This is my first experience looking for a summer camp for my son. I toured the facility and…read moreinstantly fell in love. I was skeptical about the staffing, but I knew my son would have a blast. Fast forward to his first day, and I was impressed by the organization and details. The check-in process was smooth. We pulled up by the gym, walked him inside, and they scanned the QR code to see what meal I ordered for him. Then he was off to have fun. It's always fun to see what he did throughout the day from baking,sewing,water play,playing soccer and the list goes on. This is truly the best summer camp experience in town. I hope they continue every year because I would always send him. The price was worth it, and it was the longest summer program in town. We had peace of mind sending him every day, thanks to Nick, the director, and his team, who did an amazing job at keeping the kids safe and busy. The staff selection was amazing. You can tell they're passionate about what they're doing. My son and family have nothing but great things to say about Steve and Kate's. I know my son will tell all his classmates about how much fun he had over the summer and show off his AMAZING Mooseband collection.

I would have to agree with the first reviewer that it seems there is not enough staff, or the staff…read moreare not always able to rein in the kids. While our kids had a great time, they were frequently "written up" for misbehaving, which led them to make us sit home from camp on multiple occasions. While our kids aren't perfect, they have no history of ongoing behavioral issues, so I wonder what is happening behind the scenes. Unfortunately, our kids also loved the punshment "days off" camp because that meant they play on the iPad all day while mom and dad worked (finding out at 6pm the day before not enough time to come up with alternate child care plans). So the punishment was not effective despite us giving them the talk multiple times. There were many moments of frustration and dysfunction during the summer, despite the kids saying they had a blast. The best days included water play and other pre-arranged activities. The kids love the director, Nick. I would maybe try it again, but also open to other options next year.

This is our 6 th summer at Apachi Northside. It is fun, well run, spirited camp, with a plethora of…read moreactivity offerings. From dance, to sports, to crafts, to swim, our child has been exposed to so many great activities. While expensive, it's a great value . Swim program is top notch, and activities are professionally run, varied and excellent. Older kids get a choice of activities and go on field trips. Beth, the director, is great. She hires an enthusiastic, bright, diverse and fun staff year after year. Apachi counselors seem to work hard and seem invested in ensuring the campers have a great time. My daughter has made awesome friendships and looks forward to returning and seeing her camp friends year after year We have loved this camp!

this is one of the worst summer camps to send your kids to. my daughter was exposed to not only to…read moretoxic campers. but extremely inappropriate topics. the older kids at this camp would come up to her and say extremely inappropriate things. and when she tried to speak up about them the counselors didn't give a care. I am never going here again.

GYMNASTICS BIRTHDAY PARTY My daughter had her 6th birthday…read moreparty here in 2007. It was great! Easy registration. Affordable. Received a phone call from the organizer the week before. They were very helpful and pleasant. They provide you with a big room to store coats, etc. and have food and cake. We had about 20 kids - almost an even number of boys and girls - and they split them up into two groups. The instructors were fun, organized, and somehow kept the kids in two lines doing all the gymnastics the whole time. The gymnastics equipment is clean. The huge gym is safe and cool - padded floors, lots of equipment, and a big foam-filled pit for the kids to jump into! All the kids had a lot of fun and my daughter loved it!

Fun place with accommodating staff. Great place for a kids party. Rooms are large enough for a…read moreparty of sixty or more.

Went to Dacoma daycamp in the 1960s and they taught me to swim, Archery, Arts and crafts, Softball,…read moreBoxing in a roped boxing ring on the campus, how to spot Poison ivy in wooded areas, also had an indoor and outdoor Dining area with picnic tables and bench seating, Offered certified Instructors that taught how to breathe while swimming in outdoor swimming pool, Also offered weekend sleepovers on Friday nights inside the dining room which they relocated the tables and bench seating to make room for the cushioned sleeping lounge bedding that accommodated approx 50 children to be together inside a controlled environment with Fans and adduquit ventilation Lotta memorable experiences I still remember to this very day and the daycamp is still open and located in Northbrook, Illinois it's 2026

The way this camp is managed is like MacGyver surviving in the wilderness. Everything is re-built…read moreby maintenance every year. NOT licensed contractors or verified companies that follow strict building regulations. The owners have done everything privately, undermining any IL regulations that stand in their way. The sicker issue is that you wouldn't have to work here to know all that. I've never been someplace as jury rigged as this. Most of the grounds were originally built by the original owner and his son along with their maintenance crew. Even the pool was built up of PVC pipes along with all the other plumbing. Id like to also mention that it's a known fact in the surrounding neighborhood community that the owner's have cut every corner possible to be as cheap as possible. Even the counselors are a blend of high school students along with undertrained adults who are supposed to take care of your kids. If that wasn't shady enough, they have their own people drive the buses too, not seasoned professional bus drivers. It's all dangerous, unsanitary, and unprofessional. Like seriously, painting over rust doesn't prevent rust either and this place is for kids. I'm sorry for any kid being told they were going to camp and got this instead, and on top of all that, to charge as much as they do to run a literal garbage heap, they could at least buy quality food for the kids. They are eating SISCO! That's prison quality food. The cheapest possible option. Once again the surrounding community knows Decoma and the family that owns it for this. That's why a vast majority of their kids that attend come from completely different neighborhoods, and for the price, your kids could attend an ACTUAL camp in IL or elsewhere and be assured their safety and well being under actual rules and regulations governed by law. You have been seriously warned.

