Summergarden

Summergarden offers weekly sessions where children entering grades 2–6 take part in arts, weaving, jewelry making, papermaking, printing, and board games. Activities include acrylic painting in Spanish, outdoor games, making their own games, building a 3-D memory puzzle with painted and sculpted pieces, and creating a large marble obstacle course using clay, wire, and cardboard. Campers also work with natural materials through weaving with reeds and other materials such as pine needles and rattan, basket making, making plates and coasters, and story dollmaking and sewing dolls.

• Ages: 7–11 years old
• Schedule: Weekly sessions, Monday–Friday, with a main session from 8:15 AM–1 PM and optional aftercare from 1 PM–4:30 PM
• Price: Main session $350 per week and aftercare $175 per week, with prorated pricing of $280 for the main session and $140 for aftercare during the week when camp is closed on July 3

Weekly themes and dates include Acrylic Painting in Spanish (June 15–19 and July 27–31), Outdoor Games (June 22–26), Fun with Weaving (June 29–July 3, with camp closed July 3), Papermaking and Printing (July 6–10), Making Our Own Games (July 13–17), Weaving with Reeds (July 20–24), and Story Dollmaking (August 3–7). Summergarden includes nutritious whole-food lunches and snacks in tuition, and all meals are organic and local when possible. The program combines hands-on, teacher-led activities with supervised, child-directed play, and children from all schools in the area are welcome.

Acrylic Painting in Spanish was created by Davis Waldorf School’s Spanish teacher of over 20 years, Maestra Marta Juliao, and Fun with Weaving is guided by a Handwork teacher of over 20 years. The leadership team includes Marta Juliao for Acrylic Painting in Spanish, Jess Dudek for Outdoor Games, Dahlia Haberman for Fun with Weaving and Story Dollmaking, and Shai Porath for Papermaking and Printing, Making Our Own Games, and Weaving with Reeds. Campers practice conversational Spanish while learning acrylic painting techniques and take home a landscape painting at the end of the Acrylic Painting in Spanish week. Fun with Weaving is described as fun, relaxing, and building fine-motor skills, Weaving with Reeds uses methods inspired by indigenous communities across the United States, and Story Dollmaking includes creating each doll’s history, character, and abilities and sharing their stories at the end of camp.

The program is part of a Waldorf education approach whose stated aim, according to Rudolf Steiner, is “to develop free human beings who are able, within themselves, to impart purpose and direction to their lives,” through educating the whole child “head, heart and hands.” Testimonials describe “the need for imagination, a sense of truth, and a feeling of responsibility” as “the very nerve of education,” and refer to “a curriculum that balances academic rigor with educating the whole child through art and practical skills, music, movement, and social and moral development” and supporting children “in finding meaning and purpose in life with confidence and a sense of responsibility.” Davis Waldorf Elementary School is recognized as one of the area’s best private schools. The program shares a land acknowledgement that for thousands of years the land has been the home of Patwin people and notes three federally recognized Patwin tribes: Cachil DeHe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Indian Community, Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation, and Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, and states that the Patwin people have remained committed to the stewardship of this land over many centuries.

Last updated March 10, 2026.