Hi, I’m Michelle and my kids went to camp at Trackers for a total of about 10 years. They did everything from archery to supervillain cosplay to paintball, and they loved every minute of it. I now work at Trackers as the Editor-in-Chief, helping create amazing stuff: how-to guidebooks (check out our Knives & Woodcarving book), comics (new edition releasing during summer camp), graphic novels (our first, about Captain Nick, coming summer 2023!), and even Trackers songs (surprise album drop soon!)!
I want to share an eye-opening experience I recently had with our Trackers Journal—the 36-page comic/coloring book each of your kids will get (for free) on their first day of camp.
I live in the city and last week my work was interrupted by a ruckus outside my office window. I went out to find a group of neighbors gathered at the corner, watching an enormous flock of 20-30 crows that were dive bombing a tree, cawing to wake the dead. It was like something out of Hitchcock’s The Birds!
“I wonder why they’re doing that?” a neighbor asked.
I sprinted back to my office and returned with a Trackers Journal in hand.
“They’re mobbing!” I cried, handing her the book. “Look at page 23. I bet there’s a predator bird in the tree.”
My neighbors passed the Journal around, oohing and aahing.
“This is really cool!”
“So much awesome nature info in here!”
“Trackers teaches kids how to measure animal gaits? Whoa.”
“The artwork is gorgeous."
“My kids would love this.”
“I would love this!”
A few minutes later we spotted a juvenile bald eagle hiding in the upper branches. I felt like I had superpowers. Trackers superpowers.
Because that’s what being a Tracker is all about. Paying attention to what nature is trying to tell us.
Learning to stop and listen and understand what’s going on in the more than human world.
Connecting with the animals and plants around us in a deeper, more meaningful way.
The Trackers Journal helps kids develop those skills. There are 5 journals, one for each Guilds. Designed as a comic and coloring book, each Journal is full of Trackers lore, nature secrets, treasure hunts, and more! Each has a field guide section where kids learn to identify animal tracks, plants, aquatic critters, and birds. And each Journal is full of fun Trackers camp activities, like how to:
- Play Trackers Compass Bingo
- Set up your Secret Camp
Pack your Trackers Kit - Use the Trackers Band, Stick and Hearthstone
Plus tons of amazing wilderness skills, like how to:
- Figure out what time it is by measuring the position of the sun (called “sun time”)
- Fill in a Weather Compass to discover how weather ages tracks
- Draw Lens Maps to deepen tracking ability
- Move like animals to be as silent as they are
- Use stealth and camouflage to be invisible in the woods
- Measure animal tracks and gaits to figure out what you’re tracking
- Harvest edible wild plants and plant your own Wilders garden
- Paddle a canoe and steer using a j-stroke
- Tie fishing knots
- Shoot a bow and arrow
- Make and throw a rabbit stick
- Learn bird language (so you know mobbing when you see it!)
- And much, much more!
Kids are encouraged to do each activity, then get a stamp in their Journal from their camp Guide, like a passport. The more stamps they get, the more Trackers superpowers they are gaining.
One of the Journal’s stampable activities is to share their story with friends and family. So when your child brings their Trackers Journal home, look through it with them. Ask about the adventures they had that day–What did they learn? How did they help?—and listen as they tell you their story. The Trackers Journal is a way to connect, to share in the amazing adventures your child will have at Trackers camp.
Who knows? Maybe you’ll get some superpowers of your own.