Virtual Summer Camp
Registration for Summer 2025 will open Spring 2025.
Join us as we embark on an action-packed virtual summer adventure.
Sessions will feature educators from Manatee Lagoon – An FPL Eco-Discovery Center®, Mote Marine Laboratory, and other environmental organizations.
Week-long virtual camp experiences will feature half-day morning schedules filled with animal observations, experiments, games, crafts and educational lessons hosted by educators from each organization. The camp will focus on wildlife and the environment. Themes will vary each week throughout the summer and activities will be tied to the weekly theme. Camp sessions will feature a mix of live, prerecorded and do-at-your-own-pace content. Lessons are geared towards children ages 6 to 9; however, other ages are welcome to register and participate.
Space is limited and registration is required for all participants. Parents and legal guardians may complete one registration per household at no cost. Camp organizations hosting their own camps may register for a modest fee to access the camp content from a single device to share with their campers.
Dates: To be determined, check back this spring!
Registration: Please use the blue “Book Now” button below to register. Registration for each week will close at noon on the Monday that the camp week begins.
Ages: Topics and activities are targeted toward ages 6 to 9, however other ages are welcome to register and participate.
Cost for individuals and families: Free, voluntary donations can be made during the registration process. Donations will be evenly distributed among organizations that helped make this program possible to support their environmental and educational missions.
Cost for camp groups: $50 per week with login access for one device. Fees will be evenly distributed among organizations that helped make this program possible to support their environmental and educational missions.
Donations and fees will support the following organizations:
- Friends of Manatee Lagoon: This non-profit is dedicated to expanding environmental education in Palm Beach County through future enhanced exhibits and experiential learning opportunities. Friends of Manatee Lagoon is a separate 501(c)(3) organization from Manatee Lagoon.
- Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium: This is a non-profit marine research laboratory and public Aquarium comprising world-class marine scientists and staff committed to the belief that the conservation and sustainable use of our oceans begins with research and education.
- The Reef Institute: This non-profit was initially established in 2016 to promote ocean health and environmental stewardship, but shifted focus to coral conservation in 2018 due to Florida’s coral reef crisis. Coral reefs face threats like climate change, disease, and human impact.
Please note, after registering online you will receive an email confirmation. The week prior to the start of your camp session, you will receive a separate email that will include a link to the Camp Welcome Packet. This packet will have the instructions for accessing the camp’s Google Classroom for your registered session, as well as guidelines for how to join the camp’s live lessons using the links within the Google Classroom. For more information on how to access and navigate Google Classroom, please click here to watch a tutorial video.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
A link to the camp welcome packet will be provided in a separate email from info@visitmanateelagoon.com the week prior to the start of your camp session.
The welcome packet provides information about the virtual summer camp, including the schedule for the week, how to join the camp’s Google Classroom, instructions for joining live lessons via links in the camp’s Google Classroom, our camp Code of Conduct, a link to a brief tutorial video and a social media toolkit to share your child’s experience with us.
We highly recommend that you take time to review and follow the initial steps of this guidance before the camp session begins to maximize your camper’s experience.
The virtual camp sessions are designed to span a daily three-hour window throughout a week. Each day includes about three main topics consisting of live video lessons, with prerecorded videos and supplemental activities. Depending on the camper’s pace, there will likely be some break time within the three-hour window.
The camp sessions are designed to span a daily three-hour window from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. throughout a week. The schedule of a session includes three main topics each day which typically feature a live video lesson, with some prerecorded videos and supplemental activities, such as printable coloring sheets, worksheets, quizzes and simple experiments. These main topics typically become visible in the classroom at the time they are scheduled. There are also other activities, such as questions of the day and a camp song, for campers to experience during the week.
The camp is hosted on the Google Classroom platform, where activity information can be accessed as it becomes available throughout the week. Sessions feature a variety of live lessons, as well as supplemental prerecorded videos and at-home activities and printables.
Live lessons are presented via either Zoom or WebEx Events and information on the platforms can be found in the camp welcome packet. Directions and links to join each live lesson become available in the classroom at or just before the scheduled lesson start time.
*Please note, lives lessons offered in Zoom are limited to the first 100 campers who access the link. If you are unable to view the live lesson, a recording of the lesson will be posted in the classroom afterwards.
