didn’t lose a day, but created two plays!) and then rocked the house once more in 2022. The show must always go on!
6c. Forest Finds & Fun Camp : July 31- August 4, 2023
Ages: 3 - 6 (must be toilet trained)
Dates: July 31 - August 4, 2023
Location: 5571 State Route 28
Times: 9:00a-2:00p
Join us in the woods! This camp will spend the entirety of their time outdoors in the forest - taking leaf walks, identifying bugs, picnicking, creating mud art, and so much more! Children in this camp must be completely toilet trained as there will not be comfortable spaces for diaper changes, but there will be porta potties available.
Program Designer:
Becka McAllister is another Woodland Playhouse regular as the assistant teacher in the Polar Bears classroom for the 2022-23 school year. She spent the bulk of the last two school years at Woodland Playhouse as well in addition to summer camp adventures! Besides being busy raising (and homeschooling) her own children, she's spent her years at The School of the New Moon, coordinating after school programming at Pine Hill Community Center, and counseling and assistant directing at Shandaken Rec. Becka has an intense love for the outdoors, oral stories, and hands-on learning.
7a. Art Camp : August 7- August 11, 2023
Camp 7a. Art Camp
Ages: 2 - 6
Dates: August 7 - 11
Location: 5571 State Route 28
Times: 9:00a-2:00p
Come and join our returning Woodland Playhouse staff as we play, create, and explore! Our theme for this year’s 7a Art Camp is textures. Our youngest campers will enjoy their time at Woodland Playhouse exploring a variety of art materials and everyday items - and mixing them! Fly swatters, toy cars, whisks, strings, and much, much, more will be utilized to create opportunities for our youngest campers to express themselves through these creative experiences. Dress for a mess - and a lot of fun!
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Program Designer:
Becka McAllister is another Woodland Playhouse regular as the assistant teacher in the Polar Bears classroom for the 2022-23 school year. She spent the bulk of the last two school years at Woodland Playhouse as well in addition to summer camp adventures! Besides being busy raising (and homeschooling) her own children, she's spent her years at The School of the New Moon, coordinating after school programming at Pine Hill Community Center, and counseling and assistant directing at Shandaken Rec. Becka has an intense love for the outdoors, oral stories, and hands-on learning.
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We are all artists! This camp is full. Please contact Christina to be added to our waitlist at ChristinaWoodlandPlayhouse@gmail.com .
