Food & Allergy Information

Campers should bring a litter-free lunch, two healthy snacks, and a refillable water bottle each day. Please ensure all food does not require refrigeration, as campers spend the majority of their day outdoors exploring the Discovery Campus.

We break throughout the day for:

• Morning Snack – 20 minutes
• Lunch – 40 minutes
• Afternoon Snack – 20 minutes

Because campers are active throughout the day—hiking forest trails, participating in outdoor adventures, and exploring nature—staying well-fed and hydrated is essential.

Nut Allergy Policy

While we encourage families to pack nut-free lunches and snacks whenever possible, Soper Creek Wildlife is not a nut-free facility.

Many of our Animal Ambassadors require nuts as part of their daily diets and enrichment programs. As a result, we cannot eliminate nuts from our site or guarantee a nut-free environment.

For the safety of all campers, we are unfortunately unable to accommodate children with severe or anaphylactic nut allergies.

If your child has any food allergies, dietary restrictions, or other medical concerns, we encourage you to contact us prior to registration. We are happy to discuss your child’s individual needs and determine whether our programs are a safe and appropriate fit.

Accessibility & Individual Support Needs

At the Soper Creek Wildlife Discovery Campus, we believe every child deserves the opportunity to discover nature, build confidence, and create meaningful outdoor memories. We welcome children with a wide range of abilities and are committed to providing an inclusive, respectful, and supportive environment whenever possible.

Because every child has unique strengths and support needs, we encourage families to contact us before registering if their child requires accommodations, behavioural supports, medical considerations, or additional assistance that may impact their participation in camp.

Our Discovery Camps are designed around small-group programming with camper-to-staff ratios ranging from 8:1 to 12:1. While our staff are experienced in working with children from diverse backgrounds and learning styles, we are not a specialized support program and cannot provide one-to-one supervision or individualized behavioural support.

To ensure the safety and success of every camper, participants should be able to:

• Participate safely within a group environment.
• Follow staff directions.
• Remain with their assigned group throughout the day.
• Participate in outdoor activities, including hiking on natural forest trails, with the supervision provided.

To maintain a consistent camp experience for all participants, parents, guardians, educational assistants, and personal support workers are not permitted to attend camp alongside individual campers. Our programs are designed to operate with our trained camp staff leading all activities and supervising campers throughout the day.

If, after discussing your child's individual needs, we determine that our programs cannot safely or successfully provide the level of support required, we may recommend an alternative program that is better equipped to meet those needs.

For families seeking a camp specifically designed for children requiring individualized support, we highly recommend Nova's Ark, an exceptional organization offering specialized, fully inclusive camp experiences with dedicated support services tailored to each camper's needs.

Our goal is always to ensure that every child attends a program where they can be safe, successful, and fully enjoy their camp experience.

Accessibility

The Soper Creek Wildlife Discovery Campus is located on 15 acres of protected forest on the Oak Ridges Moraine. As an authentic outdoor learning environment, many of our trails feature natural terrain, uneven surfaces, hills, roots, and other landscape features that cannot be modified without impacting this protected ecosystem.

As a result, portions of the Discovery Campus are not wheelchair accessible.

We do offer a variety of wildlife education programs and experiences that take place in our covered outdoor learning pavilion and other accessible areas of the campus. If you have questions about accessibility, we encourage you to contact us—we are always happy to discuss available options and recommend the experiences best suited to your family's needs.

The regular full-week day camp runs from 9 am to 4 pm. Extended Care is available commencing at 7 am and closing at 6 pm. Extended care must be prearranged.

Please note that before and after care is not a structured program like those we conduct during the day.  Campers are provided with the option of free play, drawing/colouring pages and age-appropriate books.

No, we do not have the option for busing at this time.

Each day is very different, please check out the program page of the camp you are considering and review the list of different themes and possible activities.  Our focus is for campers to spend as much time as possible outdoors hiking and learning about nature. Campers will interact with our animal ambassadors, however, for the health and well-being of our animals, they do need to have some time off during the day.

Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue has 10 unique programs for kids ranging in age from 5-16 years old. Our overall camper-to-staff ratio varies based on the age from 8:1 to 12:1 for older campers.  Senior staff members are constantly interacting with camper groups, providing on-going supervision and direction to staff every day. Due to the nature of our activities and work with animals all programs have a limited number of spaces available each week.

