Press release

NGO Lõimeleer

1 February 2026

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Lõimeleer camp 2026: Embodying Estonian heritage - bridging past and present​​

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We invite all old and new friends of Lõimeleer to join us once again for an immersive Estonian language and culture camp in a fun-filled camp format! In this year's camp, we are reviving folklore and bringing several old traditions into the modern day. Once again, various exciting workshops will take place under the guidance of skilful instructors. In the folk music workshop, we will make a simple instrument with our own hands (for example, a nail violin, a devil's fiddle/jauram, etc.) and experiment with creating sounds on it; we will prepare traditional food ourselves; tell stories through movement; try our hand at the Olustvere Manor glass and bread workshops; paint family marks on wood; get introduced to Estonian sauna culture, and much more. In addition to workshops, you can swim in the lake, go to the sauna, ride a horse-drawn carriage and dugout canoe, hike, play board games, and simply hang out together.

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Lõimeleer is a summer camp that provides young Estonians living abroad the opportunity to interact with their peers from Estonia. There are no classroom-style lessons at the camp. The working language is Estonian, but we also explain activities in English, if necessary. Over ten years of activity, children from the USA, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Kazakhstan, Finland, Ireland, England, Latvia, the UK, New Zealand, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Turkey, Hungary, and of course Estonia have participated in our camps. Many children return year after year to meet old friends and counselors. The recommended age group is 11-18 years, but we have successfully hosted slightly younger independent children as well as older youths. There are always local Estonian support youths in the camp who help foreign youths linguistically. Lõimeleer has an established alumni network that interacts even after the camp summers.

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Often, younger children (under 11 years old) would like to take part in the camp fun and practice Estonian, but sleeping in a strange place might seem too scary. For this, we have Perelõimeleer, where children adventure during the day with other campers, but snuggle up with mom or dad at night. Participation in Perelõimeleer takes place over the entire camp period; participation on a daily basis is not possible.

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The camp will take place over nine days: July 17-25 in Tääksi, Viljandi County (you can see the preliminary schedule by clicking on the start date of the camp: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/embed?src=mtu.loimeleer@gmail.com&ctz=Europe/Tallinn).

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Registration is open from today!

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As in previous years, early birds can purchase a camp pass at a lower price. However, this time the discount does not depend on the purchase date – there is a limited number of "Early Bird" discounted passes on sale. Once these are sold out, sales will continue with regular-priced passes.