ACA Camps Scraper

Scrape the American Camp Association's Find a Camp directory — the official nationwide database of ~3,900 day camps, overnight camps, and family/adult camps with ~11,000+ programs across the US. Search by camp type, location (zip radius or state), activities, affiliation, gender served, cost, and camper age/grade — or look up specific camps and programs directly by ID or name. Every camp record includes accreditation status, full address, contact info, and its program roster; program records include session-level dates, pricing, and age ranges. Empty fields are omitted.

What this actor does

• Four modes: search (browse/filter), byCampId (exact lookup), byCampName (name lookup), byProgramId (program + session lookup)
• Full filter surface: camp type, location (zip + radius, or one/many states), gender served, ACA accreditation, activities (multi-select or single-focus), affiliations, cost range, camper age/grade, session length and date range, disabilities/special needs served, specific populations served, waterfront access, day-camp amenities
• Rich camp records: accreditation status, founded year, full address, GPS coordinates, phone, email, website, director, operator, affiliation/religion, photo gallery, and every program the camp offers
• Rich program records: gender served, day/overnight type, general notes (before/aftercare, transportation), financial aid, waterfront access, GPS coordinates, photo gallery, and every scheduled session with dates, duration, age range, and price
• Empty fields are omitted — you'll never see a null, "", or placeholder value in the output

Output per camp (recordType: "camp")

• campId, campName
• accreditationStatus — accredited, affiliate_member, or omitted if neither
• foundedYear
• description
• addressStreet, addressCity, addressState, addressStateName, addressZip
• latitude, longitude — GPS coordinates of the camp
• phone, email, websiteUrl
• director, operator, affiliationOrReligion
• logoUrl
• photos[] — camp photo gallery (when the camp has published one)
• programs[] — programId, programName, programUrl, gender, type, ageGrade, transportationAvailable, cost, city, state, description
• programCount
• campProfileUrl
• scrapedAt

Output per program (recordType: "program", mode=byProgramId)

• programId, programName
• campId, campName, campProfileUrl
• accreditationStatus, foundedYear
• description
• gender — e.g. Coed, Boys Only, Girls Only
• type — e.g. Day, Overnight
• generalNotes[] — e.g. before/after-camp care, minimum attendance days
• transportationNotes
• financialAidAvailable, financialAidNote
• waterfront[] — e.g. Ocean, Pool, Lake
• addressStreet, addressCity, addressState, addressStateName, addressZip
• latitude, longitude — GPS coordinates of the camp
• phone, email, websiteUrl, director
• logoUrl
• photos[] — camp photo gallery (when the camp has published one)
• sessions[] — name, startDate, endDate, duration, excludesWeekends, ageGrade, cost, costAmount
• sessionCount
• programProfileUrl
• scrapedAt

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	string	search	search / byCampId / byCampName / byProgramId
campType	string	day_camp	day_camp / overnight_camp / day_and_overnight / adult_camp (mode=search)
campNameQuery	string	–	Full or partial camp name, min 3 characters (mode=byCampName)
campIds	array	–	Numeric camp IDs (mode=byCampId)
programIds	array	–	Numeric program IDs (mode=byProgramId)
locationType	string	(none)	"" nationwide / zip / state (mode=search)
postalCode	string	–	5-digit US zip code (locationType=zip)
distanceMiles	string	50	Search radius in miles, or "any distance" (locationType=zip)
states	array	–	US states/territories to restrict to (locationType=state)
gender	array	–	coed / only_boys / only_girls
accreditedOnly	boolean	false	Only ACA-accredited camps
activities	array	–	Restrict to camps offering ALL of these activities (multi-select)
singleFocusActivity	string	–	Restrict to camps whose ENTIRE program is dedicated to this one activity (e.g. an all-sailing camp). Ignored if activities is also set
affiliations	array	–	Restrict to camps affiliated with these organizations
disabilities	string	–	Restrict to camps serving campers with this disability/special need
disabilitySpecializesIn	boolean	false	Only camps that SPECIALIZE in the selected disabilities value
disabilityExclusively	boolean	false	Only camps that EXCLUSIVELY serve the selected disabilities value
audiences	string	–	Restrict to camps with programs for this specific population (e.g. LGBTQ, homeschooled, military families)
waterfront	array	–	Restrict to camps with this waterfront access (lake_pond_river / ocean / pool)
dayCampAmenities	array	–	Restrict day camps to these amenities (aftercare, lunch, transportation, etc.)
costMin / costMax	integer	–	Program price range in USD
ageYears	integer	–	Camper age
grade	string	–	Camper grade (Pre-K through 12th)
sessionDurations	array	–	Restrict to these session lengths
sessionStartDate	string	–	Restrict to programs with a session starting on/after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
sessionEndDate	string	–	Restrict to programs with a session ending on/before this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
sortBy	string	accredited	Sort order for mode=search results
maxItems	integer	25	Hard cap on emitted records (1–500)

