Out Your Backdoor School and Cultivating Futures are teaming up for free one-week summer camps where kids build confidence, learn real outdoor skills, and take home the gear they need to keep going.
Free 1- Week Camps
Designed for Ages 9-12
Keep the Gear
Get a Bike or Fully-Loaded Field Bag
Beginner Friendly
Small Groups | Real Skills
Gear should not be the barrier to getting outside. These camps help kids step away from screens, spend time outdoors, and connect with other kids through hands-on adventure. With the right tools, encouragement, and a little confidence, kids can learn to ride, explore, notice, build, and play in the parks and outdoor spaces close to home. Along the way, they build lifelong skills, strengthen focus and problem-solving that can support success in school, deepen curiosity, and grow a sense of stewardship for our lands.
Jeff Potter has spent decades helping people of all ages experience freedom in the outdoors through books, teaching, grassroots organizing, and hands-on instruction. In addition to decades of teaching in K-12 public schools, he is the author of the innovative New Wave Nordic Skiing and has helped found or support community organizations like the Lansing Bike Co-Op and Friends of the Red Cedar River. Jeff also hosts a global Nordic skiing community with 45,000+ members.
His mission is simple: make the outdoors accessible, understandable, welcoming, and empowering for everyone.
Safety is built into every day with beginner-friendly instruction, multiple adults onsite, background checks for adults working with youth, and first aid-trained staff or providers onsite.
Meet the instructor, ask questions, enjoy fun activities and demonstrations, and see what the camps are all about at the Unity in Motion Festival.
Festival features free food, ice cream, vendor fair, prizes, giveaways and loads of fun activities.
Saturday, July 18, 2026
Pinewood Park, Kentwood
Spots are limited. Register now and help your child build confidence, skills, and a reason to get outside.
For as little as $10, you can help a child attend camp, receive gear, and experience the confidence, joy, and lifelong benefits of outdoor adventure.
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