"FOLLOW THE CHILD" ON THE FARM
Hi I'm Mardena Williams I am a retired teacher from the Anchorage School District with a firm belief in hands on interactive learning. I taught Montessori education for over 30 years. I started teaching the Farm Life Education program for Party Ponies and Friends in 2011. Since then I have bought my own farm and the program has morphed into a collaboration of both Party Ponies and Friends and Follow the Child. Party Ponies and Friends still provides their animals for our education programs. I am fortunate to now be able to use my own Farm for the location. We are housed on one of the original Alaska Dairy Farms.
Our camps are packed with daily animal interaction and animal related science. Kids have opportunities to ride horses, play farm games, shear sheep, milk goats and cows, bottle feed babies, collect chicken eggs, see ducks, chickens and geese hatch, see goats, sheep, cows and horses be born. We have camp options for all ages starting with age 4 all the way through 18. Each Camp day has a specific science related focus.
Party Ponies and Friends and Follow the Child on the Farm is the only Farm, Science and horsemanship program taught by certified teachers and members of the American Camp Association. Our programs were recently featured on Channel 2 news as the best camp of it's kind in Alaska.
Please see our camps to register below. Please view our payment policy on this page after the last camp selection before purchasing. You must fill out our online waiver and registration form before attending camp.
We do not currently have before and after care. Our teaching assistant arrives at 9:30 am. If you need to bring your kids before 9:30 am the cost is $10 per hour, and must be prearranged, so that our teaching assistant is here earlier to watch your kids. If more than 1 family needs before and after care this hourly amount can be shared between families. Alaska state minimum wage is $9.84. The amount we are charging you will go directly to cover the cost of providing before care and after care. Before and after care will be charged by the full 30 minutes. If you arrive at 8:45am you will be charged from 8:30-9:30. If you arrive at 9:15 you will be charged from 9:00am and so forth.
We have been trying to figure out the best way to accommodate parents that arrive early and those that arrive on time but also want to chat with us. We posted on facebook a possibility that we would delay the hours we are open on Mondays since that seems to be the day most parent show up 30minutes to an hour early. We absolutely love our parents but we are finding that we may like chitchatting with them a bit too much and when we are accommodating parents and watching kids before 9:30 am we end up not prepared for the day and often behind. We have decided against the 10:30am check in because we believe that we will still be faced with the same challenge we already have and we will have super early parents and kids roaming around early and we will still have those that arrive on time and wiith such a late start for the day we will still be delayed. So we are just going to have to enforce our rules. I hate being the bad guy but we really do need parents to give us our planning time especially on Mondays. Please do not arrive early and park in the drive or along side the road and wait. Our staff will end up greeting you because it is just in their nature to want to make sure you are
Taught by certified teachers!
Camp hours are from 9:30-3pm
Fun in the Midnight Sun
Ages 9-16
Over night Program
4 full Days or 5 days your choice
Transportation to and from camp included for Anchorage residents
Combining all the best things Alaska has to offer with Horses and Science too. Stay right on the farm. Learn to pitch your own tent, build an earth home, play with animals all day and participate in daily science. This camp combines everything we do at day camp with Alaskan history, horsemanship and more. Come play, learn and have fun on the Farm this Summer.
After choosing your camp week you will be emailed our registration form. Please let us know if you will need transportation when you fill out this form. June 11-15 check in will be at camp Monday at 10:30 am unless you need transportation. Please let us know where you need transportation from. We will pick up kids in Wasilla, Palmer and Anchorage if needed
Please visit our new site at
Pony Pals
Ages 4yrs-8yrs
9:30am-11:30am
This camp is for those little ones that really want to join in on the big kid fun. Join our wacky wranglers for our 1 hour 30 min hour morning pony play session. Farm Science paired with animal interaction. Play with our newborns and learn about why horses do what they do. What makes these beautiful creatures tick. Learn how they see, hear, and eat. Learn about their bones, teeth and more all while getting to pet, brush, braid and play with them. Animals birth on their own time. In the event that babies are not born yet. This program will work with our yearling miniature horses and pregnant mares and will include a pony ride.
Animal Adventures
Ages 4yrs-17yrs
Monday 10:30-3pm
Tuesday-Thursday
9:30am-3pm
Fantastic camp for ages 4 all the way to 18 years old. Learn to ride a horse and play with animals all day! This is our old time favorite started in 2011 and taught by Mardena Williams. But this year we have an awesome new twist. Our Milking, soap and lotion lesson will now be with cows milk and goats too. Have a hand at both. Rosie, Sweet Heart and Trickle are all due to have calves this summer with the earliest possible delivery on May 19th. This camp is packed with animal science, shear a sheep and take the wool to a finished product, Learn about predators versus prey during our archeology dig. Daily animal interaction with lessons on digestive systems, bones, eating habits and more. Bottle feed babies, see new animals born and play fun farm games.
Register for a single day or get more for your money and register for 3 days or more. The more days you come the better your discount and the more science you get. Milk a goat, make lotion Sheer a sheep and learn all about fibers and make felt, use microscopes and compare fibers, go on an archeology dig and hunt for geods. More days equal more fun!
June 18-June 29 has sold out for animal adventures.
Additional weeks for July are being added please check back on sunday eve june17 for these updates
Frontier Families
Ages 7yrs-17yrs
9:30am-3pm
More awesome animal science paired with what it was like to live in the pioneer times. Who wouldn't want to play with baby animals all day! Our science experiments for this camp explore soap making, fiber, and how homes were heated Students explore and compare how different things created heat with hands on activities. Our soap lesson takes a on a new level of experimentation as students use ash instead of lye to create soap. Have a hand at a spinning wheel during our wool lessons. Shear sheep, bottle feed babies, learn to ride a horse and more!
All the same science as animal adventures taught in a slighlty different way and new science too. All with a focus on Frontier and Pioneer Days. Go on an Archeology dig, make soap, learn all about fibers, check out cow chips, compare heating sources, learn to make butter with a churn and more!
Wacky Wranglers
9 yrs -17yrs
9:30am-3pm
This is a camp you don't want to miss! It's not every year that we have foals being born right during camp! This may be your one time shot at participating in a real horse birth!
This is a great camp for those almost tweens all the way through 18 years old. Do you just want to play with horses, foals and miniatures all day. This is the camp for you. Our foals are due starting April1st. all the way to late July. Expose and desensitize our yearlings and or newborns through playful daily interaction. Take our yearlings into the round pen and learn the basics of training. Learn some cool braiding techniques and more. 3 days include learning to ride. This camp is all about horses. You may even be lucky enough to see one born during your camp week.
June 25 Frontier Families has sold out Additional weeks for July are being added please check back on sunday eve june17 for these updates
**Please only make your selection when you are ready. Due to the limited space in each camp week we can not offer refunds once you have purchased your week at camp. We ask families to be honest and ethical and understand that once you have chosen to attend camp we are relying on that income to feed our family of both people and critters. If you are unsure about attending camp please make your other scheduling arrangements first before scheduling with us. We do understand that unforeseen family situations of severe illness and death do occur. In these events we can refund most of your camp tuition. A $150 deposit will be retained. In the event that your camp week that you are receiving a refund on reaches 12 kids or more we will also return the $150 deposit.**
All sales are final. Refunds can only be offered in the event of extreme illness or death. Please understand that once your summer camp spot has been reserved we are turning away other campers.
