Summer ZooCamp

Members: $450/session

Nonmembers: $500/session

Before care: $100/session

After care: $200/session

Before and aftercare charges are for the entire week. We do not pro-rate days.

Thank you for your interest in Oakland Zoo’s Summer ZooCamp! Our popular camp offers a wide variety of experiences including fun games, silly songs, Zoo tours, animal close-ups, behind-the-scenes with our Zoo Keepers, and more!

We are excited to announce we are bringing back middle school camp for students entering 6th-8th grade! Middle schoolers will have their own programming with new ways to experience ZooCamp. Click here for a full list of curriculum themes!

Registration Information

Registration is open now and spots are filling fast!

Kindergarten (Busy Beasts) – All sessions available

1st Grade (Furry Friends) – All sessions waitlisting only

2nd/3rd Grade (Animal Adventurers) – All sessions waitlisting only

4th/5th Grade (Eco Explorers) – All sessions waitlisting only

6th-8th Grade (Conservation Crew) – All sessions waitlisting only

You can access our registration portal HERE.

Wondering about priority registration?

Due to high demand for our camp, we are piloting priority registration for returning campers. If you attended ZooCamp in 2022, we will email the priority registration link to the email address(es) on file the week prior to Monday, March 13th. This link will be active until General Registration begins on Wednesday, March 15th at 6:00pm.

High volumes of registrations at a given time may cause our CampBrain portal to automatically trigger a “Throttle”. This is intended to prevent overloading web servers so that each individual may successfully register without technical error. If the Throttle is triggered, you may receive a message stating “Welcome! A lot of people are registering at the moment. You will be able to proceed with your registration shortly. Please refresh your browser until this message disappears.” If this happens to you, keep refreshing your webpage. As other registrants finish, more will be let in. Think of the CampBrain portal as a building with a set capacity and the Throttle as the door-person. If you receive the message stated above, imagine yourself in line to enter once others exit. Just as in real life, if you step out of the line, you must rejoin at the back.

If our camp is sold out, we recommend joining our waitlist. We will reach out to waitlisted campers in chronological order when spaces become available. Joining the waitlist does not guarantee a spot at camp.

Camp Dates

This summer, we are offering 1-week sessions. In order to extend the camp experience to more households, we are limiting registration to 2 sessions per camper (1 A session and/or 1 B session. These sessions do not have to be back-to-back and can be done in either order). Click here for a full list of A and B themes!

8 available sessions for Kinder-5th grade campers:

• Session 1 A: June 5-9
• Session 2 B: June 12-16
• Session 3 A: June 19-23
• Session 4 B: June 26-30
• Session 5 A: July 10-14
• Session 6 B: July 17-21
• Session 7 A: July 24-28
• Session 8 B: July 31-August 4

4 available sessions for 6th-8th grade campers:

• Session 3 A: June 19-23
• Session 4 B: June 26-30
• Session 5 A: July 10-14
• Session 6 B: July 17-21

No camp held the week of July 3-7

Hours

Daily camp hours: 9:00am - 3:30pm

Before care: 8:00am - 9:00am

After care: 4:00pm - 5:30pm

Pricing

Members: $450/session

Nonmembers: $500/session

Before care: $100/session

After care: $200/session

All charges are for the entire week. We do not prorate days.

Financial Aid

We are now accepting Financial Aid Applications! If your household is in need of financial assistance in order to attend ZooCamp, please submit an application. We will be accepting applications until April 15th. Even if you submitted an application, you must still register your camper in order to receive funds. We will reach out and let you know if funds become available for you, even if your camper(s) is waitlisted. Scholarship funds are limited and applications do not guarantee funds.

Camp Groups

We have 5 age group options. For summer camps, these grade levels are the rising grade that campers will enter in Fall 2023. We cannot place campers in groups outside of their school grade.

• Busy Beasts—Kindergarten
• Furry Friends—1st Grade
• Animal Adventurers—2nd/3rd Grade
• Eco Explorers—4th/5th Grade
• Conservation Crew—6th–8th Grade

Click here for a full list of themes!

Covid-19 Protocols

• Vaccination: All Zoo staff, including ZooCamp teachers and volunteers, are vaccinated against Covid-19. We encourage campers to be vaccinated, but we will not be checking vaccination status.
• Masks: As of Spring 2023, we are no longer requiring masks at ZooCamp. Masking at the Zoo is strongly encouraged, especially in indoor spaces where social distancing may not be possible.
• Exposure at camp: If your camper tests positive for Covid-19 while attending camp, please let us know immediately. We will send out potential exposure emails to groups if known cases arise.
• If your camper tests positive or has any symptoms of illness, please keep them home from camp. If symptoms arise while at camp, we will remove the camper from the group and will call the Primary Guardian listed to pick them up. We ask that ill campers remain at home until symptoms subside.
• Covid-19 Protocols are subject to change.

Please visit our FAQ page. For more inquiries, please contact zoocamp@oaklandzoo.org.

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