The Learning Trail

Summer Ecology Camp Diary | Gubbachi Learning Community Kodathi | April 2025

It was a bright and sunny morning. The sky was a soft blue, dotted with cottony clouds. Black kites soared overhead, pongam trees were in full bloom, and an energetic buzz filled the air as children eagerly awaited the start of the sessions. A Monday morning — just the way we like it!

It was mid-April, and we were all set to launch our first-ever Nature & Me camp for children at the Gubbachi Learning Community, Kodathi School. This was to be an experiential program immersed in nature, spread over five days. While designing it, we tried to imagine ourselves as children on a summer break. What would we have wanted from an experience that required us to be at school every day at 9 a.m.? Something exciting and interesting, stimulating and new - challenging perhaps, but chilled out and…fun fun fun!

Keeping these critical parameters in mind, we decided to embark on 'an exploration of ecosystems'. A deep dive into the ecology of a familiar space: the school. Along the way, we aimed to unpack concepts and learn about phenomena that are global in their relevance.

Day 1: An exploration of the school ecosystem: who lives here?

 We spent equal parts of each day engaged in animated discussions in the classroom and stepping outdoors with our summer hats on. Each child in our learning circle participated, observed, documented and shared their thoughts daily, and by day two, we had a fun camp routine in place. 

We tried to ensure that each day offered a mixed bag of experiences —  some parts  guided, and others student-led, with plenty of time for collaboration and independent study. Looking back, we hope we provided enough space for the children to enjoy the three C’s: creativity, chatter and chaos.

Day 2:  Exploring forest ecosystems and trying to answer the question: can a single tree be an ecosystem?

Two steps to the outdoors

The Gubbachi Kodathi school is a beautiful space to immerse yourself in nature. With a diversity of trees- some probably decades old— plenty of wild grassy patches, and most importantly, direct contact with muddy, sandy, soily earth. 

For this summer camp, the school campus became our ecosystem, with habitats to explore in every corner, and a long checklist of sightings to work through by the end of each day— from flora (trees, shrubs, herbs and grasses) to fauna (reptiles, birds, mammals and a staggering diversity of invertebrates).

Day3: How do scientists study grassland ecosystems?

Learning is a two-way street

This experience was a beautiful reminder that learning is an exchange and rarely unidirectional. While we share our knowledge of concepts, methods, and facts, children always meet us more than halfway, offering stories and observations from their lived experiences that add a depth to the learning we would never achieve on our own.

Our lessons at Gubbachi schools have always been trilingual - a happy mixture of English, Kannada and Hindi. The children, gently and without judgment, help us improve our vocabulary and spoken Kannada and Hindi. For this, we are deeply grateful!  

Day 4: It is a hot day here in Bangalore: can we bring the ocean into our classroom?

Questions, questions, questions

One of the cornerstones of all our sessions is the importance of asking questions. There is no such thing as a silly question, and there can never be too many questions! We encourage children to start each day with questions, interrupt us any time with more, and to let their curiosity soar — because, if you think about it, is there anything that isn’t a part of nature? (Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.)

As we expected, the children brought questions to the learning circle that made us look up into the trees, imagine life in the clouds and ponder the challenges of life deep in the ocean. Some of these questions guided our classes, while others required us to go home and do our homework!

Day 5 : Creativity, chatter and chaos!

 By the end of Day 5, we were filled with mixed emotions. We had successfully explored ecosystems, the children were eager to know when we’d return for more, and we were left with the feeling that there was still so much we wanted to do together.  With heavy yet brimming hearts, we parted ways,  already looking forward to our next camp at Gubbachi Kodathi, carrying with us the kind words shared by one of the dear teachers at Gubbachi-

 “The nature camp was an enriching experience for our students, fostering curiosity, teamwork, and a deeper connection with nature. It helped them develop essential life skills and appreciate the environment.🌳” - Ramya

Camp Finish!

All photo credits and gratitude to teachers at Gubbachi- Ramya, Irshad and Beena.

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About Gubbachi Learning Community

Founded in 2015, Gubbachi is a Section 8 company working towards the educational inclusion of marginalised children - typically from migrant families, as well as community interventions connecting migrant families to benefits and entitlements.

About the Author

Chetana is a wildlife biologist, ocean explorer and educator. Dogs love her almost as much as she loves them.