Children Ages 4 & 5 and Entering Pre-K or Kindergarten
VINS Nature Camp holds camps for preschool-aged children at the VINS Nature Center in Quechee, VT. Our Peeps camps offer a blend of active nature exploration and creative crafts in an atmosphere focused on the developmental needs of our youngest campers. During your child’s week at camp, they will enjoy a fun array of nature-themed activities and games, participate in art projects that reinforce daily lessons, and come face-to-face with live animals.
All VINS Nature Camp's PEEPS camps run from 9 AM - 1 PM, Monday through Friday unless otherwise specified.
Discounts:
VINS Member discount - Receive a 10% discount on camp tuition. Use code: MEM25 at checkout.*
Sibling discount - We love having siblings in camp! Automatically save $10 on each camp session when you register two or more children for camp.*
*Please note: Promotional discounts cannot be combined. One promotional discount per registration.
PEEPS CAMP DESCRIPTIONS
2025 Dates and Rates will be available in December
Animal Adventures
Animal Adventures is the camp for animal enthusiasts. This unique camp experience offers opportunities for exploration of the amazing adaptations of mammal, bird, insect, reptile and amphibian species that call Vermont home. Campers will learn about the characteristics of these animals through arts & crafts, games, outdoor exploration, stories and live animal encounters! Using their imagination and natural curiosity, campers will begin to understand what makes each animal unique and become experts on their favorite critters.
Anybody Home?
Let VINS encourage your child’s vibrant curiosity. Through crafts, games, stories, and outdoor adventure, campers will explore the vast and amazing creatures that occupy the smallest crevices to the largest trees. During Anybody Home?, expert naturalists will guide your child’s discovery as we explore and reflect on the natural world often hidden in plain sight: under the bark of a dead tree, below the surface of the soil, and in the highest branches of the trees.
Busy Builders - New in 2025!
Calling all builders, creators, excavators, artists, and engineers! Come to VINS, where we are always ready to roll up our sleeves and dive into the next construction project. Towers, ramps, bridges, and dams; let your child’s creative imagination and busy hands run wild as they explore a wide array of natural building supplies and art materials. Join VINS educators for a week of camp that celebrates the intersection of nature and STEAM and find out what we can build, create, and imagine together.
Circles of Life
Circles of Life offers a week of exploration, hands-on nature discovery, and wonder. Campers will be guided through the amazing cycles that occur in our natural world: how caterpillars become butterflies, how tadpoles morph into frogs, and how the smallest seed becomes the mightiest tree in the forest. Most importantly, children will begin to understand how they are connected to the natural world around them through the food they eat, the air they breathe, and the water they drink. VINS will encourage your child’s appreciation of the natural world.
Fairies and Friends
Where do milkweed pods become bathtubs and beds, and acorns caps become dinnerware? Where can children explore a magical world and let their imaginations run wild? At VINS, of course! From building fairy houses with natural materials to trekking through the VINS forest hunting for enchanted creatures to a special visit from Fairy Grandmother, this camp will offer children a unique opportunity to connect with the natural world while fostering imaginative play. Join VINS this summer for an adventure sprinkled with the magic and wonder of forest fairies!
It's Science!
Come one, come all, and dive into the captivating and mystical world of science. Make un-poppable bubbles, hold a cloud in a jar, and even make toothpaste for an elephant. Campers will become scientists as they explore nature, ask questions, and conduct exciting experiments one has to see to believe. From chemistry to engineering, we will dabble in many branches of science, fueling campers’ curiosity as they investigate the “why” behind the science. It’s not magic: it’s science!
Let's Do Lunch
Chomp, munch, slurp or peck. How do your favorite animals eat their lunch? Whether a carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, or something else, every animal has amazing adaptations that help them find and eat their food. This exciting new camp will whet campers’ appetites as they learn what’s on the menu for different animals and how animals, including humans, are all connected through intricate food webs.
Up in the Air
Discover the art and science behind flight this summer! During this exciting week, our professional educators will lead campers on incredible explorations of the creatures that flap, flutter, soar and buzz through the sky. From the canopy of a towering tree to a fragrant flower-filled meadow, campers will investigate the lives of these aerial acrobats while participating in hands-on activities and fun games.
