Kid’s Week: Wilderness & Foraging Series with Jason Drevenak [Ages 6-12]

Throughout the week, kids will learn about the Fundamental 5: shelter, fire craft, water & food, navigation & rescue signaling.

We will explore and practice how to:

• Construct an emergency shelter

• Responsibly build a fire

• Identify several edible and toxic plants in our area

• Make water potable

• Read a map and compass, and learn several signaling techniques in an emergency situation

Interspersed throughout the day, we will play all kinds of fun games, engage in community building and group trust exercises, and explore the local creek to get familiar with the flora and fauna in our area.

As time and ability allow, we will choose a few projects to work on including:

• Making bamboo containers and eating utensils

• Weaving baskets from harvested materials at Fox Haven

• Carving a wooden spoon

• Making stone tools from river rocks

• Making cordage from natural and synthetic materials.

A typical day at camp will look something like this:

9:00 Arrival, attendance, and morning circle to set daily intentions and goals

9:30 Begin a hands-on fire-building lesson

10:30 Snack and a fun group game

11:00 Continue with fire building until everyone in the group is successful with skills

11:45 Lunch

12:15 Move to a spot on the creek and search for plants and animals

2:00 Begin learning how to make cordage (rope) from recycled grocery bags

2:30 End activities for the day, closing gathering circle, and discussion of next day’s activities.

This adventure is a practice in community building. We start, support, and finish everything together. No one wins or loses. It takes a village.

Open to children between the ages of 6-12. We focus on ensuring small student-to-teacher ratios both for safety and for greater learning. Space will be limited.

Fox Haven Summer Explorers runs July 22nd – 26h from 9 am-3 pm.

Payment per Child: $350 for the whole week

Early Drop off begins at 7 am, Late Pick up until 6 pm, $15/hour

*Parents must provide a packed lunch, snack, bathing suit, extra set of clothes and water shoes for your child each day.

Packing list:

Clothing appropriate to the temperature and weather

Full set of clothes to change into

Water shoes or foot gear that can get wet

Beach towel

Sunscreen

Lunch and snacks

Large-capacity water bottle

Backpack to carry everything in

Show-and-tell items are always welcome

Please no electronic devices as we don’t want anything to get damaged during activities (cell phones are ok if requested by parents or guardians).

To sign up for a payment plan of 4 installments of $87.50, please email alecks@foxhavenfarm.org

Meet Lead Facilatator, Jason Drevenak

Jason grew up on his family’s homestead in West Virginia hunting, fishing, hiking, building shelters and making tools. After serving as a medic in the Army and subsequently returning to college, he made a career of teaching people how to engage with the outdoors through various businesses. As an established teacher and founder of the North American Bushcraft School, Jason has spent over 10 years working with children of all ages teaching wilderness skills with the utmost safety in mind.

Jason will be supported by 1 or more Fox Haven staff at all times. View Fox Haven’s staff page to explore our team!