Kids Unlimited Summer Program

Kids Unlimited Summer Program includes weekly themed camps such as Game On!, Animal Adventures, Stars, Stripes & Summer Fun, Mad Scientists & Messy Experiments, Under the Sea, Build It!, Fun With Food, and Summer Celebration. Camp days include high-energy games, classic games, teamwork and movement activities, animal-themed games and obstacle courses, creative projects, festive activities, hands-on discovery, ocean-themed adventures, design and engineering projects, and opportunities to build and test engineering and construction projects. Participants also make no-cook snacks, create edible art, design food-inspired projects, create friendship bracelets and memory books, and showcase talent and favorite moments, along with field trips to local pools, parks, Wildlife Images, Sanctuary One, Emigrant Lake, a fish hatchery, a movie theater, Crater Rock Museum, ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum, Children’s Britt Festival, and the Oregon Coast.

• Ages: 5–11 years old
• Schedule: Eight-week camp with 2026 sessions running Monday–Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., from mid-June through early August
• Price: $250 per week with a 4-week minimum; scholarships are available with awards based on family size and income; KU accepts Employment Related Day Care benefits; payment is due each week before camp begins, and a $10 per week deposit is required at registration and goes toward the total balance

The Kids Unlimited Summer Program runs as an eight-week camp. The program follows a weekly schedule in 2026 from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with sessions from June 15–18 (no camp June 19), June 22–26, June 29–July 2 (no camp July 3), July 6–10, July 13–17, July 20–24, July 27–31, and August 3–7. Students are paired in age groups for all activities.

The program includes a Summer Food Program that gives every Kids Unlimited student access to free breakfast, lunch, and a snack each day, with all meals cooked from scratch in an on-site commercial kitchen. Through the culinary arts program, students learn about where food comes from, how to prepare food, and how to present food products, and they also receive nutrition and garden education.

Kids Unlimited Summer Program uses facilities that include a literacy center, media studio, screen printing shop, two indoor basketball courts, an outdoor soccer field, an outdoor playground, and a commercial kitchen. Kids Unlimited Academy, a public charter school serving grades K–5, is located at the main campus, and the organization describes itself as the region’s largest youth development organization with a holistic solution that bridges school, afterschool, and summer at a single campus.

All camp staff have passed an extensive FBI fingerprint and background check, and staff are CPR and First-Aid certified. The leadership team includes Program Director Judy Patterson and Kids Unlimited CEO and founder Tom Cole.

Kids Unlimited was created in 1998, with its first afterschool program starting that year at Oak Grove Elementary with a $500 venture grant. The first Summer Camp was offered in 1999, and the afterschool program expanded to Medford’s Washington Elementary School in 1999. VIBES Main 1 Center for the arts opened in downtown Medford in 2000, Rolling Stone magazine and MTV gave Kids Unlimited a national award in 2001 recognizing its innovative program model, Carpenter Dance Studio opened in 2001, and the first basketball program began with 15 kids in 2002. The Rotary Club-sponsored Kids Unlimited basketball Pass 2 Play program was created in 2003, KU middle school programs began operating in Medford and White City in 2003, and KU opened its Medford campus at a former bowling alley in 2004. Kids Unlimited’s 25th anniversary story notes its inception in 1998, and it has been 26 years since the first afterschool program opened its doors at Oak Grove Elementary.

The program’s mission is to provide opportunity for all kids through enrichment programs, its public charter school, and the help of its caring staff. Community involvement includes the Rotary Club-sponsored Kids Unlimited basketball Pass 2 Play program and Kids Unlimited’s annual fundraising basketball tournament, the Southern Oregon Open, which is reported as poised to net the most local tourism dollars of any single sporting event. Children participating in afterschool programs and camps, graduates enrolled in transition programs, parents participating in family literacy programs, and meals served to Kids Unlimited families and the community are reported in the 2025 annual report.

Kids Unlimited’s food program received the 2018 USDA Turnip the Beet Gold Award. Rolling Stone magazine and MTV have given Kids Unlimited a national award recognizing its innovative program model.

Last updated June 11, 2026.