Urban Explorers Tacoma

Urban Explorers is a small, place-based play and learning camp on the move in Tacoma, Washington for kids aged 4 to 14. We focus on learning through exploring our environment because we believe that children learn best when they are free to follow their curiosity and see where it leads.

 

We started from a simple, radical idea: that children of all ages want to learn, especially about the places around them. We believe that true learning happens only when it grows from a person’s innate curiosity, so we’re building environments in Tacoma where children are free to explore what interests them on their own terms.

 

Small: No more than ten kids of varying ages will make up each week’s group of explorers. Small groups help us move around the city, pay attention to one another, and become close as a community. Why such a large age range? When we have to look out for or up to one another, we build interdependence instead of competition. Older kids are responsible for their younger friends, who in turn have mentors to show them around. And who knows–we might even learn something from one another.

Place-based: We think about learning places around Tacoma rather than planning out activities or building skills. In a city this full of parks, food, art, friendly people, and things to do, all we have to do is look around to get started learning. Each week we’ll treat a different part of Tacoma as our home base and start our exploring from there, places like Point Defiance, the Broadway Farmer’s Market, Wright Park, and public libraries.

Play: Play is a fundamental human phenomenon, and one that is often endangered in many of our schools, workplaces, and communities. By its nature, play involves our interests and what we like to do, so naturally we’re putting it at the center of our explorations. Spontaneous games, ideas, and projects are highly encouraged and an essential part of what we do.

 

Learning: All that being said, you can be sure that we’ll be learning plenty of things all summer through adventures like: riding public transit, visiting Farmer’s Markets, digging in the dirt, daily yoga and mindfulness practice, Spanish and French language exploration, creative arts, music play, and many others.

For more information, call 253-381-6730

Program details

Time	All Day
Cost	$50.00
Grade	PreK—8
Dates	Jul 06—Aug 28
Days	Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri

Urban Explorers Tacoma

<p> <span style="color: rgb(71, 71, 71); font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 31.5px;">Urban Explorers is a small, place-based play and learning camp on the move in Tacoma, Washington for kids aged 4 to 14. We focus on learning through exploring our environment because we believe that children learn best when they are free to follow their curiosity and see where it leads.</span></p>