About Sunhouse Camps
Booking now for July and August 2026. Limited spots remain at Trout Lake and Pacific Spirit Park. View available sessions →
Founded by Sisters · Trusted by Hundreds of Vancouver Families · Est. 2024
Vancouver’s outdoor day camps for children ages 4 to 7. Founded by sisters Nicole and April Hughes. Built on The Sunhouse Method™, a proprietary outdoor learning approach developed over twenty years of working with children.
Letter from the Founders
Nicole and April Hughes
We’re Nicole and April Hughes, sisters and Co-Founders, building a different kind of outdoor experience for children in Vancouver.
Our shared belief is simple: nature is where real growth happens, socially, emotionally, physically, and intellectually. We believe children need space, fresh air, and adults who trust them to rise to the moment.
Sunhouse began with Nicole’s search, as a mother, for something more than traditional summer programming. She wanted exploration, connection, creativity, and confidence built through doing, not watching. That vision became Sunhouse Camps: small-group, intentionally designed outdoor camps for children ages 4 to 7.
Today we run immersive Summer Camps at Trout Lake and Pacific Spirit Park, combining outdoor STEM, hands-on making, and guided social development into one cohesive week. Every detail, from the ratios to the routines, reflects The Sunhouse Method™, our proprietary approach to outdoor learning.
As sisters, educators, and local business owners, we are deeply committed to raising the bar for outdoor education in Vancouver. Every decision we make reflects one belief: children are capable, intelligent, and full of untapped potential. Our job is to create the space where it can unfold.
With gratitude,
Nicole and April Hughes
Co-Founders, Sunhouse Camps
“A child raised with The Sunhouse Method™ is loved. They are also met as capable. Both, always, at the same time.”
The Founding PrincipleBuilt on The Sunhouse Method™
The Sunhouse Method™ was developed by Nicole Hughes over two decades of teaching, observation, and practice. It rests on five principles: The Capable Child, The Body as the First Language, Regulation Before Reason, The Steady Adult, and Reinforcement, Reflection & Integration.
It is the foundation of every interaction at every camp, and it is the one thing about a Sunhouse camp that cannot be copied.
Outdoor education is not what we do in nature. It is what nature does in the child.
Sunhouse CampsWhere We Run Camps in Vancouver
Two of the city’s best outdoor classrooms
Trout Lake
Set in John Hendry Park, our Trout Lake camps use grassy fields, sanded shorelines, lakeside meal spots, and surrounding tree cover as a daily outdoor classroom.
Pacific Spirit Park
Our Pacific Spirit camps meet at the park’s main entrance, 4915 W 16th Avenue, exploring ancient forest trails and quiet creekside spaces.
What We Stand For
Trust in Every Child
Every child is met as capable, intelligent, and full of potential. We scaffold experience so they discover what they can do.
Outdoor as Classroom
Vancouver’s parks are not a backdrop. They are the curriculum. STEM, social skills, emotional regulation, all taught in the open air.
Small by Design
A 6:1 ratio is non-negotiable. Smaller groups mean every child is known and every parent gets real updates.
Ready to Book?
Summer 2026 camps are open for registration. Trout Lake and Pacific Spirit Park. July and August. Spots are limited by design.
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