Prairie and Wood (PAW) Summer YMCA Camp
Carleton College Cowling Arboretum, Minnesota 19, Northfield, MN 55057
About
Prairie and Wood (PAW) Summer YMCA Camp is a summer-long, outdoor day camp where children explore ecosystems such as wetland, prairie, forest, and lakeshore. Campers learn about rocks, trees, animals, and other natural phenomena, create environmentally oriented arts and crafts, conduct experiments with natural ingredients, and look for wildlife signs in the Arboretum.
• Ages: 5–12 years old
• Schedule: Summer-long, outdoor day camp
The camp focuses on fostering an appreciation and understanding of the natural world in young children while being a fun, exciting, interactive experience. Over fifty years ago, in 1975, Carleton students Bruce Ambuel ’74 and Craig Sargent ’74 received a grant to study birds in the Carleton College Arboretum, and their study gave rise to Prairie and Wood (PAW), which is now one of Carleton’s longest running community outreach programs. Starting in the summer of 2009, PAW began collaborating with the Northfield YMCA, which provides training and oversight for the Carleton students working as camp counselors over the summer. The PAW lead counselor meets with the Arboretum Director every week to help plan camp activities that make use of the Arboretum, under the leadership of Arboretum Director Nancy Braker, Arboretum Manager Matthew Elbert, and Research Supervisor Mark McKone. Time spent outside, away from screens and surrounded by growing things is described as precious and may be crucial to child development, and children at PAW interact with nature and each other in ways that are described as fun and meaningful.
A former counselor, Drew Chambers ’10, said that planning and carrying out expeditions in the Arboretum for children at PAW gave him another perspective on the Arboretum, which he described as having a huge capacity to inspire wonder and teach lessons about the local natural world, and as an incredible resource that is a lot of fun to explore with 5–12 year olds.
Last updated July 26, 2026.
• Ages: 5–12 years old
• Schedule: Summer-long, outdoor day camp
The camp focuses on fostering an appreciation and understanding of the natural world in young children while being a fun, exciting, interactive experience. Over fifty years ago, in 1975, Carleton students Bruce Ambuel ’74 and Craig Sargent ’74 received a grant to study birds in the Carleton College Arboretum, and their study gave rise to Prairie and Wood (PAW), which is now one of Carleton’s longest running community outreach programs. Starting in the summer of 2009, PAW began collaborating with the Northfield YMCA, which provides training and oversight for the Carleton students working as camp counselors over the summer. The PAW lead counselor meets with the Arboretum Director every week to help plan camp activities that make use of the Arboretum, under the leadership of Arboretum Director Nancy Braker, Arboretum Manager Matthew Elbert, and Research Supervisor Mark McKone. Time spent outside, away from screens and surrounded by growing things is described as precious and may be crucial to child development, and children at PAW interact with nature and each other in ways that are described as fun and meaningful.
A former counselor, Drew Chambers ’10, said that planning and carrying out expeditions in the Arboretum for children at PAW gave him another perspective on the Arboretum, which he described as having a huge capacity to inspire wonder and teach lessons about the local natural world, and as an incredible resource that is a lot of fun to explore with 5–12 year olds.
Last updated July 26, 2026.
Is this your business? There is no cost, but you will be asked to sign up or log in.