Tribal Wisdom Academy Day Camps
Tribal Wisdom Academy, 1 Los Gatos Farms Dr, Los Gatos, CA 95033
About
Tribal Wisdom Academy Day Camps features hands-on activities such as blacksmithing, cold-smithing metalwork, carpentry projects, wooden projects, and wooden toys in an outdoor wood shop. Campers take part in maker projects, bow carving, Robin Hood skills, archery, BB gun safety, knife and tomahawk throwing, forest forts and digs, treehouse building, tree-to-tree slacklines, zip lines, tree swings, kid-made ziplines, digging for treasure, and campfires at lunch. The program also includes creating camp businesses with Tribal Coins, real tools including power drills, and youth leadership roles such as Tribal government jobs like MIT (Mentor in Training) and Big Kid Camp Sheriff, along with adventure skills in the TWA redwoods.
• Ages: 7–18 years old
• Schedule: Weekly day camps offered in 10 sessions from June 8–12, 2026 through August 10–14, 2026, with BOY'S TRIBE mainly available during Weeks 3, 5, 7, and 9
Tribal Wisdom Academy Day Camps states the mission: “Tribal Wisdom Day Camps help your child rediscover healthy social development with our traditional outdoor curriculum.” The program describes its experience as “Experience actual ‘Analog childhood!’” and “Historic organic childhood, in the forest where it all began.” The camp uses a “Kids Kab” round-trip professional transportation service included at no extra charge for 2026 and notes that odd-numbered weeks feature blacksmithing plus student-inspired take-home projects, while even-numbered weeks feature five new take-home maker projects including cold-smithing metalwork. The camp states that the daily “program” is created by each child, that more than half of campers attend one week each summer, and that some of the approximately 20 adult Mentors were “tribal village camp kids” from ten years ago.
The program includes a Graduate Camp group as part of the Big Kid Camp, with no farm animals and no hot metal blacksmithing, and age-appropriate wooden projects. Alumni have a dedicated Mentor, an outdoor wood shop, and a Special Alumni Treehouse Village, and they have access to all Big Kid Maker Camp activities while inventing their own daily projects. Alumni must have attended the TWA Camp in 2024 or 2025 to qualify for Alumni Village. BOY'S TRIBE is for dedicated boy Alumni from any previous TWA camp years who are ages 13 and up, and older Alumni have the “Boy’s Tribe Adventure” as a mid-day activity during their Alumni camp days. TRIBAL RANGERS is for girl Alumni from any previous TWA camp years who are ages 13 and up, includes a green staff shirt, and usually consists of one or two older girl Alumni working and playing as project leaders in the main camp during the entire camp day, with a “Tribal Ranger” leadership camp program throughout the camp village.
Adult Mentors provide safety and guidance with an 8-to-1 ratio. All Tribal Wisdom Academy staff at every level are vetted with Child Safe Training, extensive reference checks, California Department of Justice LiveScan fingerprinting, and national FBI background checks. The program states that some of its unique features include a “historic ‘analog childhood’ experience,” a treehouse village experience as a forest home, nurturing authentic social-emotional intelligence, inspiring exploration of traditional life skills, and the camp slogan: “Preparing kids for any world future.” Ben Walker locally designed the Tribal Wisdom Academy program and has over half a century of camp program experience, and Ben Jamin Walker’s half-century of global wilderness expeditions and work in environmental and tribal adventure education is described as the foundation and origin of the Los Gatos Tribal Wisdom Academy forest campus. The camp notes that this is its 12th summer.
The program describes that its nearly 2000-foot elevation features cool morning weather. It also notes that two-week camps overlap so that about half of the kids each Monday are starting their first day while the other half attended the previous week, and that children can create a camp business with Tribal Coins during their first week and use that financial education during their second week. Families are asked to have children wear long pants, solid shoes, and bring a jacket all year, and parents are asked to read the Behavior Contract with their children before they attend camp each year.
Last updated June 4, 2026.
• Ages: 7–18 years old
• Schedule: Weekly day camps offered in 10 sessions from June 8–12, 2026 through August 10–14, 2026, with BOY'S TRIBE mainly available during Weeks 3, 5, 7, and 9
Tribal Wisdom Academy Day Camps states the mission: “Tribal Wisdom Day Camps help your child rediscover healthy social development with our traditional outdoor curriculum.” The program describes its experience as “Experience actual ‘Analog childhood!’” and “Historic organic childhood, in the forest where it all began.” The camp uses a “Kids Kab” round-trip professional transportation service included at no extra charge for 2026 and notes that odd-numbered weeks feature blacksmithing plus student-inspired take-home projects, while even-numbered weeks feature five new take-home maker projects including cold-smithing metalwork. The camp states that the daily “program” is created by each child, that more than half of campers attend one week each summer, and that some of the approximately 20 adult Mentors were “tribal village camp kids” from ten years ago.
The program includes a Graduate Camp group as part of the Big Kid Camp, with no farm animals and no hot metal blacksmithing, and age-appropriate wooden projects. Alumni have a dedicated Mentor, an outdoor wood shop, and a Special Alumni Treehouse Village, and they have access to all Big Kid Maker Camp activities while inventing their own daily projects. Alumni must have attended the TWA Camp in 2024 or 2025 to qualify for Alumni Village. BOY'S TRIBE is for dedicated boy Alumni from any previous TWA camp years who are ages 13 and up, and older Alumni have the “Boy’s Tribe Adventure” as a mid-day activity during their Alumni camp days. TRIBAL RANGERS is for girl Alumni from any previous TWA camp years who are ages 13 and up, includes a green staff shirt, and usually consists of one or two older girl Alumni working and playing as project leaders in the main camp during the entire camp day, with a “Tribal Ranger” leadership camp program throughout the camp village.
Adult Mentors provide safety and guidance with an 8-to-1 ratio. All Tribal Wisdom Academy staff at every level are vetted with Child Safe Training, extensive reference checks, California Department of Justice LiveScan fingerprinting, and national FBI background checks. The program states that some of its unique features include a “historic ‘analog childhood’ experience,” a treehouse village experience as a forest home, nurturing authentic social-emotional intelligence, inspiring exploration of traditional life skills, and the camp slogan: “Preparing kids for any world future.” Ben Walker locally designed the Tribal Wisdom Academy program and has over half a century of camp program experience, and Ben Jamin Walker’s half-century of global wilderness expeditions and work in environmental and tribal adventure education is described as the foundation and origin of the Los Gatos Tribal Wisdom Academy forest campus. The camp notes that this is its 12th summer.
The program describes that its nearly 2000-foot elevation features cool morning weather. It also notes that two-week camps overlap so that about half of the kids each Monday are starting their first day while the other half attended the previous week, and that children can create a camp business with Tribal Coins during their first week and use that financial education during their second week. Families are asked to have children wear long pants, solid shoes, and bring a jacket all year, and parents are asked to read the Behavior Contract with their children before they attend camp each year.
Last updated June 4, 2026.
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