Summer Camp 2016 is one for the books

This winning shot of our Eurasian eagle owl is by camper Hannah J.

School has been in session long enough for us to miss our days at summer camp. We packed a full house this year during our WILD Adventures Summer Camp, welcoming 1,103 kids – that’s 100 more campers than last year, with more than 25 sold out weeklong camps!

A few highlights: This was our fourth year to offer our popular Keeper Camp, which has sold out every summer. And we hosted our first gallery opening for our Top Photographers, where campers showed off their best three photos taken during camp.

During camps, kids ages PreK through grade 12 get to experience the Zoo like never before. Each camper goes on a special tour of our 106-acre park, feeds animals such as giraffes and lorikeets, meets animal ambassadors, and enjoys hands-on activities, like designing animal habitats.

Two girls work on designing an animal habitat for Zoo by Design camp (grades 6-8).

Our younger campers got to attend special keeper chats where our zookeepers answered all of their burning questions. And the older kids were afforded a tour in some of our behind-the-scenes areas.

While we always have fun, our focus is on learning, and teaching youth about our mission of saving wildlife and wild places.

“We have two big goals for camp: to encourage empathy for animals and cultivate conservation leaders,” said Marti Copeland, director of Education at the Dallas Zoo. “We model respect for wildlife – including stopping to observe the insect crawling across the sidewalk – saving water, and separating trash from recyclables in our lunches.”

If you can’t wait until next summer to see us, Winter Camp is coming up soon. Over winter break, we offer seven single-day camps from Dec. 20-22 and Dec. 27-30.

These campers got to meet penguins up close!

Here’s a little sneak peek: We plan to celebrate the holiday season in a special way this year. Each day, campers will learn about a different festival focusing on an animal from around the world. For example, Thailand has a yearly celebration called “Monkey Buffet,” where they honor monkeys by putting out fruits and veggies for them.

We have six other fun festivals like this planned, so don’t miss out. We can’t wait to see you at camp!