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Programs & Activities

Programs:

Overnight: We invite you to bring your students to an overnight experience for one, two, three, or four nights! During your overnight stay, experience the full range of hands-on STEM-based lessons as well as adventure activities that will challenge and encourage students. When you book an overnight stay, our facility opens up to include horseback riding, canoeing, and the challenge course.

Day Trip: If a day trip is more suitable for your students, feel free to pack a lunch or have our staff prepare one for you! The lessons and activities for a day trip are limited to our core lessons to ensure your students make the most of their day.

Curriculum: 

The Outdoor Education Center at Camp Olympia has been the home of outdoor education for over 40 years. We started as a program by passionate teachers from Houston ISD who wanted to make a lasting impact in the lives of students, and today that tradition is carried on by teachers who want to inspire the next generation of teachers and students. Our TEKS-aligned curriculum has been used to start and enhance outdoor ed centers around the state and even the country. We invite students to create meaning from their experience without lecturing or sitting still. Students will get dirty, they will explore, they will find answers to their questions. Our curriculum is written for our facility to bring the surrounding area to life.

Accommodations:

Cabins are setup for group building, with 14-20 bunks in each. Girls’ cabins are on one end of camp and boys’ cabins on the other. All cabins have heat and air conditioning. Indoor meeting space, including audio and visual equipment, is also available. Camp Olympia can provide bed linens and towels upon request.

Activities:

Schools can choose from activities such as:

Forest Ecology

Students explore a forest ecosystem while practicing scientific methods of observation and inquiry

Aquatic Ecology

Students collect and identify organisms from Lake Livingston in order to create an aquatic food web

Fishing

Students identify the form and function of adaptations of fish they catch

Canoeing

Students work with a partner to control a canoe. The learners will discuss paddling as an experiment involving force and motion

Conservation

Students participate in an ongoing conservation project such as a wildlife survey, habitat improvement, tree planting, or invasive exotic removal

Orienteering

Students use a compass to find degree bearings and navigate through a series of secret messages to solve a riddle

Team-building

Students engage in critical thinking, problem-solving, and cooperative learning to reach their goals through fun and challenging tasks. Rock climbing walls and other high challenges allow individuals to push boundaries with encouragement from peers

Gardening

Students learn about cycles while working in a real garden and sampling the produce

Archery

Students learn range safety and the basics of archery

Horseback

One activity that is always a favorite is horseback riding. Students love having the opportunity to get up close with our year-round horses. From learning how to rein lead around the arena or brushing them down, students will have the opportunity to interact with our horses at their comfort level.

Astronomy

Students explore the solar system and galaxy by recognizing the movement of celestial bodies and peering deep into the night sky

Texas History

Students create a handmade product to relate to how the Industrial Revolution changed life during the 19th century