Brought my infant and ended up pulling her out within 3 weeks of being there and ended up needing…read moreto quit my job because there were no other openings for infants in nearby daycares and we don't have family nearby to help out. They over-promised in the tour and under-delivered. They told us they would have someone watching the infants sleeping at all times, and I never saw anyone in that area of the room. Also, they let babies cry without helping them and the teachers don't know developmental milestones and do developmentally inappropriate activities with infants. The teachers ask you for heads up before you arrive, and I quickly realized why the one time I didn't give a heads up. They were neglecting my 3 month old daughter. The director, Amber, defends the staff who spends lots of time on their phones rather than caring for the infants. Beware of bringing your infants to this place.

Poor communication, high turnover, classrooms constantly out of ratio. The Regional Director does…read morelead. Our child was without a Lead Teacher for three months and we were told every few weeks they were going to have someone new join. They never did. It put the children's development at risk.

Can I be a kid again?! Good Times has been all it claims to be and more. This Summer Camp packs…read moreinto the summer more than I could possibly cover myself. Not only do they hit every Chicago hot spot, from MLB games to Navy Pier, The WIllis Tower & Great America but they also hit the best north shore swimming pools & beaches two to three times a week. In addition, my kids get to be crafty, learn new sports and spend a summer making friends that will last for many more summers to come. This has been our first summer but will absolutely not be our last!

My kids, 10 and 12, have gone to this summer camp for years. They really enjoy going to camp, all…read morethe field trips and most of all hanging with their friends. They have had almost all super positive experiences with counselors, only 1 that was so-so in 6 or seven years. The field trips are great. Great America being the high-light - twice this year. Once for rides and once in water park. They also really like the sports aspect. My son talks about the basketball games at the end of the day as much as everything else. I also think the camp directors really care about the kids, and really want them to have a fun summer.

One of my grand-darlings had her birthday bash here and it was a ton of fun for all involved…read more  There are a bunch of ninja stations for the kiddos to burn up much of their energy before a birthday celebration meal.  They get 2 hours of supervised fun and it is broken up into 80 minutes of ninja stations and then 40 minutes birthday meal time.  My daughter arranged everything and I was just one of several parent/grandparent photographers/observers basically. Maggie was the welcoming receptionist and she provided a gift t-shirt to the birthday girl (part of the BD package) and got everyone signed in and made sure they had all of their waiver forms signed haha.  This place isn't cheap (ballpark $600 for the birthday package per the daughter) but it seems you get what you pay for - a clean and well maintained facility, a staffer to direct the kids' activities and help serve food, plenty of fun ninja activities to choose from, a private room (there are 2 of them) for the birthday meal, and pizza (by Viccino's, a local favorite anyway) and fruit provided from a local vendor, plates and utensils, and most importantly - a big and grand blast of a time for all the kiddo participants and us by-standers as well.  Apparently, you can also bring your own food in, but there is a healthy $25 per entree charge for doing so, and besides it's an additional hassle.  There is a downstairs and upstairs party room and both are nice and spacious.  One of my grand-darlings has been here several times as a birthday party guest, and she has always had a great time.  I didn't pay, but I still can say a big thumbs up for this place!

Had my kids birthday party here - and everyone had an amazing time. This place is great for all…read moreages, which I loved! The staff was phenomenal and went above and beyond with making sure everything went smoothly. HIGHLY recommend this place to host an event!

We have had such a great experience with the Gardner school so far! Ms Allison is approachable,…read morekind, and transparent. My almost 4 year old loves going to school. His teachers ms. Kassy and ms Jess are very knowledgeable and caring. He has invited them for dinner multiple times haha! We have seen so much growth in our son in the few months that he's been there. Thank you to all the staff at the Gardner school :)

Had a terrible experience with the Gardner school…read more Pay attention if you want to enroll in this school as it has three major risks: 1. Lack of skilled teachers. 2. Really short of staff, only within a few days, we've seen a class with 1 teacher taking care of 16 students, also the director had to take care of the class and clean the kitchen by herself, therefore, refusing to talk to parents. 3. Manager in this school is very impatient and not friendly/professional upon issues. We'd been there only a few days until my daughter was bitten by a random kid full of blood on the face (still with scare after 3 months). Faculties were buck passing saying this happen in 2 secs without any possibility to stop that. Later we realized my daughter was bitten at two separate spots, which can't be done in 2 secs, at least they are lying and shirking off their negligence of duty. Nevertheless, we tried to work with the Director of the school trying to resolve/reduce risk in the future, the Director was very impatient not only documenting inaccurate incident reports but also refusing to make any accommodations. We requested multiple times for updating the report but only got "I will work to fulfill your request" yet never did it nor responding emails for 2+ months now. As we've hoped this school can improve itself in the future, but it's been a terrible experience for us.