Summer Conservation Camp

Camp Values

Lincoln Park Zoo strives to provide a camp experience that supports the whole child. We offer a safe and engaging environment that challenges and supports each camper as they try new things, make new friends, and navigate new situations.

We encourage campers to build resilience and practice their problem-solving skills. We support them in finding their own solutions to obstacles they face.

We provide opportunities for campers to practice leadership skills and develop empathy for people, animals, and the natural world.

Respect is the cornerstone of camp at Lincoln Park Zoo. Throughout each camp session, staff emphasize the Respect the P.O.N.Y. behavioral model (Property, Others, Nature, and Yourself) and guide campers to demonstrate that respect. We seek to be a place where all campers feel welcomed and included.

Our goal is always to address behavior challenges with patience and understanding. However, our counselors cannot devote excessive time to one camper at the expense of the whole group. Every camper deserves a supportive and balanced experience, and we appreciate camp families for reinforcing our behavior guidelines .

Registered families will receive more information about Lincoln Park Zoo Camp’s behavior policy in the welcome email they receive the week before their camp date.

Camp Themes

Theme A: Wild Work

Week 1 (June 8–12) and Week 6 (July 20–24)

PreK: SENSE-ational Animals
A polar bear can smell its prey from a distance of 20 miles. Bats find their dinner using their super sense of hearing. Campers will spend the week learning all about animals with incredible senses that help them survive.

Rising Grades K–1: Critter Caretakers
Young animals need all kinds of care, from food and shelter to protection from predators and space to play. Campers discover how animal families care for their young in the wild and learn the ways Lincoln Park Zoo cares for the animals that are born here.

Rising Grades 2–3: Keeping Up With the Zoo
Campers will learn what it means to be a zookeeper, including how to create the best diet for each animal, why animals need to do different activities each day, and how to help animals when they get sick. They’ll also watch an animal training session led by a real zookeeper. Please note, for safety reasons, campers will not have direct access to zoo animals.

Rising Grades 4–5: Team Zoo
What does it take to run a zoo? Campers will spend the week investigating this question as they explore zoo grounds. They’ll practice the skills needed to be a zookeeper, research animal behavior just like a zoo scientist, and meet staff involved in the zoo’s important conservation and education work. Please note, for safety reasons, campers will not have direct access to zoo animals or their habitats.

Theme B: Critter Classification

Week 2 (June 15–19) and Week 7 (July 27–31)

Rising PreK: Jungle Journeys
More types of plants and animals live in the rainforest than in any other habitat in the world. Campers will investigate this unique environment layer by layer as they learn what lives on the forest floor, in the understory, and up in the canopy.

Rising Grades K–1: Lifestyles of the Small and Charming
What makes a bird a bird? How is a seal different from a snake? Campers will discover the answers to these and many other questions as they learn what makes different types of animals unique. They will spend time exploring the zoo grounds and playing active games designed to help them compare their own bodies to the animals they see.

Rising Grades 2–3: Animals Classified
Campers will channel their inner scientist as they explore the fascinating diversity of animal families. From schools of fish to flocks of birds to troops of gorillas, campers will get to know more about wildlife by investigating all of these remarkable animal relationships. They’ll also go on an expedition to the zoo’s Nature Boardwalk and discover some of the wild animals that call Chicago home.

Rising Grades 4–5: Herbivores and Carnivores and Scavengers! Oh my!
You are what you eat, and this week campers will explore every level of nature’s food web. They’ll discover how all living things, from producers to scavengers, work together to keep an ecosystem healthy. Campers will learn about Lincoln Park Zoo’s scientific research in wildlife conservation and identify ways they can participate in this important effort.

Theme C: Mystery Zoo

Week 3 (June 22–26) and Week 8 (August 3–7)

Rising PreK: Zoo Clues
Something sneaky is going on, and it’s up to you to figure it out! Campers will spend the week gathering zoo clues to help them solve different mysteries about mammals, birds, bugs, and fish.

Rising Grades K–1: Secret Zoo-perheroes
Mysteries abound in this curious week of camp. Campers will gather evidence to solve five different puzzles related to animals at the zoo. Can they find the solution to the Fish Fiasco? Will they resolve the Bird Brain Teaser? Can they uncover the culprit in the Herp Whodunit? Only time will tell.

Rising Grades 2–3: Curious Creature Mysteries
Campers will put their heads together to solve a new animal mystery each day. They will have to use their sleuthing skills to find clues and figure out the strange happenings taking place at the zoo. Each day will focus on a different type of animal, including birds, insects, and mammals.

Rising Grades 4–5: Zoo Scene Investigation (ZSI)
Animal investigators, unite! During this intriguing week, campers will use their powers of deductive reasoning and awesome observation skills to unearth some of nature’s mysteries. They’ll hunt for evidence across the zoo, practice their tracking skills, uncover the scoop on poop, and use real scientific data to solve a mystery.

Theme D: Exploration Safari

Week 4 (July 6–10) and Week 9 (August 10–14)

Rising PreK: Passport to Fun
Get ready for an adventure! Campers will use imaginative play to travel the world, discovering different habitats and the animals that live there. On their expedition, they’ll see animals from all over the globe, including seals, zebras, penguins, and pygmy hippos.

Rising Grades K–1: Roaming with the Wild Things
Campers will explore the powerful traits that help animals survive and thrive in a diverse array of habitats, from snowy tundras to dry deserts. Each day campers will discover different animals and their amazing adaptations. Through zoo exploration, imaginative play, and creative art projects, campers will learn how to roam with the wild things.

Rising Grades 2–3: United States of Animals
What animals live right in your backyard? How about on the Atlantic coast or high in the Rocky Mountains? Take a trip across the U.S. to discover the vast array of habitats and the animals who live right alongside humans every day.

Grades 4–5: The Great Predator Safari
What does a lion have in common with a bald eagle? Does a polar bear share any traits with a crocodile? Campers will find out on a journey across continents as they uncover the fearsome features of predators.

Theme E: Built for the Wild

Week 5 (July 13–17)

Rising PreK: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
Animal bodies can do amazing things. From those that protect themselves with built-in armor and those with super strength to others that can dive to deep ocean depths, there are some amazing things to explore in this week of incredible adaptations.

Rising Grades K–1: Animals on the Move
Throughout this exciting week, campers will visit different habitats and investigate the ways animals at the zoo move about. They will practice making observations and imagine what it would be like to slither like a snake, climb like a monkey, and run like a zebra!

Rising Grades 2–3: Creature Features
What is a kangaroo’s tail used for? How does a poison dart frog get its poison? Campers will play games and make observations around the zoo to discover how these weird and wonderful adaptations help animals survive in the wild.

Rising Grades 4–5: World Class Animals
Keep it classy with a week’s worth of animal classification! Zoologists group animals into classes like mammals, reptiles, and birds to help study and care for them. Campers will explore how these animals live, ways they interact, and important efforts Lincoln Park Zoo is making to conserve them in the wild.