If you receive an “invalid” message when entering the Classroom Code, please confirm that you are not attempting to log into the camp’s classroom using a Gmail account issued by another educational organization, such as a school district. The camp’s classroom is not accessible via such a Gmail account and should be accessed via a personal Gmail account.
If that is not the issue, please contact us.
We recommend checking for parental controls or other settings or limitations on the equipment or Gmail account being used to access the camp’s content. It may be necessary to change settings or log into the camp’s classroom using another type of Gmail account.
Please review the information in the camp’s welcome packet regarding the platforms used for the camp’s live lessons.
Please note that our camp counselors will do their best to address any comments made in the classroom in a timely manner. At times there may be unexpected delays due to technology in the display of links to live lessons or uploading videos.
*Please note, lives lessons offered in Zoom are limited to the first 100 campers who access the link. If you are unable to view the live lesson, a recording of the lesson will be posted in the classroom afterwards.
The virtual camp sessions are designed to span a daily three-hour window from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. throughout a week. Camp activities can be completed within the three-hour timeframe. However, campers are not required to participate in every lesson, nor complete them at the scheduled time (unless they plan to join a live lesson – recordings of live lessons are posted to the classroom at a later time for viewing). Once the lessons have displayed in the camp’s Google Classroom, they may be accessed at the camper’s own pace throughout the week. Please note, the camper commenting feature is enabled only during the camp’s daily three-hour window and the camp’s content may not be accessible after the camp week is finished.
To navigate the camp’s Google Classroom, campers will need to use a keyboard and/or mouse to click on and open assignments, videos, links to live lessons and supplemental materials. Campers may need to print items to work on them offline. Depending on a camper’s age and experience with technology and the camp’s platforms, parents may need to provide some assistance.
While we strive to keep the camp’s Google Classroom and assignments within it as user-friendly as possible and targeted to the 6 to 9-year-old age range, the digital nature of the camp does unfortunately require a parent to assist at times, such as the creation of the free Google Account, learning how to navigate the classroom and printing or gathering supplemental materials.
We strive to keep the camp’s activities and materials as user-friendly as possible and to include items typically found in most households. While lessons may involve using supplies, typically the video or live lessons are intended as demonstrations and do not require campers to perform the activities at that specific time. Supply lists may be included in supplemental materials to accompany live lessons or recorded videos. These may become available in the camp’s Google Classroom at or shortly before a topic’s scheduled time. Campers may follow along with demonstrations whether they have the supplies on hand or not. In addition, recordings may be accessed throughout the week if a camper is able to gather supplies to perform the activity at a later time. Due to the nature of this collaborative virtual camp offering, providing a comprehensive supply list at this time may not be feasible. We appreciate your understanding.
While the camp’s Google Classroom offers campers the option to submit their work, submitting it is not required. However, our camp counselors enjoy seeing submitted work from our campers and will strive to acknowledge those submissions. In addition, submitted work may be featured in a Closing Campfire feature displayed in the Google Classroom at the end each camp session.
Camp counselors will moderate the live lesson audio and chat features and the comments posted in the Google Classroom. If necessary, our team will communicate through the specific platform or via the Gmail account used to log into the classroom or the email used at the time of registration.
By registering and paying the fee for a week-long session, a camp organization has permission to access the Wild About Wildlife (WAW) Google Classroom and livestream lessons via a single device. Registrants will receive guidance on how to access the classroom and its content in the Welcome Packet they will receive via email from info@visitmanateelagoon.com the week prior to the start of their camp session. Please note that camp content will become visible in the camp’s classroom at or just before its scheduled time throughout the week according to the camp’s weekly schedule.
Registered camp coordinators may download and print supplemental materials, including coloring sheets, worksheets and activities, from the camp’s classroom. They may also access the classroom to play recorded video content and may connect to the camp’s livestream lessons (via WebEx Events or Zoom, depending on the lesson) via a single device, to display for their camp participants. Registered camp coordinators may need to facilitate feedback or ask questions, via chat or polling features, on behalf of their campers during live lessons and may need to keep their microphone muted to eliminate background noise for other viewers.
Registered camp coordinators may not share links to any WAW live lessons with others that would result in more than one device connecting to a live lesson. In addition, registered camp coordinators may not allow their campers to have direct access to the camp’s Google Classroom.
Camp coordinators may submit questions to the WAW camp team by emailing info@visitmanateelagoon.com. The camp team will do its best to respond to questions in a timely manner.