Example: day camps near a zip code

{
  "mode": "search",
  "campType": "day_camp",
  "locationType": "zip",
  "postalCode": "10001",
  "distanceMiles": "50",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example: accredited overnight camps in a state, coed only

{
  "mode": "search",
  "campType": "overnight_camp",
  "locationType": "state",
  "states": ["CO", "WY"],
  "gender": ["coed"],
  "accreditedOnly": true,
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example: look up specific camps by ID

{
  "mode": "byCampId",
  "campIds": ["1883", "3265"]
}

Example: overnight camps specializing in autism, with sessions in June

{
  "mode": "search",
  "campType": "overnight_camp",
  "disabilities": "autism",
  "disabilitySpecializesIn": true,
  "sessionStartDate": "2026-06-01",
  "sessionEndDate": "2026-06-30",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example: single-focus space/aeronautics camps

{
  "mode": "search",
  "campType": "overnight_camp",
  "singleFocusActivity": "aeronautics",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example: day camps with lunch provided and ocean waterfront overnight camps

{
  "mode": "search",
  "campType": "day_camp",
  "dayCampAmenities": ["lunch_provided", "transportation_door_to_door"],
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example: find camps by name, then look up a program's sessions

{
  "mode": "byCampName",
  "campNameQuery": "YMCA",
  "maxItems": 20
}

{
  "mode": "byProgramId",
  "programIds": ["16330", "4836"]
}

Use cases

• Parent/family planning tools — power a camp-comparison or recommendation site with accreditation, cost, and session dates
• Youth program directories — aggregate accredited camps by region, activity, or affiliation
• Market research — analyze camp pricing, accreditation rates, and program mix by state
• Nonprofit/association research — study camp affiliations (YMCA, religious, Scouts, etc.) across the US
• Lead generation — build contact lists of camp directors and operators by region or camp type
• Session/pricing trackers — monitor camp session dates, capacity windows, and pricing changes over a season

FAQ

What's the data source? The American Camp Association's public "Find a Camp" directory at find.acacamps.org — the official nationwide camp-search tool ACA makes available to parents. No login is required to search or view camp profiles.

Is this affiliated with the American Camp Association? No — this is an independent, third-party actor that reads the same public directory pages available to any visitor.

What does "accredited" vs "affiliate member" mean? ACA accreditation means a camp has passed a peer-review process against up to 300 health and safety standards. "Affiliate member" camps are ACA members that have not (yet) completed accreditation. Camps with neither badge are not currently ACA-accredited.

Why do some camps have no sessions in the byProgramId output? Session-level dates and pricing are only populated for camps whose season is still upcoming or in progress at the time of the request; camps that haven't published this year's session calendar yet will return a program record without a sessions[] array.

Why do some fields like email, phone, or founded Year sometimes not appear? Camps self-report their listing information to ACA. Fields the camp didn't provide are simply omitted rather than shown as empty or placeholder values.

Why do some program descriptions in search results end mid-sentence with "..."? ACA truncates long program descriptions on its own search-results pages. In a small number of cases the source's own truncation cuts a description at a byte offset that lands inside a special character (an em-dash, curly quote, etc.), which the actor cleans up automatically so you'll only ever see the trailing "..." — never a stray corrupted character.

Can I search by multiple states or activities at once? Yes — states, activities, affiliations, gender, sessionDurations, waterfront, and dayCampAmenities all accept multiple values and are combined with the other filters (a camp must match ALL selected values within a filter, matching the source site's own semantics).

What's the difference between activities and singleFocusActivity? activities finds camps that offer all of the selected activities alongside other programming (most camps). singleFocusActivity finds camps whose entire program is built around one activity (e.g. a dedicated sailing camp or space camp). The two are mutually exclusive — if both are set, activities takes priority.

Do latitude/longitude and photos appear on every camp? GPS coordinates are published for essentially every camp with a mapped address. Photos depend on whether the camp uploaded a gallery to its ACA listing — camps without one simply omit the photos field rather than returning an empty array.

Does distance sorting work without a zip code? No — sortBy: "camp_location" requires locationType: "zip" with a postalCode. If you request distance sort without a zip code, the actor falls back to accredited-first sorting.

How many camps and programs are in the directory? Roughly 3,900 camps and 11,000 programs across the US at any given time; exact counts fluctuate as camps update their listings.

Do I need a proxy or cookies to run this? No — the actor works out of the box with no configuration beyond the input fields above.