All cancellations must be submitted in writing. Cancellations made before May 1st will receive a 50% refund. Cancellations made after May 1st are non-refundable. MMA Memberships are non-refundable.

Transferring your Discovery Camp or NLP session to other dates will be permitted for a fee of $75 per session if there is space at the time of transfer.

This is the question we get more than any other throughout the camp season. Because of that and the fact that a lot of our camps fill up and have wait lists, we are pretty strict on this rule. We would have a lot of upset parents if their children couldn’t get in because spaces were filled with children that weren’t age appropriate.

However, we do make exceptions but only in these situations:

1. There is still space in a particular session the week before it is scheduled to start

2. We do an age analysis of those enrolled to see if it makes sense.  For instance, if we had a group that was mostly 6/6.5 year olds, we would not allow a 4 year old to attend.  If that session was filled with 5 year olds, we would.

3. It is ALWAYS with the understanding that if you register a child that is too young and they can’t keep up with the group, don’t follow instructions, don’t understand the activities, or need an increased amount of attention and help to do things, your child would not be able to continuing coming and you would NOT be eligible for a refund.

Unless specifically listed in the program description, we do not allow children to swim in our camps.  Five and six year old children are allowed to go up a little past their ankles and seven to twelve year old children can go up to their knees. For camps that list swimming, snorkeling, or kayaking programs, your camper will be asked to complete a swim test per MA regulations. If they pass, they will be able to participate in the activity wearing a less restrictive flotation belt.  If they do not pass, they will be required to wear a life vest. We will provide flotation devices for all students that require one, but campers are permitted to bring their own if they have one available.  It must be Coast Guard approved and in proper condition.

Pick up and drop off for the Discovery Camp Outbound programs (Wee-Explorers, Habitat Hopper, and Eco Investigators) is at the Nantucket Ice Rink on 10 Backus Lane.

Nantucket Nature Bound, Junior Astronomers, Junior Historians and Junior Ecologists Programs meet at the Vestal Street Courtyard, 2 Vestal Street and Junior Aquarists program meets at the MMA Aquarium at 32 Washington Street.  

Please check the weekly agenda and maps you receive by email the Wednesday before your session for exact details. 

Clothes/Shoes – Exploring can be dirty and wet work so please provide your child with clothes and shoes that can get wet and dirty. Wearing a bathing suit under their clothes or wearing a Sun shirt (UPF 50+) is excellent for both water play and outdoor activities and is recommended. For the safety of your child, please send them with a pair of close-toed shoes that they can walk/run/hike. We suggest sending sandals or water shoes with ankle straps for exploring the water and beach. FLIP FLOPS ARE NOT ALLOWED

Lunch/Snack – For morning and full day programs please provide your child with a lunch in addition to snacks. Refrigeration is not available. Due to allergy concerns, children are not allowed to share food.

Water – Children should come to class each day with LOTS of water to drink – this is especially important on very warm, sunny days. We, unfortunately, do not have access to water during the day so please make sure that your child has an adequate water supply. Please send extra water for full day programs. We recommend you send your child with at least two bottles of water.

Sunscreen & Sun Shirts – We at MMA are working hard with our staff and participants to be Sun Safe as well as environmentally friendly. We recommend children registered for both half day and full day programs to wear sun shirts that are 50+ UPF. Since the shirts retain their effectiveness in water and after activity, there is no need to “re-apply”. Keep in mind that the shirt only protects the skin that it covers; long sleeve shirts are also recommended for children with extra sensitive skin. Pediatricians recommend that children also protect themselves by wearing wide brim hats and sunglasses when outdoors. Please label your children’s’ clothing and accessories.

If you choose to use sunscreen your children should arrive already lathered up with sunscreen that is at least 50 UPF. If your child is extra sensitive to the sun please send them with extra. For full day participants, teachers will give “sunscreen” breaks to allow children to reapply. Children are not allowed to share sunscreen due to allergy concerns.

Insect Repellent – Many of the sites we visit will have biting insects such as mosquitoes. For the comfort of your child you may want to send your child with bug repellent. Please do not send aerosol sprays.

