Vilda Nature Days - Sonoma

SCHOOL-YEAR NATURE CONNECTION FOR KIDS

Simple, grounded, much needed outdoor time meets expert naturalist instruction and social-emotional attention. We spend the day exploring the creeks and hillsides of our beautiful Sonoma County forming relationships with each other, the land, and the plants and animals.

This is not just outdoor play time, though that by itself would be powerful. This is a unique opportunity to learn about our natural world together, expand our awareness and build a caretaking ethic that will lead us into the hopeful future. We play, listen, laugh, sing, hike and come back a bit dirtier than we left to share the stories of the day.

In addition to our core curriculum and attainment of badges from our badge system, this program may include:

• Nature awareness skills
• Wilderness safety and knowledge of hazards
• Local flora and fauna
• Natural dyes
• Animal tracking
• Scout games and practices
• Carving and knife certification
• Fire by friction and fire tending
• Bird language
• Shelter building and survival skills
• Mapping
• Wild edibles
• and more…

Program Details: 

• Ages: 10-15 years old

• Location: Sonoma Valley Regional Park, CA

• Schedule: 10:00am - 2:00pm on Fridays, August 28th, 2026 - June 4th, 2027. Days off: November 27th, December 25th, January 1st, February 19th, April 9th.

• Tuition:

$100 non-refundable deposit plus 9 monthly payments of:

Rate A: $422

Rate B: $349

Rate C: $295

Our school-year programs run continuously from September through June. We encourage students to stay for the whole year, however we do have a policy that you can cancel with a 30-day notice.

Nature Days is part of Vilda, which is dedicated to facilitating meaningful connections with the natural world. Vilda started in Fairfax, California in 2008 and has been running programs since then, now serving over 1000 kids a year in Marin, Sonoma, and Tahoe. The organization is a 501c(3) non-profit and provides nature education, youth programs, homeschool programs, and summer camps in several Bay Area communities and in Tahoe and Truckee. The program is led by Vilda’s founder, Mia Andler, and uses a badge system for the attainment of skills badges.

One parent of a 7-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl describes the camp as a unique and positive nature experience of exploring and learning, speaking highly of the counselors. Another parent of two 7-year-old girls reports seeing changes in how their children notice nature, and a parent of a 9-year-old boy asserts that Vilda is their son’s favorite camp.

Vilda states that families in the Bay Area have differing abilities to pay and that it wants its programs to serve as many children as possible regardless of financial situation. Scholarships are available.