Wild Camps
Camps & Programming
Sign up your WILD child or teenager for full-week day camp programs and single-day programs for children aged 4 to 16 years. Camps are available during the Winter Break, March Break, Summer Break, and PA Days.
Winter Break, March Break, and Summer Camps offer full-week programs running Monday to Friday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Programming for “Baby Birds” (4 years old) will also run for a full week, but from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
*we do have extended care available for the baby birds from 9-10am and then 2-4pm for those that have older children attending our full day camps.
Single-Day Programming such as our PA Day Camps and Monthly Forest Programs run on select days from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Watch our social media and email newsletters for announcements and details on upcoming Single-Day Programs.
Extended Care is available for all programs except “Baby Birds”; for an additional fee we will supervise campers up to 2 hours before and 2 hours after camp (7:00-9:00 AM and 4:00-6:00 PM).
Our Camp Experience
Does your WILD CHILD love to explore the outdoors, and wildlife? Then Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue has the perfect camp for them.
Our outdoor Nature center has been providing STEM-based programming since 2016 to WILD children all across Ontario. These programs are a unique, one-of-a-kind, outdoor adventure that will be an experience they will be talking about forever.
Outdoor educational programs focus on hands-on, interactive learning. We welcome all campers in an inclusive program and provide positive, customized age-appropriate programming, that is educational and challenging and most importantly a WILD experience!
Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue is committed to providing every camper with a great camp experience catered to their individual needs. We are focused on getting to know our campers and their families and engaging in open communication to meet your needs. Our goal is to provide your child with an adventure that grows their knowledge of Canadian wildlife, fosters kindness towards others, empathy and understanding, and helps your child grow both socially and emotionally.
Our Animal Ambassador Team has stories to share with your child. And our dedicated wildlife educators are committed both to the well-being of our animals and the children in our program. Our team is made up of a group of year-round staff, that are hard-working teaching professionals, an amazing team of camp counselors (most of whom are currently in teachers college) who all participate in lengthy training programs to help ensure they are strong role models to work with your children.
Daily Programming
Daily programs consist of a variety of animal interactions, nature-based science experiments, indigenous peoples’ activities, and other outdoor learning experiences. All programs have a key focus on science, Canadian wildlife, and nature.
All campers must be the minimum age of the camp age guidelines by December 31st of the camp year to attend any listed programs.
* Campers that are 4 years old must be 4 years old as of the first day of camp as per the Ministry of Education requirements for camp under the new Ontario Early Years guidelines. If we find out that incorrect information has been provided to us about your child’s age, we will remove them from programming without refund or compensation.
Lunch & Snacks:
All of our campers are responsible for bringing their own nut-free, litter-less lunch and snacks that do not require refrigeration. We stop for 2 snacks (20 minutes) and lunch (40 minutes). Please make sure they bring a refillable water bottle! We will spend a lot of time hiking the forest trails and being active!
Please remember that Soper Creek Wildlife Nature Center is 100% OUTDOORS! We have a special picnic shelter that seats 80 campers comfortably. This shelter is used in extreme weather conditions, for eating lunch, and for doing experiments and crafts.
This also means our washroom facilities are port-a-potties which are maintained weekly by a third-party company. Your child must be comfortable with using a port-a-potty safely in order to attend any of our camp programs.
As an outdoor facility, we do also require that children come dressed for the weather, bringing extra clothes and a backpack.
Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue has developed specific programs to help children embrace their love of Canadian Wildlife, the outdoors, and nature by providing them with a unique experience with a variety of animals they would not otherwise have the chance to see, potentially interact with and learn about.
Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue would like to acknowledge that the land on which we live, work, and play is on the traditional territory of the Anishinabek and Huron-Wendat Peoples. We respect the longstanding relationships that Indigenous Nations have with this land, as they are the original caretakers of the land. We are thankful to the First Peoples for sharing their land so we can care for the animals that call this territory their home.
GENERAL CAMP INFORMATION
Please take the time to read our general information to ensure the best experience for your child. Please remember we are a 100% outdoor facility, allowing children the experience of adventures within our forests.
To ensure safety for all we will have limited spaces for all summer programming.
Each group will have no more than 24 individuals. The groups are lead by a minimum of 2 trained staff members, in same cases there are 3. Our Baby Bird program only has 8 campers.
Each group of 24 will have its own activity station for the day. We have broken up the property into various stations that represent the various themes. These stations will be their home base for the day. Each night the stations are sanitized which allows the groups to rotate to a different home base the next day.
An example: Living with the Land on Monday (located in the picnic shelter) will then rotate to the Regions of Ontario home base on Tuesday (located in the forest).
Kiss & Ride style just like at school!
Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue has made changes to our main parking lot to accommodate a kiss and ride style camp drop off. 3 staff will be managing cars as they come down the road, helping you to navigate through the marked area.
You will be greeted at the drop off location by a staff member. They will look up your child’s chart on our check in sheet. Your child will be escorted to the next counselor who will take them to their assigned leader and space.
As camp programming starts promptly at 9:00 am we do ask that you drop off anytime after 8:30 am. Staff will be available from 8:30 am – 9:00 am for drop off. Should you request early drop off (before 8:30 am), the process will be similar just with fewer people.
I can’t stress enough, that we do leave the kiss and ride location at 9:00am to ensure campers are taken to their activity station for the day to start programming.
End of day pick up will be very similar as the children will be waiting. Please do not get out of your car, we will bring them to you. Pick can start as early as 3:30pm as this is when we bring the children to the main picnic area.
Our washroom facilities are located in various spots throughout the property. All are outdoor latrines (aka port-a-potties) with a pump sink for running water and hand sanitizer. The outhouses are maintained weekly by a third-party company and our staff clean them daily or as needed in between. This is in addition to the hand sanitizer they have at their work station.
We are not able to supply or apply sun lotion, or bug repellent to children. We are happy to provide them with reminders, but staff cannot physically apply it to the children.
The most important thing about camp is having fun and building memories. We here at Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue are looking to ensure that your child is in a safe environment but also that they are having the time of their life. We can’t forget that children need adventure and pure joy in their life. I promise you that will never change!