Educators & Private Bookings
Check out all of our offerings for educators and private bookings by using the quick links below!
After School & Homeschool Programs
The Wayfinder Experience runs after school programs throughout the school year at a number of locations. Some schools accept outside students into their programs. Contact them individually for more information.
NYC Home School Group
Great Hill in Central Park West at 106th Street, NYC.
This class is during school hours and is meant for home schoolers belonging to NYCHEA. For more information, contact NYCHEA Grants Coordinator and Liaison: nychea.grants@gmail.com or nychea.info@gmail.com
The Spring 2024 Season starts April 16th!
High Meadow School
3643 Main St, Stone Ridge, NY 12484
This class is an after school program that is open to the public.
Wayfinder Parties and Special Events
Make your child’s next Birthday Party, Bar or Bat Mitzvah an event to remember!
From a simple day of Capture the Flag with play safe foam swords that is anything but simple, to an intense rite-of-passage live action role playing Adventure Game complete with costumes, characters and quests, do something completely different this year with The Wayfinder Experience!
Let’s Play!
- Parties include a hand-made Wayfinder Experience foam sword for the Guest of Honor to keep!
- All prices are based on two hours and twenty participants. Cost will vary with size and length of party.
- Basic, Weaponmaster and Ranger Package parties have a 2 hour minimum. Hero parties run for a minimum of 4 hours plus 2 hours of prep-work.
- Because of the athletic and semi-competitive nature of our games, we ask that all participants be of ages 8 and up.
- We require a $50 deposit to secure the date. The balance will be collected by our staff on the day of the party or can be sent to us through Zelle.
- Gratuities for our fun and energetic staff are welcome and appreciated.
Basic Package
The Basic package contains all of the essentials of a Wayfinder Birthday party. Kids learn how to use our foam swords and proceed to play a variety of games that will leave them beaming with enjoyment and wanting more, such as Capture the Flag, Dueling Circle and Three Musketeers. Flexible and compatible with other party activities, this is the standard WFE birthday party package.
- Hudson Valley Location: $325 ($200 each additional hour)
- New York City/Westchester/Putnam Location: $425 ($250 each additional hour)
Weaponmaster Package
If your child loves our monster weapons, this is the package to choose. It contains all of the essentials of a Basic Wayfinder Birthday party plus more foam weapons: giant monster axes, shields and spears.
- Hudson Valley Location: $375 ($200 each additional hour)
- New York City/Westchester/Putnam Location: $475 ($250 each additional hour)
Ranger Package
Want a little more of what Wayfinder does in addition to foam weapons? Our Ranger Package is an introductory roleplay experience where participants will go to a “Tavern at the End of the World” as any characters they want (costumes welcome!). There they will encounter magical characters and a little bit of mischief while working together to solve fantastical puzzles based in that world. On top of live action role playing, this package includes chances for sword fighting both before and during the Tavern Scene. We will provide you with language to pass on to your invitees to help them prepare characters for the party.
- Hudson Valley Location: $775 ($200 each additional hour)
- New York City/Westchester/Putnam Location: $975 ($250 each additional hour)
Hero Package
The Hero Package is the whole Wayfinder Experience packed into a very special birthday. Our staff will work with you and your child to create a day of magic and fantasy that will never be forgotten! The Hero Package includes: Capture the Flag with all weapons and magic systems, improvisational theatre, medieval costuming, and a custom-written, interactive LARP Adventure Game. Please plan on a minimum of 4 hours for this event and know that we will also need some time to speak with the birthday child at least two weeks before the party.
- Hudson Valley Location: $1350 ($225 each additional hour)
- New York City/Westchester/Putnam Location: $1650 ($275 each additional hour)
Book a Party
If you’d like to book a party, or just have questions, please call us at (845) 481-0776 or send an email to info@wayfinderexperience.com. Please note that because our parties are outdoor parties, our regular party season runs from mid-April to late November. We do still play outside in the winter however we’ll need a party date and a snow date and the cost will increase by $50 (because we have to set two dates aside!). Once a party is booked, the liability waiver must be filled out before the party.
Programming for Educators
Our core curriculum of athletic Sword Games, Improvisational Theater and Trust Building are designed to teach creativity, communication, teamwork and critical thinking skills, all while fostering a strong sense of community among students. The sheer variety of games we play allows us to engage with every learning style, though we are happy to concentrate on one of our specialties for a more focused class on request. Further, depending on your interest, these programs can culminate in a live action role playing Adventure Game: a unique experience in which students are encouraged to develop a new understanding of themselves and their peers in the context of an archetypal fantasy world.
Here are some examples of the kinds of programs and events we can offer to schools, libraries and home schooling groups. Because we believe in inclusive, student-oriented teaching methods, we’re happy to work with you to tailor an experience to your students’ needs.
After-School Programs
Capture the Flag Class
Adding foam swordplay to the schoolyard classic, our version of Capture The Flag (CTF) is much more active, dynamic and team-oriented than its tag-based counterpart. In one of our CTF classes, students can expect to engage in numerous active games that push the boundaries between competitive and cooperative interaction, learning to act out high-intensity physical play safely and responsibly. The evolving complexity of our games will force them to build both leadership and team-building skills. For the full impact, we suggest 1-2 hour classes each week for 6-10 weeks. Participants should be ages 8 and up.
