Camp Otonabee
1620 Sixth Line Road RR #1 K0A 1T0 Ottawa, ON, Canada

Happy Spring! We have loved the warm and very rainy weather this past week. We enjoyed looking for worms and exploring the new growth. We've also seen the return of some of our local hibernating animals. This week we spotted groundhogs, chipmunks, and more! No matter the day and no matter the weather, our Forest Schoolers have a wonderful sense of adventure! #neature #nature

Happy Monday Camp Otonabee! Our Forest Schoolers are loving the warmer weather and start of Spring! Just a couple of weeks ago we did an Arts & Crafts paint-by-reading activity and painted a wonderful picture that reminded us of Spring. We look forward to watching the flowers bud, hearing the birds chirp and the ever exciting puddle jumping that will take place! What are you looking forward to this Spring?

Summer Camp Registration Update: Thank you so much for your interest in Y Camps! We are sorry some of you are experiencing errors and delays while trying to register this morning - our system is doing its best to keep up with an overwhelming number of people calling and registering online at once. Please keep trying, and we will do our very best to help as we can.

Registration for Y Summer Day Camps opens Tomorrow, Thursday, March 18th at 9:30AM! With so many exciting day camp options to choose from, there’s something for every child to enjoy at camp this summer! To browse our Camp Otonabee and Neighbourhood Day Camp guides and find the right program for your camper(s), please visit: https://www.ymcaywca.ca/camps-outdoor-education/day-camps/ #camp #summercamp #daycamp #ottawa #ottcity #community #family

UPDATE: Power is back on and our phones are working again! Thanks for your patience, folks! We have had an unexpected power outage at our Camping Office today. We are expecting power to be restored this afternoon but for the time being our phones are out. If you have any questions, please direct them to [email protected] and we will be happy to answer them. We will provide an update when our power is restored and when our phones are back up and running! Thanks in advance for your patience and understanding.

Happy New Year Otonabee Campers! We love our snowy January days as the snow provides us with ample opportunity to track down our favourite animals. Already today we have seen deer, rabbit and raccoon prints. What have you seen out on your nature walks?

Which forest cake looks tastier, the cake with oak leaf decorations or the cake with birch bark? Forest School kitchen is one of our favourite activity, so much creativity and imagination in the baking process! #neature #nature

We wish our entire Camp Otonabee Community a wonderful Holiday season! While this year has brought many challenges and obstacles, we feel so lucky that we were able to share the outdoors with some of our camper families. If we didn't get to see you this year, we cannot wait to see you back in 2021! We wish you all a healthy and happy New Year!

We feel so lucky to be able to share the Outdoors with our Forest Schoolers! For more information check out our YMCA-YWCA website and family testimonials which can be found in the link of this post.

Happy Wildlife Wednesday! We have been really lucky these days to have spotted many white-tailed deer around site. Just a couple weeks ago these two forest schoolers spotted this group of three snacking away on some grass right next to us. We feel so lucky to be immersed in nature and to share the space with such wonderful animals! #neature #nature

We had the perfect ice last week for pretend ice fishing, sliding on and for making ice sculptures. Check out some of our Forest Schoolers and their sculptures. We are so lucky to have so many resources just outside our door! #neature #nature

Our Forest School provides opportunity for children to learn, grow, and play in the outdoor environment. Students learn math with acorns, the importance of healthy risk taking and how to be a steward of the land. For more information about the YMCA Forest School and our upcoming November session, check out: https://www.ymcaywca.ca//school-break-cam/y-forest-school/

Looking for an outdoor adventure for your child, look no further. Our YMCA Outdoor Adventure program is a two day program for campers aged 6-12 years of age. Come join us for days filled with adventure, learning and fun! For more information check out: https://ymcaywca.legendonlineservices.ca//outdoor-adventu/

Happy Wildlife Wednesday everyone! This past week our Forest School continued to learn about invertebrates. Did you know that invertebrates are animals that do not have a backbone. A common invertebrate that you may see around, especially after a rainy day, is a worm. Check out these campers and the worms they found. Remember it's important to return nature back to it's place after you are finished learning and exploring.

Happy Monday, Everyone! More cool finds from our friends at our Forest School this morning! We also wanted to pass along a great find around exploration for you guys at home! Learning in nature is great when you can inspire the imagination to wonder more!

Hi Campers, Happy Wildlife Wednesday! Look at this porcupine that our Forest School spotted last week. Porcupines seem to have a lot of quills... how many quills do you think the average porcupine has on their body?

Happy Wildlife Wednesday! This Wednesday we are featuring the blue-spotted salamander. This salamander was spotted by our Forest School while they were out on a salamander and frog hunt! During this activity our campers learn about different types of habitats and the environment that salamanders and frogs live in. For example did you know that salamanders are nocturnal? This means that they lounge and sleep during the day when it's warmer out and then come out at night when it's cool to search for food, how adaptive! Salamanders curl up under logs or rocks so they have a quiet place to rest during the day. Have you ever seen a blue-spotted salamander?

Hello there, Campers! With the start of school being pushed back, we decided to open a bit more space in our 2-day Outdoor Adventure program for September 10 & 11 (Thursday & Friday). There is limited space available - please find the link here for more information or call us at the camp office with any questions you may have! http://www.ymcaywca.ca/Children/camping/Outdoor-Adventure

Check out this diversity iceberg that was made by one of our campers. This exercise encourages campers to think critically about what it means for our camp community to be diverse. What are the things that we can see or identify about others when we look at them? These are the things above the water surface in our iceberg drawing and definitely don’t make up all of us. What are the things that maybe we don’t see that make us all unique? These are represented below the surface and make up most of the iceberg and most of who we are. Understanding our differences helps us know how to support one another and create a better community!

Happy Capital Pride Ottawa! Capital Pride runs from August 23 30 and is our chance to help celebrate, educate, and pay respect to the diversity of the 2SLGBTQ+ community! Check out the Family Pride activity at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFbOxeG_XXk&t=1080s. Pro Tip: you can use cardboard or card stock to create your own medallion for the Pronoun Badge! #whereverweare #fiertecappride #pridematters #ottawa #ottcity #capitalpride Capital Pride Fierté dans la Capitale

Is your family looking for a fun way to spend a Saturday or Sunday in the outdoors? Pack a picnic, bring another family in your group (up to ten people), and enjoy a day of activities at camp! You can build your own adventure and select activities suited to your family’s interest. Activities available are: low ropes, high ropes, water activities, archery, cooperative games and more that are sure to challenge everyone in your group! Cost per group of 10 is $250 + taxes. For more information check out: http://www.ymcaywca.ca/Families/camping/Family-Days or call the camp office at (613)-832-1234