Petaluma Ranch Camp

Petaluma Ranch Camp includes activities such as swimming, hiking to nearby parklands, practicing wilderness skills, and spending time with farm animals. Campers may learn how to track animals, identify plants, learn about domesticated animals, and take part in carpentry and archery. The program may also include farm animal visits, gardening, learning about local flora and fauna, working with natural dyes, earning skills badges, planting trees, clearing brush, looking for frogs, eating wild plants, making a fire by friction, dyeing a shirt with berries, backpacking trips, and an archery class at Stafford Lake in Novato.

• Ages: 6–11 years old
• Schedule: Multiple weeklong sessions offered throughout the summer; daily hours are 9am–3pm
• Price: Tuition per session: Rate A: $798, Rate B: $676, Rate C: $575

Petaluma Ranch Camp is part of Vilda, which is dedicated to facilitating meaningful connection to the natural world. Vilda started in Fairfax, California in 2008 and has been running programs since then, and now serves 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 and uses a badge system for the attainment of skills badges.

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, and scholarships are available. One parent of a 7-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl described the program as getting kids outside in nature with a positive exploring and learning experience and spoke highly of the counselors. Another parent of two 7-year-old girls reported seeing changes in how their children notice nature, and a parent of a 9-year-old boy stated that Vilda is their son’s favorite camp.

Last updated March 28, 2026.