Spring Break Gross Out Camp to be held at Ruffner Mountain

Gross Out Camp is the hands-on outdoor science camp hosted by the Birmingham nonprofit Fresh Air Family where kids learn about biology, chemistry and physics without any of the stuffy protocols of a traditional classroom.

“We provide 40 hours of science lessons in the great outdoors -- from macroinvertebrates to water molecules to polymers and the scientific method, but the kids just think they are having fun,” said Verna Gates, Fresh Air Family founder and executive director.

And the campers have fun by doing the kind of messy outdoor activities that children love, according to Gates.

“One thing we have learned is that kids have not changed -- they still love digging in the dirt and playing in the creek,” she said,

The next opportunity for kids to take advantage of this unique program is the Spring Break Camp at Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve in Birmingham, March 26-30, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

This is the ninth year of Gross Out Camp and the third year of Spring Break Camp, according to Gates.

Fresh Air Family also offers camps during the weeks of Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, she said.

Fresh Air Family came up with the name "Gross Out Camp” in order to accurately describe the experience, according to Gates.

“Hands-on field biology is gross,” she said. “We touch worms, slimy salamanders, stink bugs, snakes, slime, mud and get dirty doing it.”

The name also appeals to kids, who “immediately relate to things that are gross and are fascinated by them,” Gates said.

Ruffner is a great location for Gross Out Camp, both during spring break or the summer sessions held there, according to Gates.

“Ruffner gives us more than 1,000 acres to roam and explore,” she said. “We will find slimy salamanders, deer tracks, fossils and loads of plants. Kids can climb to vistas that look out over the city. It is a wonderful place to study nature. Plus, there are old mining relics telling us about our industrial past.”

Gross Out Camp will be held in eight different locations in 2018, according to Gates. Most of the camps in the summer are held at Ruffner or at Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

Before and after care are available at the Spring Break Camp at Ruffner. The cost is $250 for non-members and $225 for members.

For details and registration, as well as information about scholarships, go to grossoutcamp.org.