Safety is always #1 at Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue. Due to the nature of our camp, we take camp safety very seriously. We continuously evaluate every aspect of camp, including arrivals, departures, exposure to elements, staff qualifications, activities, and animal interaction.

Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue does have 3 dogs on our property. We do not have any form of attack dogs; none have been trained to attack people or animals. We do have two livestock dogs which are locked up during the day to sleep as they work long hours at night. Legally we are required to post signs informing people of guard dogs due to their breed, especially as they run the property protecting all of the programming animals against coyotes when it is dark. These signs are part of our insurance policy requirement should someone break onto the property at night. Captain America is a 11 year old rotti who is epileptic. He too spends most of his time in the house but does roam with the campers.  We have never had any form of issue with any of our dogs. They all must be safe as they are personal family dogs, and there are two children, 11 and 14, which interact with them daily.

All of our dogs are safe. We have never had any form of an issue with them. If you would directly discuss the matter of the dogs on the property please feel free to email or call us.

We do not recommend program participants stay for only half the day because our full day programs are structured in such a way that the afternoon and morning sessions are intertwined.  Missing the afternoon sessions will result in program participants not participating in animal encounters, animal enrichments, or other activities.

Our camper to staff ratio depends on the child's age. Please refer to our camp summary page to see the individual camps and their ratios.

Yes, program participants are never left unsupervised on Soper Creek Wildlife Rescue property. Our staff have received a background check, have had extensive training, and are all either CPR or First Aid trained. Our camp directors are full time staff.

Privacy laws do not allow us to share that information. Please reach out to that child’s parents for this information.

Throughout the year, program participants will have opportunities to have up-close encounters with many of our animals in the presence of Soper Creek Wildlife Educators. We also provide biofacts (pelts, bones, skulls etc.) that the children may touch to enrich their experience. Any animals in rehabilitation are located in a separate area of our property not accessible to program participants unless in a specialized program.

Programs will not be closed due to weather or environmental conditions, unless there is a safety risk to the program participants. If that decision has been made to end the program, all children’s’ parents will be notified by email or phone.

During a significant weather event the safety of your child is a priority. Should there be thunder &/or lightning, children will be kept under our large, wooden picnic shelter which meets safety regulations. If the weather event is still occurring at the time of pick-up, we ask that you come to our picnic shelter to retrieve your child upon your arrival so we can keep the group under the shelter.
Should there be a period of extreme cold during winter programming access to the medical building will be available. This heated building will give program participants a break from the cold and a chance to warm up.

No. Children are encouraged to bring bottled water.

Children should bring their own reusable water bottle labeled with their name. Refilling is available.

Yes.  The program participants are active all day, so extra healthy snacks are encouraged. Two time slots throughout a programming day are alloted for snack time. If your child requires more breaks because of a health condition please add all the information into their file or email in advance.

No, program participants are expected to bring their own lunch.  Please be aware that lunches are not refrigerated, although they are kept in a shady place.

We like to take photos of our program participants as they are partaking in animal encounters and other program activities.  These photos are used for promotional purposes.  For the safety of our program participants, names are not included with the photos. A photo release waiver is signed for your child upon registration. A private Facebook group has also been created in recent years so parents of program participants ONLY, are accepted into the group to view the group photos from the duration of the program. The link is included in the registration email.

Yes. All of the programming is outdoors. Please be sure that your child is dressed in play clothes according to the daily weather report. Program participants will receive their camp shirt or hat (if purchased) the first morning. Closed-toed shoes are required for all programs.

Flip-flops or crocs are not allowed as they can lead to injuries.

 Morning drop-off will begin at 8:30 a.m. programming staff will let you know where the drop-off and pick up area is. Early drop off is available but must be arranged prior to the start of programming.  For summer camp the drop off is like school, a kiss-n-ride system. For other programming throughout the year please use our parking lot and a staff member will meet you in the parking area.

Program participants must be picked up by 4:00 p.m. Please indicate on the first day of camp the names of the adults who have permission to pick them up. Camp staff will let you know where the pick-up area is. Only those listed on the pick-up list will be able to pick your camper up. This is for the safety of your children. Late pick up charges will apply if the child is picked up well after 4:15. Late pick up is available but must be arranged before the start of the program.

Yes, all of the camp staff, directors and permanent staff are First Aid Certified and CPR trained.