Eco-Adventure Camp (8 – 13 years)
Eco-Adventure Camp offers educational day programming with unique weekly themes for campers aged 8-13. Campers travel by bus to Elbow Lake each morning and return each afternoon. Several bus pickup locations are available, the main one being at City Park Courthouse (5 Court Street) beside Queen’s Main Campus. Campers will have days full of adventures, activities and games that will teach more about the nature around us!
Campers must be turning or have turned 8 this calendar year.
View our Registration page for pricing and to sign up.
2026 Sessions and Themes
| Dates | Theme | Description of the Week’s Adventures |
| Session 1 July 13-17 | Becoming a Junior Biologist | Practice skills to become a field naturalist! Explore the expansive biodiversity at Elbow Lake using a variety of investigative techniques. Campers will zoom in using binoculars, microscopes, and magnifying glasses, while learning how to take observational field notes and practice field sketching. |
| Session 2 July 20-24 | Elbow Lake Explorers | Investigate the unique habitats Elbow Lake has to offer, including mixed deciduous–coniferous woodlands, Precambrian Shield geology, shoreline wetlands, and an undisturbed lake ecosystem. We will discover what makes the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve so important, and how plants and animals have adapted to live in balance within this environment. |
| Session 3 July 27-31 | The Secret Life of Bugs | Zoom in on a more hidden part of Elbow Lake’s ecology: the vast diversity of insects and other invertebrates living right below our noses. Through collaborative games and teamwork activities, campers will explore how many invertebrate species work together to create outsized ecological impacts. We will also practice gentle insect collection and identification techniques. |
| Session 4 August 4-7 (short week) | Fantastic Fish and Where to Find Them | To explore the diverse fish community at Elbow Lake, campers will learn safe and gentle survey techniques such as seine netting and pond dipping. We will investigate fish morphology, habitat requirements, and trophic dynamics, while comparing species from wetland, littoral, and pelagic zones. Campers will also explore how summer stratification can influence fish growth. |
| Session 5 August 10-14 | Ecosystem Engineers | Investigate how keystone species – including beavers, moose, snapping turtles, sunfish, and dragonflies – play disproportionately important roles in engineering the Elbow Lake environment. We will observe these organisms and learn why they are critical to protect in environmental conservation initiatives. |
| Session 6 August 17-21 | Migration Celebration | To better appreciate the beautiful and biodiverse world of birds, campers will discover how bird nesting, behaviour, morphology, and species composition change throughout the seasons in a temperate environment like Elbow Lake. Campers will practice birdwatching and identification from the lake, forest, and wetlands. |
| Session 7 August 24-28 | How to Train a Herp | This session is all about herps – reptiles and amphibians such as turtles, snakes, frogs, newts, and lizards. Campers will investigate the adaptations these organisms use to survive, why many herps are more likely to be species at risk, and opportunities for their conservation. We will also practice safe and gentle handling techniques for live herps! |