“An environment-based education movement–at all levels of education–will help students realize that school isn’t supposed to be a polite form of incarceration, but a portal to the wider world.” –
Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.
At YMCA Camp Takodah, we encourage teachers and group leaders to take learning outdoors, offering students the chance to live and learn through hands-on experience. You don’t need to be a school group to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities that Takodah has to offer. We have served parent/child groups, church youth groups, college athletic teams, professional groups, and many others. For more information on these look at ‘Group retreats and rentals’. If you are interested in a Takodah program for your group, please contact us. We’ll tailor a program just for you! For every group we serve, we custom design a program to suit its needs and goals, incorporating elements of teambuilding, ecology, adventure, and recreation.
Community and Team Building:
Learn how to work together through a progression of well-sequenced activities, including games, group initiatives, trust activities, and low and high ropes course challenges. Developing good habits in group cooperation, effective communication, and problem solving leads to a happier and more productive classroom.
Struggle to strength: Think about those students who struggle to find their place socially in the classroom or have a hard time finding something they are good at. A program with Camp Takodah encourages the development of community within your class that accepts and values everyone differences and celebrates success in every type of achievement .
Environmental Ecology:
Set on 500 acres of woods and wetlands around Cass Pond, Camp Takodah has an ecologically rich property which serves as the ideal classroom for environmental discovery. Your class can explore lessons in forest, bog and pond ecology, outdoor living skills, and natural history.
Adventure & Recreation:
Lessons in specific outdoor activities, such as rock climbing, canoeing, and hiking, foster personal growth and respect for the environment in which we live. Whether it is paddling on Cass Pond or hiking the celebrated Mt. Monadnock, adventure education promotes positive moral character and encourages healthy risk-taking among students. We can “learn more in one day of play than in a year of conversation.” Camp Takodah has many opportunities for recreation, whether it’s playing games and sports on our fields, boating on Cass Pond, or working on a special art project in our ‘Hobby Nook
Sample Schedule:
We can tailor any program from one to five days. Below is a typical sample of a three day and two night program we can provide.
For more information call Peter Simmonds on (603) 352-0447 or email peter@cheshireymca.org
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
– Henry Ford