Does your child love animals and learning on outdoor adventures, not just from home on screens? We hear the call of the wild in Oakland. K-5th graders explore, hike, play, and learn in Oakland forests in outdoor nature camps. Call of the Wild Camps are 100% outdoors with nature as our living classroom. Oakland camps have small groups of eight to ten children. Kids share a love of nature, learning, and friendship in the great outdoors.

At Inspire Behavioral Learning®, we believe in learning by doing, so lessons are relevant to the learner's environment, engaging the whole child - head, heart, and body. Oakland nature camps are a fun blend of outdoor education and recreation. Our day camps combine:

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• Biology and language arts enrichment

• Kindness for campers and animals

• Enjoyable exercise on hikes and in play!

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Child to staff ratio: most sessions 4:1 or 5:1

Activities

Educational nature camps for K-5 combine hiking, reading, writing, play, art, and nature connection. In active day camps, kids hike in local parks, navigate trails, build forts, explore nature, learn amazing animal facts, play entertaining perspective-taking games, read and craft their own stories with wilderness themes, illustrate stories, create and perform skits, do scavenger hunts, nature journal, practice storytelling across genres, deepen their sense of wonder and respect for nature, become eco-conscious, eat healthy food, develop executive functioning skills to become hike leaders, strengthen stamina, make friendships, and more!

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Oakland summer camp theme weeks: Call of the Wild Camps in the summer include classic nature camp sessions, plus the theme weeks Enchanted Forest Art, Enchanted Vegan Nature, Enchanted Forest Reading, Enchanted Forest Writing, and (NEW in Summer 2025!) Trailblazers for avid hikers to explore more epic trails. In theme weeks, kids still enjoy a mix of all types of nature camp activities but with more time spent on the given theme, so you can select sessions your kids love best!

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Oakland camp hikes and nature connection: Call of the Wild explorers enjoy the redwoods in Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park and Joaquin Miller Park. At Reinhardt Redwood, campers at the Canyon Meadow entrance hike and explore on the Stream Trail and Bridle Trail. At the Skyline Gate entrance, kids enjoy the more rugged loop from West Ridge Trail to Stream Trail and also hike one of the highest points in the park.

Oakland Camp Locations

Families drop off and pick up their children at the camp sites.

Locations are confirmed when park districts issue day camp permits. Past camp locations and planned future locations are below. ​

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Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park in Oakland (summer, fall, winter, and spring nature camps)

• Canyon Meadow Staging Area address on Google Maps

• Skyline Gate Staging Area address on Google Maps

• Park map

Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland (summer nature camps)

• Joaquin Miller Playground address on Google Maps

• Park Map​​​​

Oakland school break nature camps are for summer, fall, winter, and spring.