Our Traditional Summer Youth Program encompasses place-placed encounters in nature while integrating environmentally infused content. Children will have first-hand experiences growing and harvesting on a working farm, livestock and fiber and the intricate and magical essence of the forest as they sing and dance under her canopy.
The Traditional Summer Program will again be led this year by certified Forest School educator and the Director of Summer Youth Program Hannah Gray.
MEADOWLARKS (ages 2-3 ½) enable the youngest children to experience a thematic journey through Sylvester Manor’s uniquely enchanting summer program. The program cultivates a gentle embrace of the natural world by awakening a child’s own curiosity building a relationship with themselves while enabling a deep sensibility to the earth. Children experience the world through story, song and dance which is threaded through an intentional understanding of the natural world and translates to the cultivation and harvesting of meaningful and useful tinctures, teas and artworks.
Daily Schedule
Each week, our program will follow the same format, with various activities throughout the day according to the weekly theme. Your children will arrive, bring their belongings to their tent and play while waiting for their friends. From 8:30-9:00am, campers and counselors will have a gathering with a story, song and dance. At 9:00am, the children will go for a walk and do garden work, followed by a bathroom break and snack. From 10:15-11:15am, the activity for the day will be enjoyed by the entire group. At 11:30am, all campers come together for closing song, pack up their belongings and get ready for pick-up.
Meadowlarks Dates & Rates
[must be 2 years old by June 30, 2026]
Week 1: June 29-July 3
Week 2: July 6-July 10
Week 3: July 13-July 17
Week 4: July 20-July 24
Week 5: July 27-August 1
Week 6: August 3-August 7
Week 7: August 10-August 14
Week 8: August 17-August 21
8:30am-11:30am
Rate TBD
LITTLE SPROUTS (ages 3 ½,-5) [must be 3 years old by January 1, 2026]
YOUNG FARMERS (ages 6-8)
Daily Schedule
Each week, our program will follow the same format, with various activities throughout the day according to the weekly theme. Your children will arrive, bring their belongings to their tent and play while waiting for all of their friends. At 9:15am, campers and counselors will have a morning meeting. At 9:45am, Activity One will begin, which is followed by refresh time (snack, painting, baking, writing, yoga), at 10:45am. Activity Two will begin at 11:10am. At 12:00pm, all campers come together for closing circle, pack up their belongings and get ready for pick-up.
Midsummer is an extra week at the beginning of summer and is available for a limited number of children. A festival of flowers and crowns and maypole intertwine with moments of the children performing Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” to welcome the start of summer.
Midsummer Dates & Rates
June 22-June 26
9:00am-12:30pm
Rate TBD
Regular Weeks Dates & Rates
Week 1: June 29-July 3
Week 2: July 6-July 10
Week 3: July 13-July 17
Week 4: July 20-July 24
Week 5: July 27-August 1
Week 6: August 3-August 7
Week 7: August 10-August 14
Week 8: August 17-August 21
9:00am-12:30pm
Rate TBD
Quintessence is an extra week at the end of the regular sessions and is available for a limited number of children. An enchanted celebration of summer’s end, the week is a collaboration of music and dance, foraging and preparing for a forest to table soiree at the end of the week.
Quintessence Dates & Rates
August 24-August 28
9:00am-12:30pm
Rate TBD
REGISTRATION OPENS FEBRUARY 2, 2026
