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We celebrate being Jewish and help every camper, from any Jewish background, to discover joy and meaning in their Jewish identity.
When our community members feel truly safe, accepted, and loved – regardless of background – lifelong friendships can
blossom.
We believe that the quality of our
counselors is the single most important
element to ensure that our campers thrive. We go to great lengths to recruit, train, and support counselors who can lead their campers to build lifelong friendships.
Like our camp song says, at CBF you’ll find “good friendship, fun excitement in each long lasting day!”
What People Say About Their Experience at CBF
Since 1949, our overnight camp has been the perfect place for children looking for a Jewish experience that is welcoming and fun. Campers rave about the high-quality counselors and the variety and quality of activities. Parents trust the professional leadership and love seeing the joy and growth that their children experience after a summer at CBF.
At CBF we combine the wisdom of industry best-practices, decades of experienced leadership, strategic partnerships, and an open-minded approach to develop programs and activities that meet or exceed the high expectations of our campers, parents, and camp staff. Safety comes first and Camp Ben Frankel is proudly accredited by the American Camp Association (ACA).
Each week campers choose 4 electives from a combination of classic camp activities and an array of innovative options powered by the creativity of our staff. Our counselors thoughtfully plan the curriculum with the help of experienced educators to ensure activities are high quality and fun.
Our aquatics program is a great way for campers to enjoy swimming, splashing, and safely playing in the water. Water safety always comes first and includes an instructional swim program. Activities include swim instruction, free swim, aquapark, water aerobics, canoeing, kayaking, stand up paddle boarding, fishing, and more.
We combine skill instruction with the freedom and support to experiment and be expressive. Some examples include cooking, painting, ceramics, pottery, bracelet making, jewelry making, tie dye, beading, drawing, crafting, origami, and much, much more.
Our campers and staff love unleashing their imaginations and putting their minds to work while gaming. We offer role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Always popular: strategy games like Settlers of Catan, Magic The Gathering, Pokemon, and more. We also offer classic board games like chess, which experienced a surge of popularity in 2020. Like our other activity areas, we are always developing more activities for this program and welcome suggestions!
Camp is one of the best places to unleash your imagination in a safe and supportive environment. Whether embracing your creativity or getting a standing ovation during a performance, here are some example activities that campers can choose from: acting, improv, musical theater, dance, book club, creative writing, comic books, camp newspaper, guitar, ukulele, singing, rock band, song writing, percussion, music appreciation, song leading, and much more.
We offer a variety of creative STEM activities and projects for campers. Examples include robotics, model rocketry, coding, physics, Rube Goldberg machines, and more. This activity area is always evolving.
One of our core values is “creating immersive experiences” and we love to make the most out of our natural surroundings and help campers foster a relationship with the environment. Programs include high ropes, climbing, teams course, hiking, camping, outdoor cooking, survival skills, archery, fire building, scouting, and more.
We love sports at CBF! Our programs combine a focus on teambuilding, skill-building, sportsmanship and respect led by skilled role models. Campers can choose from basketball, baseball, softball, personal fitness, yoga, meditation, martial arts, ping pong, spike ball, Dude Perfect, cross country, ultimate frisbee, tennis, volleyball, soccer, frisbee golf, football, relay races, capture the flag, and much, much more.
CBF is a pluralist Jewish community. That means we provide opportunities for each camper, from any Jewish background, to create meaningful Jewish experiences to ensure they feel positively connected with Judaism, tikkun olam, and Israel.
We celebrate Shabbat, have a kosher kitchen, and partner with the Foundation for Jewish Camp and MASA Israel to infuse our activities with the latest best practices in Jewish informal education. Example Jewish activities include art in prayer, tikkun olam, Hebrew (basic, intermediate, conversational), Jewish values in nature, Israeli culture, history of Israel, bar/bat mitzvah tutoring, Jewish identity discussion, Jewish storytelling, torah/haftorah reading, Sedra scenes (skits based upon the torah portion), Mussar, and more.
Want to know more about Camp Ben Frankel? Join our mailing list!
618-235-1614
3419 W. Main St., Belleville, IL 62226