Ticks – We do our best to avoid exposure to ticks, however children may be exposed to ticks while traveling through class sites (especially woods and fields). Teachers will try to check children daily, but they should be checked again thoroughly for ticks each day after class. (Remember also that teachers are unable to check for ticks in areas of the body covered by clothing.) Please refer to the Center for Disease Control’s website for more information on tick-borne illness prevention and safety tips: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/index.htm

We ask that parents dress their children appropriately or pack extra clothing in their backpack (light colored long pants tucked into socks, long sleeves, and a hat). We always do tick checks before getting on the bus and highly recommended that parents do a thorough tick check each evening as well, as teachers are unable to check areas covered by clothing.

Yes. We ask that children leave all toys, electronic devices, etc. at home as they tend to be a distraction from the activities planned by our staff.

This depends on the severity of the weather. If it is a light rain or mist, we still head out into the field. On days with heavy rainfall and/or thunder storms, we will utilize indoor teaching spaces (these locations may change from year to year depending on availability). On overcast days with a forecast of rain, please send your child to camp with a rain coat or poncho. 

We reserve the right to cancel programs due to severe/dangerous weather conditions.

All registrations for Discovery Camp and Teen Nature Bound Programs can be done online. If you do not have a computer, come to the Administrative Office at 4 Vestal Street to register there. You can check online for availability or to be placed on the wait list.

Yes! To get on our waitlist, simply go through the registration process which includes filling out the medical release/pick-up form. Make sure you hit complete on the payment page even though you are not expected to pay at this time.  You will get an automated email indicating you are on the waitlist.  If a space opens up, we will call you and if you are still interested, we would enroll you into the program and take payment at that time.  You are never automatically enrolled. 

The MMA encourages children to make new friends through our programs, but we understand the importance of being with someone they know, especially in new surroundings. To assist us in placing friends and siblings together, please indicate friends’ or sibling’s names on the appropriate line on the medical release/pick-up form you fill out during the registration process. We will make every effort to accommodate these requests but due to session size, we cannot guarantee that every request will be fulfilled.

In order to create a comfortable learning environment for our participants, we do keep camp groups small. The MMA always maintains a student to instructor ratio of no more than 5:1 or 10:1 based on the appropriate age. All camp groups have a maximum of 10 or 20 campers and minimum of two instructors to maintain the respective ratios.

We believe that the best place to learn about the natural world is in the outdoors. To that end, our Summer Discovery Programs take place at a variety of wooded and seaside locations around the island.  Many of these properties are owned by the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, Nantucket Land Bank and the Town of Nantucket.  Locations include such places as Sanford Farm, Squam Swamp, Windswept Bogs, Masquetuck, Jetties Beach, Harbor Flats and Dionis Beach among others.  The MMA only brings children to beaches on the north side of the island where the water is much calmer and there is no sudden drop off just off shore.  We occasionally make exceptions for 10-12 year olds and 13-16 year olds.  When south shore beaches are visited by our campers it is only for special programs such as beach clean ups and campers are not allowed in or near the water.

No. We expect that children registering for our programs will participate in the full week and therefore do not pro-rate our fees for children who will only be in a session for part of the week.

No. Discovery Camp and the Teen Nature Bound Programs do not run on Junteenth, or July 4th. 

Weeks are pro-rated for these 4-day weeks.

All MMA Discovery Camp Interns have provided us with at least three positive references, they are all, at a minimum, CPR, First Aid, and AED certified, and their criminal background and sexual offenders background checks were all clear of any wrong doing. Most interns are also lifeguard certified and per our policies, we will not accept more than two interns per summer without this certification out of the fifteen we hire. Those without lifeguard certification would not be permitted to lead snorkeling or kayaking programs. Additionally, interns go through an intense, two-week training before camp starts. As part of this training they become certified swim assessors to lead our snorkeling programs and health care supervisors enabling them to help provide medication and administer EPI-pens to campers. As a parent/guardian, you have the right to call Maria Mitchell Association at (508) 228-9198 to ensure background checks have been completed and thoroughly reviewed.

We encourage parents/guardians to give us suggestions on managing your child’s behavior.  You can do this by speaking directly to the teachers and/or including suggestions on the medical release form you fill out when you register.  In general, if we are having difficulty managing a child’s behavior we speak to the parent/guardian at pick up time and ask for suggestions.  As a parent/guardian, you have the right to request and review MMA’s discipline policies.  Please call (508) 228-9198 x 105 or email William Evans, Camp and Youth Engagement Director.

Please call or email William Evans, Camp and Youth Engagement Director or call (508) 228-9198 x 105.