Our Afternoon Therapeutic Recreational Activities

Kindle Farm engages students in a variety of therapeutic recreational activities every afternoon. Typically, we offer between 30 to 50 of these activities per week across both campuses. These classes provide our students the opportunity to be hands-on while they develop new skills and reinforce the learning process outside of the traditional classroom. Some examples include:

  • Football

  • Biking Waterfalls,

  • Clifts & Caves

  • Football

  • Photography

  • Drumset

  • Radio

  • Archery

  • Fly Fishing

  • Rock Band

  • Mowing and Trimming

  • Skateboarding

  • Bball

  • Art

  • Instrumental

  • Fishing

  • Health

  • Snack Attack

  • Kayaking

  • Community

  • Pickleballl

  • Iron Chef

  • Seed To Plate

  • Wilderness

  • Supreme Fitness

  • Logging

  • Dog Days

  • Rock Climbing

  • Woodworking

  • Screenprinting

  • Grillin and Chillin

  • Digital Art

Students sign up for their preferred afternoon programming, giving them something to look forward to throughout the week. We often find that students build their confidence and connection through these offerings as they develop expertise and spend time in the community exploring their individual interests.

A look into a few of these groups will give you a feel for the depth of these experiences. For instance, during Introduction to Kayaking, students are given the opportunity to learn about kayaking while they work on their physical fitness and develop safety and teamwork skills to be used on the water. Students learn about various kayaks, paddles, PFD equipment, paddle strokes, and support equipment. They also gain the knowledge of assisting in unloading, loading, and portaging the kayaks and equipment.

In our Dog Days of Summer activity, students learn different ways to enrich their dogs’ lives as well as their own. They benefit from the therapeutic presence of being with relaxed dogs and learn basic manners to teach their dogs at home, including a special trick or two. The group experiences how tone of voice matters, how to use positive reinforcement, and learn the different meanings behind body language and how dogs respond. Students work with a trainer to learn the steps to learning a trick and are able to ask questions about how to work with their own dog(s). 

A final example is our Wilderness class. This fall, this group focused on the seasonal transition of Autumn.  Students were encouraged to use their senses to notice changes in the landscapes while harvesting wild plants and materials for winter use. Through teamwork, students spent time enhancing our wilderness shelter and creating space for future projects.  Daily skills included tracking, tool making and usage, fire making, cooking, and ax throwing.  

It is our hope that our therapeutic afternoon activities keep our students engaged and challenged. As you can see from the descriptions above, we believe in our students as capable learners, especially when provided with the right combination of guidance and support. Heading into the winter months, we will be adding winter sports and full day immersion activities into the mix. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome the snow!

Drew Gradinger