At Camp Vamonos!, kids are trusted to be natural learners who benefit enormously from their free play, the activity Mother Nature designed them for. Free play is a joyful, engrossing thing for children, and at Camp Vamonos! they are free to do it all day. One of the most exciting developments in childcare these days is “loose parts.” This is when you provide random “junk” for kids to play with: tires, planks, old buckets, PVC pipe, old sheets, etc., instead of manufactured toys that tend to require little or no imagination. With loose parts kids can build anything they can imagine, and the end result is determined entirely by their own imagination. Campers handle objects, use them to stand in for other things (divergent thinking/creativity), and cooperate to build forts, “spaceships” and the like, and generally indulge their genius for flexibility of mind and spirit. It’s a joy to watch. Far from being a disadvantage, the lack of instruction and curriculum at Camp Vamonos! is instead a leg up: kids develop executive function by making choices, using their imagination, cooperating, spending loads of time outdoors, and taking their time to develop and engage in what are often elaborate play schemes. All of the evolving literature supports the immense benefits of these features of free play and loose parts. Come play with loose parts with us! Vamonos!