Build a Summer Education for Rising 1st-8th Graders

Countdown to Basecamp Reg 2025

New Event: Fall Into STEM!!!

The Countdown Is On

Registration for BASE Camp 2025 opens February 2, 2025.

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Summer BASE Camp 2025 Details

BASE Camp 2025 will be better than ever! Next summer we will continue to provide some of our popular camps, updated versions of our favorite offerings, and as always new innovative camps – bringing STEAM concepts to life in exciting and memorable ways.

NEW REGISTRATION OPTION!
Block Scheduling: Do you want to book your entire summer at BASE Camp EARLY and with ONE click? With new block scheduling, you’ll be able to completely book your camper into all 6 weeks of BASE Camp (both AM and PM sections) …and you’ll get to register on Friday, January 31st before general registration opens.

Block Schedule

BASE Camp Schedule 2025

Schedule

Block Schedule

Registration

Registration for BASE Camp 2025 will open on February 2, 2025 at 2:00pm.

BASE Camp Descriptions

Click the grades below for descriptions of all camps offered this summer:

1st-2nd 5th-6th
3rd-4th 7th-8th

FAQs

Get answers to your most important questions concerning BASE Camp.

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Gift Card Options

Login or create an Amilia account below for full access to view and purchase gift cards for this year’s upcoming OPEF BASE Camp.

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BASE Camp Handbook

A list of the basic information from who to contact to what to bring to camp. 2025 Handbook coming soon!

Learn more about our partnership with D97 during the summer using the link below!

Portrait of a Graduate

A Sample of Our OPEF BASE Camps

Science of Sweets

Science of Sweets takes a close look at the delicious science of sugar. Campers examine how temperature influences crystal formation and see first hand how science works to create different textures in sucrose. Density, saturation, and dynamic equilibrium are just a few terms that are explored.

Biking Adventures

During biking adventure, campers learn and practice bike maintenance and biking safety as they ride to destinations such as Thatcher Woods, local cafes and recreation areas. This camp provides opportunities for our campers to become more comfortable on their bike as well as learn more about places that they can bike to in our community.

Experimentation Station

Experimentation Station is all about hands-on experiments with things gooey, strange, stinky, colorful, eruptive, surprising, and always fun! Campers hypothesize about the science behind the reactions they see.

Shoe Drip & Apparel Art

During Shoe Drip/Apparel Art, Campers embellish and customize their own gear. Using paints, bling and other materials, campers design their own unique pair of footwear and other apparel that they then take home.

Earth Ambassadors

Our Earth Ambassadors camp is all about the science of sustainability — from climate change to biodiversity to alternative energy — to help our campers become more informed citizens and effective activists. Campers engage in hands-on projects, guided discussion and immersive field trips.

Cardboard City

During Cardboard City, campers design and construct a small-scale city with upcycled cardboard. Campers learn about the structural properties of different types of cardboard. All design, engineering, and construction is camper-led.

“My kids love OPEF’s BASE Camp. They have done the coolest things every summer with amazing teachers and staff. I can’t say enough about how lucky we are to have this program here in Oak Park”

— Oak Park Parent of Three

OPEF Is Excited to Offer Gift Cards for Camp!

Scholarships for Families in Need

OPEF is also committed to ensuring that family income does not inhibit a child from attending camp. We have a very generous scholarship program to meet the needs of families.

Scholarship Information