Animal Camp

Since 2003, Lawrence's original ANIMAL CAMP!
Same great camp experience available through Pet World's sister company, the Nature Objective!

If sold out, please check out Little Wilderness Camp.

Scroll to bottom for dates.

Super Early Registration opens March 15 ($75 extra fee)
Early Registration opens April 1 ($50 extra fee)
Open enrollment begins April 15! (no extra fee)

Please e-mail questions to 
info.NatureObjective @ gmail . com
All Invoices, forms, registrations, and payments are handled electronically, in the order received. Please allow 24 hours to process your invoice. 

Designed for adventurous third graders (age 8) who love animals and aren't afraid to get dirty! Animal Camp is a week long, action-packed day camp. Kids learn about nature and animals, work and play with animals, and take field trips every day! We promise our summer camps are unlike any camp your child has attended.

Friday is an optional all day outing at a private nature preserve including hiking, creek exploration, frog and snake hunting, and more! The Friday field trip gives kids a glimpse of what they can look forward to with Wilderness Camp when they outgrow Animal Camp.

Due to popular demand, Animal Camp may not be repeated. Kids can only attend one time, at age 8, to make room for more children to have the same opportunity. Please add a note to your enrollment form if you'd like an exception for an older seven year old or a very young nine year old. Historically, kids were required to complete Animal Camp in order to qualify for Wilderness Camp but we have since added Little Wilderness Camp as a way to advance directly from Critter Camp to Wilderness Camp. We also expanded our programs to include Campfires and Forts, and adventures like 2 Hour On the Path and 3 Hour Off The Path to accommodate the growing need for nature camps and the desire to enroll in Wilderness Camp. 

Since Animal Camp sells out immediately every year, usually in less than an hour on March 15, we've added extra camps to make room for more new kids! Even if your child did not attend Animal Camp last summer, you can still enroll first timers in Little Wilderness Camp. We will take time to catch them up on last year's instruction so they'll fit right in!

NOTE for 7 year old children:
If your child is a very young 7 year old, fresh out of first grade, with a birthday not long before June, (or a first time participant) you might seriously consider Big Critter Camp. If your child is an older 7 year old, soon to be 8, who has done at least one of our camps before, or is adventurous and can easily handle an all day camp with 8 year olds, you might consider Animal Camp or Little Wilderness Camp.

Animal Camp is our original, all day summer camp debuting in 2003, open to any kids. We suggest Animal Camp for former campers who have completed half day Critter Camp or our Off The Path program, and are now ready for all day Animal Camp. It's also for kids who are completely new to the day camp experience who really enjoy animals, nature, learning, and field trips. Kids will learn about the animals at Pet World, become expert handlers, and impress friends and family with their pet knowledge. Daily field trips will expose kids to nature in the great outdoors. We’ll start with smaller, local field trips then work our way up to an all day trip on Friday, visiting places like a park ranger station, public nature trails, Sanders Mound at Clinton Lake, Prairie Park nature center, Mary’s Lake, the Baker Wetlands, and even make a trip to Sunfire Ceramics to paint Animal Camp keepsakes. On fish day, kids will learn a little about aquarium keeping and, if they pass the Betta fish lesson, they'll earn a gift card for a free betta fish (to be redeemed later at their convenience)! On Friday we’ll spend the entire day at a private nature preserve! If Animal Camp is sold out, please check out Little Wilderness Camp!

NOTE: Animal Camp is designed for one-time attendance. If your child attended Animal Camp at 7 or a very young 8 and was new to our camp experience, please enroll them in one of the Wilderness Camps.

Has your child already been through Animal Camp at least once? Were they obsessed with the private nature preserve?
Check out Wilderness Camp!

Campers hanging out in the creek at the tortoise farm.

Camper proudly showing off how muddy she got during camp!

Campers observing and handling newly hatched baby snakes.

Camp counselor showing campers a worm snake found while herping.

Campers holding PW's giant Burmese python, Goliath!