Tree Frog Treks

What an amazing way to engage kids in learning about the natural world. Fun, playful, safe, creative space and activities that build interest in the outdoors. You’ll love it!

Tree Frog Treks offers supremely inventive summer camps for kids K-​5 with a focus on science and nature.
Kids meet up in Golden Gate Park and then disseminate into groups– or over-​the-​bridge organized day trips– to spend lots and lots of time outdoors hiking, exploring, collecting, drawing and creating art from objects in nature.
Every week has a theme (this week was «Climate Pirates, 21^st Century Conservationists!») with events and activities organized around that week’s theme.
Whether it’s getting your kids excited about nature and the ecosystem by dressing up as pirates and picking up trash as «booty» to see what can be reduced/​reused/​recycled or a day trip to Pescadero to learn about watersheds, every day is a fun adventure.
I’ve never seen my child get so dirty or have so much fun outdoors.
A very talented staff of counselors insures your child is safe and well-​cared for. All seem to have college degrees in biology and the sciences– and all are early 20-something’s to keep up with energetic groups of youngsters.
(I couldn’t do it!)
There are 7 groups (from Roly Polies to Pythons), broken up by age group in groups of about 16 children.
2015 cost was $ 425/​week for full day camp 9am-​4pm. There is before and after camp care for an extra, reasonable cost.
I highly recommend this smart, fun, high energy camp that will both happily engage and exhaust your little darlings!

I was a nanny for a boy awhile back, and he went to this camp for three summers in a row.
I have nothing but respect for the staff, quality, and freedom of this camp.
The staff are so involved with the children and truly love what they do, everything is perfectly structured, and what more could a child want than exploring, learning, discovering, playing, and building friendships.

I’m so glad that I booked a guided nature walk with these guys. We spent a beautiful Sunday on Mount Diablo with Tony, Taj and Jorge and hiked for around six hours. I believe that Tree Frog Treks usually just do events like summer camp for kids or family adventure walks, but I’m glad I requested a hike with just me and my non-​family, twenty-​something year old friends. We learned all kinds of things about plants, butterflies, reptiles, and birds. Although it was pretty dry out, we were still able to see some flowers and quite a bit of wildlife. Also, how often do you get to see grown men run around and catch butterflies with a net or see someone almost get his face get snapped at by a rattlesnake and is still super stoked about the thing or get musk sprayed on you by a beetle that you found by overturning dead logs? Can’t say enough good things about these guys. Super nice, really knowledgeable, and they will get you home in time to watch the world cup without feeling at all rushed.

We had an amazing time with Taj, Tony, and Jorge at Mount Diablo. It was a guided tour for my friend’s birthday, and these guys were informative and fun to hike with. I highly recommend booking a guided tour with Tree Frog Treks, it’s a totally different experience than hiking on your own. For instance, I probably would never have noticed the baby rattlesnake we saw on the side of the trail :)

Tree Frog Treks came to my son’s school– they are awesome! so wonderful with kids. They had a burmese python who was very mellow, and my son had a bearded dragon sit on his head. What a wonderful experience for them. We have also done their camps in San Francisco and really enjoyed them.

I was in a pinch since my son’s kindergarten didn’t start until after Labor Day. I enrolled him in the last week of camp and was concerned since I had heard of Tree Frog Treks, but didn’t know much about it and didn’t have time to do any research. My son has a peanut allergy and so I also wanted to make sure they were conscientious about hygiene. My fears were alleviated immediately when they called to ask about the allergy. My son had an incredible time and learned so much about natural science. I’m sending him back next summer for at least a week and will utilize the Saturday 5:30 — 9:00 evening events for children (parent date night). David and Tony were amazing. A quote from my son «I wish this was my school.»

Two of my kids have gone through TFT with different feelings. It is a friendly, chilled out, in the park all day, throw in some science as we walk about, camp. Great for stick-​finding, imaginative kids who like independence and don’t mind the weather, not so great for kids who need more structure or affection as the counsellors are cool dudes mostly who only respond to major cries for help, not subtle cues. Not your touchy feely camp for sure, but really works for independent outside kids.

