Author Archives: Samantha
Curious Jane offers day camps and after-school programs, but don’t forget we run sleepaway camps, too! For older girls, through Blue Tree (at Smith and Bryn Mawr) and this year CJ sleepaway, too, for girls entering 5th and 6th grades (at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia.) An essential part of the sleepaway experience — whether it’s your daughter’s first summer or her tenth — is getting a fun care package from home. Here’s how to pull a great one together! Print it out and keep it on hand for the summer…. 5 Rules for Packing the Perfect Camp Care Package (+ 20 Great Ideas for Cool Things to Send) 1) When you drop her off, make note of how many girls are in her cabin / dorm group and what the camp’s food policy is for care packages (many don’t allow them, due to critter-control and allergies, but some … Continue reading
Curious Jane was on The Today Show recently! We were thrilled to be included in a TimeOut New York Kids segment on creative summer camps for kids around the country. And if you still haven’t made a final call on camp for this summer, check these tips from Samantha on making the right choice… Continue reading
Have a daughter whose school ends in June? Ease into summer with us at CJ Pop-Up Camp at The Brooklyn Artists Gym…! Continue reading
The girls have an amazing time at Blue Tree! There’s tons of great stuff we could brag about, but here are the highlights… 5 Cool Things About Blue Tree Camp… Continue reading
Spring fever has brought on bookmaking – I’m not completely sure how this has come about, but it is definitely the theme for the month! We offered a bookmaking workshop at our workspace; I’m heading to Boston tomorrow to make accordion box books with a group at The Public Library of Brookline, and in April it’s Matchbox Haiku at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Sakura Matsuri Cherry Blossom Festival! Here are just a few of the projects we’ve been playing around with. Books in boxes… Matchbox Haiku Brownstone in a Box Accordion Box Book
That old expression ‘the cobbler’s children wear no shoes’ is the perfect analogy for how I plan my own girls’ summer schedule. Well, this year I’m giving my 11th-hour modus-operandi the boot! So how does a camp director pick camps for her children? This is how our summer is shaking out… Continue reading
On our recent field trip to The Brooklyn Kitchen, our girls whipped up a tasty meal worthy of the Barefoot Contessa herself (my personal kitchen muse). Make room at the table Ina, here comes Curious Jane! Continue reading
Here’s a treat: In January, we took a bunch of girls to the Trapeze School of New York! We had Carmen McGill of Memory Spark make a video, for us and it turned out great! Continue reading
Samantha Razook Murphy is the founder of Curious Jane and Blue Tree. She was inspired to create these unique programs to give her girls, and all girls, a chance to be creative and inventive in a high-energy, collaborative and gender-affirming space. She loves designing, tinkering and figuring out. Samantha is the mother of two girls and lives in Brooklyn, NY. She holds her BA from Yale and Masters in Industrial Design from Pratt. In her spare time she coaches volleyball and rides her bike around Brooklyn.