Teacher naturalist Sarah Baley was happily surprised to see how much her 11 students enjoyed tromping through the Great Neck Sanctuary woods with her and her co-teacher, Meaghan Brum.

“They’ve all been super-curious, and open to learning,” Baley said. “I feel like it’s so natural for kids to love and want to explore the outdoors.”

Baley and Brum lead July’s Discovery Days day camp for children up to 10 years old. The free program, run through the Mass Audubon South Coast Sanctuaries, is funded by an A.D. Makepeace grant, and allows children to explore the natural world around them.

Baley said there is no specific creature or plant the kids have been excited to find or see -- “it all depends on the kid.”

“I have one girl who is really into insects,” Baley said. “She picked up a piece of bark, and a bunch of little [insects] fell out. She was enchanted, and put them into a container.”

One pair of creatures the children all seem to enjoy, Baley said, are the ospreys near Sacred Hearts Retreat Center.

“They had a blast, because the male has been bringing back fish, and the female has been up there calling,” Baley said.

Even though each camp session is not that long -- this current round only runs from July 6 to July 9 -- she still sees it as a very important experience for the children she and Brum lead.

“As of late, with new technology, kids are being pulled inside more,” Baley said. “They aren’t being exposed to the outdoors. … This is teaching them about their environment.”