Our 8 year old daughter loved her month of Tree Frog Trek camps. The days have thoughtful, creative lesson plans which teach kids in an impressively fun way. The camp director Dave is hilarious and camp counselors are friendly and welcoming. Their love of nature and science is contagious. Tree Frog Treks is a great camp experience for school age children. We had initially paid for another summer camp which had no programming and our daughter did not enjoy. Tree Frog Treks gave her wonderful summer memories in Golden Gate Park and surrounding Bay area nature sites. Thank you.

This was my 7 year old daughter’s first time at TFT Summer Camp in Golden Gate Park. I also have an 11 year old son, so I have seen lots of camps. This one is truly impressive. It is simple, well-​planned and the instructors step back so children can take the lead in their own play/learning…She says her favorite thing was «Everything!» See other reviews for examples of activities. She wants to go back next summer.

My 6 year old daughter is somewhat of a Tree Frog Treks groupie. She has done the summer camps, the after school programs and the kids play nights. And she has loved it all. If you have a kid who loves nature and relishes the chance to get up and personal with snakes, lizards and other creepy crawlies, then this is heaven. Let’s put it this way: my daughter has never not loved a TFT anything. She always wants to go back, stay longer or do it again.

TFT is great. The kids get to be scientists and stewards of the environment. It’s a great way to be outside, to get dirty, to learn about respecting your natural environment, to touch and interact with things that might otherwise be scary (snakes, bugs etc.) and to have fun. Our guys have been to all kids of TFT iterations in a number of different places and always come back willing to go for more.

This was our child’s first year at Tree Frog Trek camp and he loved it!
Kids hike around Golden Gate Park and learn about Flora and Fauna. Best of all, they really are outside all day! The kids climb trees, look for bugs and handle snakes, lizards and other critters that are brought in by the instructors. All instructors are awesome; N. will be back!

Tree Frog Treks is both a parents and child’s dream!!! I cannot say enough about this one-​of-​kind program that Mr. Science has developed and runs for kids. All our kids love him, the activities, the adventures-​and they even sing the Tree Frog Treks songs all year long. And we, as parents, love that we can rest assured knowing that our little loved ones are in excellent hands with kind, caring, knowledgable, engaging, and awesome trustworthy staff! There are animals, games, experiments, songs, comradery, learning, and all in a FUN environment. If you haven’t already checked Tree Frog Treks out… DO IT (your family will thank you)!!!

Tree Frogs Treks is a great program and they offer an AMAZING camp experience! My two children have gone for three summers and they love it! The counselors are helpful, knowledgeable, professional and fun. They do interesting science experiments that fascinate and educate the kids. The animals they bring are always a big hit and the counselors work with the kids on handling them properly and taking care of them. I am also impressed with how patient the teachers are with the kids. They are great at explaining everything and always work with the kids on safety with the experiments and animals.
If your kids love nature, animals, getting dirty and having fun — Tree Frog Treks is for you!

WHAT FUN = heard them at the Atherton Library, and they were great! Wish we lived in SF so we could take advantage of more the programs they offered. They know how to work with kids, and have fun with the kids. Everyone loved it — even the adults.

This is seriously the most amazing science exposure for you kids. It’s brilliantly low-​brow and has a lot of local naturalist info weaved into the curriculum. My son has experienced a truly enriching experience as opposed to being simply entertained. They are all dedicated, spirited, and talented teachers over there!

Beware that this past weekend the Tree Frog Trek Science group was hired to come to a birthday party for our fellow parents’ 6-​yo child. We attended the party… The parents hired the science guys who showed how to create mini rockets out of film canisters and baking soda etc. Towards the end they demonstrated launching larger plastic soda bottles using air pressure (pumped up with a bike tire pump while the bottle was locked in a base launcher device). The soda bottles did launch quite high (over 100 feet)…until a disastrous event occurred… the final plastic bottle was pressurized and exploded before it could be released. A piece of the bottom blew out and flew into the chin of a nearby party guest (6-​yo girl who was standing a few feet away watching the expected launch). The shrapnel tore into her chin and she bled quite badly — 911 was called and the party ended very abruptly as paramedics arrived to help stop the bleeding. She ended up in the hospital that afternoon with seven stitches.
Tip: Avoid any such «science package» when booking with this company. WE LOVE their services usually… just need to know about the «rocket launching» — no more!!!