… with an Adventure Game
We take our CTF program and add in the rest of our curriculum: Trust Games, to further engender strong community bonds and emphasize cooperative abilities through interpersonal focus and communication. Improvisational Theater, which teaches self-confidence and quick thinking. And, of course, the LARP Adventure Game itself– a final class session in which students will become characters they themselves create and design, and use the problem-solving skills they’ve learned in a fantastical context. Because of the sheer amount of content this adds, we suggest 2-3 hour classes each week for 8-10 weeks.
Young Adventurers
Younger students (ages 6-8) who love make-believe benefit from flexible, responsive teaching and lots of 1-on-1 communication. In our Young Adventurers programs, they receive exactly that: a chance to express their creativity and playfulness in a supportive, imaginative environment. Every class session, students play in another episode of an interactive fantasy adventure– designed around their own creations, stories, drawings, and ideas. We recommend that these classes be no longer than 1 hour each week, and that they run for 6-10 weeks.
Improvisational Theater
In an Improv class, we’ll teach students the basics of a fun and challenging art form. They’ll learn to trust their partners and their instincts while quickly generating scenes for an audience of their peers in a supportive and constructive atmosphere. Improv teaches teamwork, confidence and problem-solving– helping to train public speaking skills while diminishing the associated anxieties. We can build a theatrical curriculum to match a wide variety of time constraints, from 1-3 hour classes over the course of 4-10 weeks.
Classroom Programs
Curriculum Come to Life
We work with classroom teachers to design custom events and activities to bring course material to life. Students research issues, historic people and moments in time. Through improvisation techniques, they learn the materials by living it as the historical figures or literary characters in question, then teach it to their peers through group sharing. We supply costumes & props where appropriate. Ideal for K – 5, and middle school English and Social Studies classes. We can run a single event for 1-4 hours or an extended activity for 2-6 weeks, as desired.
Community Workshop
There may be a bullying epidemic among today’s students, but with over 10 years of experience in classrooms and camps, we have developed a uniquely safe and supportive method to create community through understanding, team building and play. In this course we teach students to engage with each other using fun games and exercises, and help to quash bullying through the use of empathy-teaching role play. We can make a difference in as little as one 2-4 hour session, or we can run consecutive classes for 2-4 weeks for even deeper bonding.
Literary Programs
Literary Adventur
We fill your library with characters from your students’ favorite literature, using costumes and props to construct a scavenger hunt adventure that challenges their problem-solving and mediation skills. This works best as a one day event lasting 1-4 hours.
Story Time Theater
Our staff give a dramatic reading of a piece determined by the educator– maybe even one or more pieces written by your students!– and then facilitate students playing out the scenes from the story with them, along with alternative scenarios that encourage critical thinking about the characters and their perspectives. We suggest that these programs last for 1-2 hours, and they can range from a single workshop to four weekly sessions.
Writing Workshop
Our staff use their encyclopedic knowledge of storytelling and character development to work with students to write the fiction that is waiting to pour out of their minds. Students will brainstorm ideas, share pieces, and get peer feedback in a supportive and constructive format. We suggest that these workshops last 1-2 hours, depending on the age range of the students, and last between 3 and 10 weeks.
If your school or library is interested in in Wayfinder programming, please contact us! We’ll arrange a time to come to your school to present our work to your teaching staff and/or administration. We are flexible and can alter our programming to suit the learning needs of your students and your available facilities. We have worked with both public and alternative educational institutions and are experienced in teaching special needs students. Fees are scaled to scope of the project.
To book an event at your library or school, please call us at (845) 481 0776 or send us an email at info@wayfinderexperience.com.
Participant Agreement
In order to foster the close and safe community at The Wayfinder Experience, we ask all participants and their parent/guardian to read, understand and agree to the following guidelines. The WFE reserves the right to ask any participant to leave at any time.
Respect others and their feelings. We support a close and open community. As part of this community, we must respect what belongs to us, what belongs to others and what is shared by the group. We also must respect personal boundaries and feelings, respecting the requests, differences and backgrounds of others.
Smoking. Participants of the WFE may not use or possess tobacco products at camp
unless they are over the age of 18 or have a signed note from their parent/guardian.
Alcohol and Drugs. Participants of the WFE may not use, distribute or possess any alcohol, controlled substance or paraphernalia at camp.
Sexual behavior. Romantic relationships are not prohibited at any WFE event, yet we do not condone romantic relationships between minors (under the age of 18) and adults (18 and older). Participants may not participate in any sexual activities at camp.
Violence and Weapons. The WFE does not tolerate physical violence, whether actual or implied, at any WFE event. The WFE does not permit any weapon of any kind at a WFE event. A weapon is any object that can cause bodily harm to another. Examples of weapons include knives, guns, spikes, smoke bombs, etc. Any item that may be classified as a weapon must be brought to the attention of the Event Director or Administrative Director during check-in to be cleared.