We are excited to share the proposed dates for our GICEL camps on Mayne Island and Saturna Island with you.
For those of you who were with us last year, thank you for your patience and willingness to learn how to navigate the new registration software alongside us. We will be continuing with the Amilia software this year. We expect that the learning curve will be significantly easier for all of us this year!
For 2026, we’re offering four weeks of the Summer Earth Education Program (SEEP) for 6-12-year-olds on Mayne Island, with a capacity of 30 participants in each camp.
The SEEP dates (tentative, dependant on staffing) this year are:
- July 13-17, 2026 Mayne Island (Marine theme at Georgina Point)
- July 20-24, 2026 Mayne Island (Forest theme at Bennett Bay)
- July 27-31, 2026 Mayne Island (Marine theme at Bennett Bay)
- August 3-7, 2026 Mayne Island (Forest theme at Georgina Point)
- August 10-14, 2026 Saturna Island
To join the email list for SEEP and Seedlings reminders, including to receive emails when registration dates are announced, please complete this brief form.
The dates for Seedlings (tentative, dependant on staffing) will be:
- August 3-7, 2026 on Mayne Island (exact location to be announced)
- August 10-14, 2026 on Mayne Island (exact location to be announced)
For further updates on Seedlings, please fill out this form to be added to the Seedlings email list.
Registration for the Mayne and Saturna SEEP and Seedlings programs will be in April. When the program dates and registration dates are confirmed, this website will be updated again and families on our email list will be notified.
All registration policies are on our website here:
https://www.gicel.ca/2025-registration-eligibility-window-policies-edited-for-2025/
Please note that in 2024 and 2025, all programs were full within 5 minutes of the general registration window opening. We remain a small-scale program with space and staff limitations. Please watch for an email with the registration date and time, mark it on your calendars, and set an alarm!
Please feel free to reach out with any further questions.
For more information regarding:
-
Mayne Island camps, please email Karen Begley at mayne@gicel.ca
-
Saturna Island camp, please email saturna@gicel.ca
-
Pender Islands camp, please email Andrea Mills at pender@gicel.ca
If you are not already receiving emails from GICEL and would like to be informed of when the registration dates will be, please complete this “GICEL Camp Updates” google form.
Thank you for your support!
The Gulf Island Centre for Ecological Learning
Programs:
Summer Earth Education Program
Grouped in clans such as the Roaring Rockhoppers or the Tree Clan, participants in our Summer Earth Education programs (SEEP) explore together, study together and play together in the forests, freshwater and marine environments of the Gulf Islands. Components of the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, Burgoyne Bay Provincial Park as well as regional and community parks found on each of Salt Spring, Pender, Mayne and Saturna islands are the venues for the 2010 programs. The clans create their identity and build forts which are their base of operations for the week-long programs. Using rotations and activity centres, participants have hands-on experience in understanding forest ecosystem dynamics, multi-sensory explorations, bird communities, food chains and food pyramids, animal behaviour, energy flows in ecosystems, journaling and self-reflection. Specifically designed games to re-enforce the concepts and activities have children role-playing as prey, predators, salmon, and orcas, to name a few.
Specific studies are done on forest decomposition and the soil cycle, intertidal zonation and freshwater aquatic organisms’ lifecycles. Each island program includes sessions led by specialists in certain fields including forest bird communities, forage fish ecology, watershed dynamics and salmon survival, as well as First Nations storytelling and use of resources. Participants also spend time collecting, identifying and recording various organisms found within forest, freshwater and marine ecosystems according to their place in the food chain.
Music is an integral part of each day’s opening and closing ceremonies in which the participants learn new songs about the natural world around them. At the end of the week’s program, individualized certificates of achievement are presented to each participant at our closing ceremony.
This PDF file details a typical day with GICEL.
Seedlings Early Years Nature Day Camp
Seedlings Early Years Nature Day Camp, run in partnership with MIECS, is a week-long outdoor, play-based program which offers young children an opportunity to explore, learn, and grow together in nature. This year it will take place at Bennett Bay which provides field, forest, and beach environments for the children’s outdoor adventures.
The emphasis is on social, affectionate, play-based, and creative learning, with a focus on sensory experiences in nature: listening, looking, touching, tasting, singing, laughing, digging, climbing, running, swinging, building, eating, sharing, story-telling, painting, sculpting, and- did we mention? – Playing! We warn everyone beforehand that the children will get Very Dirty! And they do… We all make new friends and greet old ones with joy by playing and exploring our outdoor environment. We read books and tell stories, paint faces (and arms and legs and other bits), build and decorate a woodland fort, eat frequent snacks, explore the great outdoors, play games in the field, and make expeditions into the forest and to the beach.
This PDF file will give you more information about the Seedlings Program.
GICEL Connections
The Gulf Island Center for Ecological Learning (GICEL) is now offering a free online summer mini-camp experience for 2020. Connect with nature by engaging in fun, ecology-themed activities and connect on-line with friends & leaders with the new GICEL Connections program!
Check out our new GICEL Connections webpage for open content created by GICEL leaders, coordinators and community members. Ecology themed activities, video explorations & tutorials, and more will be posted weekly – check back regularly to see what has been added!
Explore the activities on the webpage and post any of your experiences and creations to our Facebook page.
Join the weekly GICEL Connection Sessions via Zoom on Tuesday and Friday at 10:00 am PDT throughout August!
During the 30 minute session on Tuesday, participants will have a chance to connect with each other & GICEL leaders, enjoy some fun camp experiences, and learn about the week’s themed challenge to get outside and explore your local green spaces.
On Friday, we will gather again to share what you’ve discovered!
Click photos below to enlarge:
