Rooster Valley Farm School | Unique Summer Camps get Kids Learning Outdoors, Playing with Animals, Growing Things

Rooster Valley Farm School…. sounds interesting you think, but what exactly is it?  Well, if you drive through downtown Snoqualmie, it’s the barn-red building on the Falls Ave that merges preschool and outdoor time with nature – AND animals.  You really can’t miss it.

Brushing goats, petting rabbits, digging in a mud pit, planting and harvesting vegetables  – if any of these activities sound fun to local families and preschoolers – then this their summer camps might just be the ticket to fill those long June – August days and avoid that infamous summer kid phase: “I’M BORED.”

Rooster Valley History

During the school year, Rooster Valley Farm School offers Preschool and Pre-K programs for 2.5-6 year old children. Students receive an academic education, and experience daily hands-on activities with farm animals, the garden, and the outdoors.

Jennifer Ward and Tricia Benson, best friends and educators for over twenty years, opened up Rooster Valley Farm School in Snoqualmie in 2012. They designed a school where children learn needed classroom skills they need – and then also spend half of their time outdoors with animals, in nature and just being kids.

Rooster Valley Farm School’s indoor time has students working closely with teachers and moving between various activities relating to a theme connected to a letter in the alphabet…. all the education enriching curriculum parents expect in a traditional preschool.

Outdoors, though, children have farm chores to do. They collect eggs, feed the pig, or scoop poop.  They learn the responsibilities of caring for animals first hand. In the garden, they may plant a new vegetable, pull out and eat some carrots from the ground or water the raspberry bushes.

RVFS students have outdoor time for half of the day, no matter what the weather.  Whether they are making rivers through the mud pit, driving trucks down the big ramp, riding on the tire swing, picking flowers in the grass, or building snow men, the children’s imaginations drive outdoor play.

RVFS students help with soil for the school's garden
RVFS students help with soil for the school’s garden

Summer Camp Options

Kids don’t have to be a regular school year RVFS student to enroll for Rooster Valley Farm School’s unique summer camps either. The camps are for kids 2.5 to 6 years old and run Monday through Friday from 9AM to 12PM.  

There are also two choices of “extended play” time for families needing more summer camp time – kids can stays until 3PM or 5PM, which can help out working parents.

The camps have a different theme each week.  Activities, crafts, games, and stories inside (and some outside) will relate to the theme of the camp. However, during every camp children will meet & help care for the goats, rabbits, chickens, ducks, and pig. All campers will do activities in the garden and be able to play and work outdoors at least half of their camp day.

This year’s camp themes are: Old Fashioned Farm Fun, Under the Big Top, Pirates & Princesses, Ice Cream & Chocolate, Bugs & Slugs, How Does Your Garden Grow?, The Watering Hole, and I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.

Visit Rooster Valley Farm School’s website for more info on their unique programs, summer camps and/or to register for summer camps:  www.roostervalleyfarmschool.org

Happy trails and good luck to Jennifer, Tricia and their barn red school that always brightens my day when I pass by!

Rooster Valley Farm School on Falls Ave in downtown Snoqualmie.
Rooster Valley Farm School on Falls Ave in downtown Snoqualmie.

 

RVFS student hangs out with the one of the school's farm animals.
RVFS student hangs out with the one of the school’s farm animals.

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Comments

  • My daughter has been going there for years, and she loves Farm School! I may be biased, but I think it’s the best preschool ever!

  • Living Snoqualmie