Bay Area Parent Best of the Best - Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose

Green Stuff Summer Camp

Children walking along a Garden path with a Camp counselor

Have your child spend a magical week at the UC Botanical Garden’s award-winning nature camp. Green Stuff camp is a fun hands-on science day camp for children entering Grades 1 to 4, with a special “Alumni Week” for returning campers entering Grades 5 and 6.  Examples of activities campers enjoy include:

  • Learn about amazing plant adaptations and habitat diversity
  • Collect seeds in our Crops of the World garden, and grow your own plant
  • Become a young botanist and see plant parts up close under microscopes
  • Keep a nature journal
  • Make art and crafts from plant material to take home
  • Hunt for garden animals including birds, butterflies, newts, lizards and compost critters
  • Investigate in a different part of the Garden everyday!

Green Stuff is a wonderfully small camp, limited to 10-12 children per week with 2 counselors. The two counselors are a team of one lead staff with a degree and experience in childhood education paired with a well-trained UC Berkeley undergraduate or graduate student in Plant Sciences, both of whom have experience and a love for sharing with young children the wonders of the natural world. Given our living-museum location, this camp is perfect for curious children that already possess self-control skills.

Our 2024 Summer Camp weeks are listed below.

Registration links are live as of January 23 for Members with Sign In verification.

Public Registration is open as of January 30.

Session full? Join our Waitlist!


Summer Camp Information & Policies

New policy: Registration is limited to only 1 week per camper. This allows us to offer the camp experience to as many families as possible. Please only enroll your child in one week.

Children sitting on picnic blankets while being read a story and eating lunch

To receive early Member registration access you must have an active UCBG Membership and be registered with our online ticketing system to enable membership verification. (Register and Sign In buttons appear at the top right corner of all ticketing pages. If you have never Registered with our ticketing system before, be sure to use the same email address and contact information as your membership when setting-up. Once registered with the ticketing system, you can use your associated email address and your chosen password to Sign In whenever you are using our ticketing site to receive your access/member benefits. If you have already Registered with ticketing before but forgot your password, click Sign In and then Forgot Your Password? to reset.) Click here if you’d like to become a Member. Due to our limited capacity, there is no Member discount on summer camp.

Refunds, less a cancellation fee ($100), will be issued only if your cancellation request is made before May 1st. No refunds or credit will be given after that time. Please choose your camp week carefully.

Registration transfer to another week of camp may be made if space permits and it is requested before May 1st.

We are unable to reduce or prorate camp fees for a partial week of attendance.

All registrations are processed through our online system.  If you prefer to not register online yourself, you may register over the phone with a credit card by calling 510-664-7606.

Camper expectations: Our small camp has limited staff resources.  Given the terrain and sensitivity of the collection, we require campers to come with enough self-control skills to safely navigate the Garden together and participate as a group. A camper may be asked to leave if this is not possible. Please consider if this camp is the right fit for your child and reach out with any questions.

Before camp care or Aftercare is not available Summer 2024.

Health Protocols: Although Green Stuff camp is primarily an outdoor camp, we will follow the most current City of Berkeley and UC Berkeley campus health policies, which could include requiring face masks and checking vaccination status. Our camp requirements will be outlined on the Health Form to be completed by camp families in April. Contact us in advance with any concerns.

If needed, please keep the receipt emailed to you upon completing your registration.  The UCBG tax ID or EIN number is 94-6002123.

Policy updated 1/10/2024

2024 SESSIONS ENTERING GRADES 1 – 2

Campers Entering Grades 1-2

Monday – Friday; 9 am – 2 pm
$475/week

June 3 – 7   REGISTER

June 10 – 14  FULL   WAITLIST

June 17 – 21  FULL  WAITLIST

July 22 – 26  FULL  WAITLIST

July 29 – August 2  FULL   WAITLIST  

2024 SESSIONS ENTERING GRADES 3 – 4

Campers Entering Grades 3-4

Monday – Friday; 9 am – 3 pm
$500/week

June 24 – 28   REGISTER

July 8 – 12   FULL WAITLIST 

July 15 – 19  FULL   WAITLIST

August 12 – 16  REGISTER

2024 SESSION ENTERING GRADES 5 – 6 | GREEN STUFF ALUMNI CAMPERS

Alumni Campers Entering Grades 5 – 6

Monday – Friday; 9 am – 3 pm
$500/week

August 5 – 9 FULL   WAITLIST


For more camp information, email greenstuffcamp@berkeley.edu.