About

Our purpose is to generate opportunities in which children and their mentors can do things they love and discover new passions in a safe, structured environment. We believe kids need time, care, and mentoring as they stretch in the physical world and in their physical selves. 

History

Hayground Camp was founded in 1996 as a fundraising arm for Hayground School, a small private school with a public mission.

Twenty-three years later, we play harder than anyone. We love what we do. And we believe that some of the most powerful lessons our kids and counselors have learned have happened on the Four square court or in the Ga-ga pit or in the Loop Lounge or in the garden.

What started out as 40 campers and a handful of counselors has become a vibrant, diverse and bustling community of hundreds of young people - kids and counselors - learning to live and play together. We take our work seriously. We recognize that we are impacting the next generation of leaders who we hope will take a little bit of the Hayground philosophy with them out into the world. #haygroundlife

Historical Landmarks

Fun!!!

Kids want to have fun. That’s at the core of who they are and so it is at the core of who we are. Fun is a way to engage. Fun is a platform on which to learn about yourself and as well as the people and the world around you.

Friendship

Making friends, managing relationships, and learning how to engage positively with everyone is a cornerstone of Hayground’s social model. Hayground is a safe space to practice community kindness.

Physical Health

Moving your body clears your mind. While Hayground Camp is filled with cerebral opportunities, our campers are also always on the move, creating mind-body connections that feel good and promote good health.

Food

We are what we eat. We invest time and effort into our gardens and into our kitchen->garden continuum program because we want kids to learn where their food comes from. Making that connection sets them up for a life of positive choices.

Education

We learn when our minds and bodies are engaged. With Hayground Camp’s curriculum of playful learning, we set the stage for education through experience. And then we allow time and space for kids to explore and navigate their own learning.

Craft

Practicing a skill is how we develop mastery. Campers are given ample opportunity to dig deeply into the arts, providing them with the opportunity to learn and develop lifelong skills.

LEADERSHIP TEAM

Alumni

While we all might have different memories of our time at Hayground Camp, one common denominator we share is how fondly we look back, and how profoundly Hayground impacted our lives.

Being a Hayground camper means being a lifelong member of a uniquely special community, where summers spent making friends, rehearsing for the Follies, building and racing go-karts, leaping off the trapeze platform or tasting a carrot picked with your own hands were the fantastically wonderful norm. 

It has been said that we don’t remember events so much as the way those experiences made us feel. Think about how it feels when you say the word “Hayground” aloud. If it summons an intense sense of connectivity, like the vast micillia that connects the trees in our forests, you are a part of our alumni network.

Please reach out to us. Connect with us on Facebook, send us an email (info@haygroundcamp.org), come to one of our Music Series events this summer, and definitely come visit! We are launching a new initiative to expand our community outreach to prove what we have always known: that the values you internalized and the confidence you found here are something that you take with you wherever you go.