Ancient Skills
Track a fox, navigate by the stars, breathe fire to life, and make tools from only natural materials. Students at WilderSkills develop a strong connection to outdoor spaces and the ability to meet basic living needs wherever they are through hands-on exposure primitive living technologies and nature awareness practices. Learning these skills prepares students for a lifetime of rich outdoor experiences.
Wild Adventures
When creativity fueled know-how turns sticks and rocks into the functional basis for building anything, adventure chases boredom outside in a hurry! New awareness helps to completely transform sterile outdoor experiences into regular and meaningful family adventures. Our challenging courses push students to build confidence, trust, and to combat fear while experiencing the exciting wild unknown.
Deep Connection
Balance out modern tech-life overload with nature-based activities that positively impact mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Consistent, meaningful connection with wild outdoor spaces will not only spark creativity and imagination, it reduces symptoms of depression, ADHD, bullying, and obesity, and increase levels of self-confidence, cooperation, reasoning and observation skills, and overall fitness.
Summer Adventures: Our week-day courses offer kids the chance to familiarize themselves with nature by learning different aspects of ancient survival and daily living. Our courses begin with an introduction to survival basics, like knife safety, fire, water shelter building and move into more advanced skills over the course of the summer. While our programs can be taken as bi-weekly sessions, the lessons build upon each other over the summer and are intended to be taken as a full course.
Our bi-monthly overnight campouts let students test their skills and take them a level deeper, building self—confidence, creativity, deeper friendships, and awareness. Campouts are designated specifically for teens or families.
Age Groups: Students are divided by age group (10-13 and 14-17). Teen group will involve more in-depth lessons, as well as awareness, leadership, and continual team and individual survival training.
Location: TBD
Cost: TBD
Upcoming Events
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Sale!
Junior Trail Guides Session 2 (Saratoga) – July 13-17, 2020
$549.00$449.00 Select options -
Junior Trail Guides Session 1 (Saratoga) – June 22-26, 2020
$549.00 Sold Out -
Sale!
WilderSkills Family Campout Spots (Person Age 2+)
$75.00$49.00 Sold Out -
WilderSkills One-Time Family Campout Spot (Person Age 2+) (non-monthly subscription pricing)
$75.00 Sold Out -
Sale!
WilderSkills Outdoor Adventure Academy – Apprentice Session 2 (Tues/Wed 4:00 – 6:00pm)
$452.00$226.00 Sold Out -
Sale!
WilderSkills Outdoor Adventure Academy – Apprentice Session 1 (Tues/Wed 12:30 – 2:30pm)
$452.00$226.00 Sold Out
Courses
Session 1 (June 11-14, June 18-21 + CAMPOUT June 21-22)
Session 1 will cover wilderness survival basics: shelter, water, fire, food. It will also delve into ancient skills and crafts, like stone tools, basketry, and pottery.
Campout location: TBD
Session 2 (July 9-12, July 16-19 + CAMPOUT July 19-20)
Love the hunger games? Session 2 will explore ancient techniques of camouflage, stalking and movement, and awareness, while also delving deeper into fire and shelter structure.
Campout location: TBD
Session 3 (July 23-26, July 30-August 2 + CAMPOUT August 2-3)
Wild Edibles/Plant Identification/medicinal herbs
Trapping ethics, primitive traps, tracking, animal behavior
Campout location: TBD
Session 4 (August 6-9, August 13-16 + CAMPOUT August 16-17)
Advanced awareness/ bows & arrows
Flint knapping, camoflauge movement, quickie bows, team work
Hide tanning/bone tools/sewing (pouch-making)
Session 5 (August 20-23, August 27-30 + CAMPOUT August 30-31)
Fire & Water
Movement, water biology
Storytelling/Ancient culture/Native American philosophy/games
Journaling heritage awareness, local people
(FAMILY CAMPOUT – Storytelling)
Week 11
Long-term survival, way-finding,
Week 12
Skills wrapup, seasonal harvesting
Arts and crafts natural materials
(FAMILY/TEEN Campout – Fall harvesting/back to school)
With summer programs taught by some of the best Outdoor Guides, Nature Specialists, and Primitive Survival Experts in the US, WilderSkills Summer Adventure Programs offer kids one of the most unique experiences out there for kids to learn how to be safe, capable, and connected to the outdoors for the rest of their lives.
Get your students out of the classroom and into the woods! We offer after-school and school-day programs and trips that tie wilderness awareness and primitive living skills to an ecology and science curriculum. The hands-on experience outdoors works wonders to bring abstract science concepts to life. 
Check out our upcoming events and register for summer classes. We also host private parties, family outings, and weekend adventure programs. Please contact us if you are interested in us designing a special outdoor wilderness skills event in the San Francisco Bay area to get your students outside