Create a unique, once-in-a-lifetime Night Camp experience for your students! Our program allows you to choose what date, type of camp, sleeping location, and theme would be best for you.

Begin planning your own Night Camp experience in 4 easy steps!

 

Choose Your Date
A minimum of 25 participants is required for all Night Camps. Camps may be reserved nearly any night throughout the year. Reservations require at least three weeks advanced notice. Advanced payment is required. Call 602.914.4333 to reserve your camp.

Choose Your Type of Camp
Three different types of camp ensure the perfect experience for your campers. Whether you want to spend the evening at a Twilight Camp, or embark on a longer adventure and spend the night at the Zoo, we’ve got something for everyone.

Standard Overnight Camp
Experience the Zoo from dusk till dawn! Overnight night camps include guided trail hikes, up-close animal encounters, engaging activities and games, a delicious late-night snack and a continental breakfast. Best for campers ages 7 and up, you will have the unique opportunity to experience the Zoo when the nocturnal animals are waking up at night and the diurnal animals are waking up in the morning. The only question is will your campers wake up to the sounds of the coyotes yipping or the lions roaring?!

  • Duration: Sleep over at the Phoenix Zoo! Camp begins at 6:45 p.m. (6:15 p.m. if you include pizza dinner) and ends at 9:00am the next morning.
  • Group Size: Groups require a minimum of 25 paid campers. One adult chaperone (at least 18 years of age) is required for each 10 children that attend.
  • Dinner: Hungry Howie’s Pizza may be added to any Night Camp for an additional fee.
  • Price: $59/person
Twilight Camp
Visit the Zoo after hours! This memorable experience will include guided trail hikes, animal encounters, activities and a late night snack. A Twilight Camp is perfect for our younger campers, ages 5 and up.

  • Duration: Camp begins at 6:15 p.m. (5:45 p.m. if you include dinner) and ends at 10:15 p.m. the same evening.
  • Group Size: Groups require a minimum of 25 paid campers. One adult chaperone (at least 18 years of age) is required for each 10 children that attend.
  • Dinner: Hungry Howie’s Pizza may be added to any Night Camp for an additional fee.
  • Price: $49/person
Wilderness Experience Camp
Sleep under the stars at the Phoenix Zoo! A Wilderness Experience camp offers an authentic camping experience in the middle of the city. Interact with animals, walk the Zoo in guided night hikes, enjoy a grilled dinner and s’mores roasted over a campfire, and sleep in tents provided by the Zoo. In the morning, wake up to the sounds of Siamang gibbons and waterfowl and enjoy a delicious continental breakfast.

  • Duration: Stay in family-sized tents. Camp begins at 5:30 p.m. and ends at 9:00 a.m. the following morning.
  • Group Size: Groups require a minimum of 25 paid campers. One adult chaperone (at least 18 years of age) is required for each 10 children that attend.
  • Dinner: Choice of grilled hamburgers, hotdogs, and veggie burgers with all the fixings are provided by the Zoo.
  • Price: $74/person

Choose Your Sleeping Location
You may request to hold your camp in any of the locations below depending upon availability and group size. Only one camp group will be booked per site.
 

Neely Events and Education Center
  • Climate-controlled classroom
  • Sleeps up to 120 campers in partitioned sections

Desert Tents
  • Permanent concrete-floored canvas tents with ceiling fans
  • Sleeps up to 90 campers in four separate structures
  • Includes centralized outdoor fire pit (weather permitting)

  

Windmill House at Harmony Farm
  • Climate-controlled classroom
  • Sleeps up to 40 campers in one undivided sleeping area

  

Plaza de Los Niños
  • Outdoor campsite, composite granite and dirt
  • Sleeps up to 75 campers in individual family-sized tents
  • Tents sleep 4-5 people, and are provided and set up by Zoo staff
  • Available for Wilderness Experience Camps only

Choose Your Night Camp Theme

Each of these program themes include hands-on, integrated STEM activities and are specifically designed for the recommended age group in alignment with the Arizona State Standards.

Food Webs

Campers will come face-to-face with creatures of all different trophic levels. Using the design process to create a food web model, campers will discover everything on Earth has an important place in our global ecosystem!

Recommended for Grades 3 – 5.

Desert Survival

Desert animals have developed amazing abilities and methods to overcome the challenges they face in the harsh desert environment. Using the scientific inquiry process, and with a focus on local species, campers will examine the adaptations that allow plants, animals and people to conserve water in the desert!

Recommended for Grades 3 – 4.

STEM at the Zoo

Animals need food, water and shelter to survive, but what do they need to thrive? Observe for yourself the complex needs of animals and how the Zoo uses STEM to meet those needs. Using the engineering design process, campers will be challenged to design a new invention for an animal at the Zoo and discover just how YOU can care for native animals in your community.

Recommended for Grades 5 – 8.

Conservation

Campers will become field conservationists for the night, learning to understand the challenges that conservationists face and tools they use. Find out how the Phoenix Zoo and other organizations are working together to positively impact endangered local species like the Mexican Grey Wolf and discover how YOU can make a difference for them, too!

Recommended for Grades 6 – 12.

Scholarship Opportunities

Scholarships are available for qualifying schools. Select the Scholarships Tab on this page for more information.