Marin GreenPlay Camp

Marin GreenPlay Camp offers science-based, place-based experiences in nature that include developmentally appropriate play, extreme sports, restorative stewardship, native plant restoration projects, beach clean ups, citizen science, and other service projects. Campers take part in experiential learning that focuses on place and relationship-based education and teaches them about their “ecological address.” Campers also participate in volunteer activities such as restoration and clean ups as part of the program’s regular activities.

Marin GreenPlay Camp was created to ensure that all Marin children have the chance to grow up with a keen sense of the place where they live and the beautiful lands and waters of Marin County. By connecting to the natural world, the program states that children develop a sense of meaning and belonging that will give them the ability to adapt and be resilient regardless of what lies ahead. Marin GreenPlay Camp has been making nature fun for over 15 years, and for the last 17 years Camp Director Julie, in collaboration with dozens of skilled nature guides and thousands of children, founded and continues to lead the camp. Marin GreenPlay Camp works with government, non-profit, and private land stewards on service projects and engages campers in native plant restoration projects, beach clean ups, citizen science, and many other volunteer activities. The camp director Julie has given back to the community by serving on several boards and participating in restoration projects and other environmental initiatives, including the reconstruction of the College of Marin Bolinas Marine Lab.

Marin GreenPlay Camp Guides are locals and have college degrees or equivalent life experiences, and they are paid among the highest wages in the day camp sector. The camp director Julie is a University of California-certified naturalist and an Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education-certified environmental educator, is a graduate of the Environmental Forum of Marin, and has a BA from Barnard College, a graduate degree from the University of Miami, certificates in natural history and environmental science from the College of Marin, and a certificate in sustainability from Dominican University. Julie is listed as the Marin GreenPlay Camp Director.

One camp guide, Charli J., who was a Marin GreenPlay camper and Youth Leader and has worked at Marin GreenPlay Camp from 2020–2025, describes the guides as knowledgeable and says Julie is an amazing and attentive leader who brings her love of nature and teaching kids to the camp. Another guide, Stella L., who worked as a camp guide in 2025, describes the atmosphere at camp as joyful, curious, and playful and says Julie was incredibly supportive and communicative. A third guide, Faeryn D., who worked as a guide in 2024–2025 and first attended the camp as a child almost fifteen years earlier, says that Julie did the same for them as they now do for campers and that they could not speak more highly about the summer program. Guide Maia D., who worked at camp in 2025, says Marin GreenPlay Camp is very inclusive with a goal of zero judgment and that Julie makes being a guide easy by keeping everything well organized and planned out while allowing flexibility to follow campers’ interests. Guide Eleanor O., who worked at camp in 2024–2025, says working at Marin GreenPlay Camp is a great experience and that Julie is the best, and notes that everyone who works with the camp cares a lot, which affects both guides and kids.

Last updated June 20, 2026.