Home / Ohio’s rules

What do Ohio’s camp rules cover?

Two separate sets of rules are quoted here. One is about day camps and names the Department of Children and Youth. The other is about overnight camps and names the board of health. Each has limits, and the limits are quoted too.

What counts as a day camp?

“"Child day camp" means a program in which only school-age children attend or participate, that operates for no more than twelve hours per day and no more than fifteen weeks during the summer.”

Who has to register?

No person, firm, organization, institution, or agency shall operate a child day camp without annually registering with the department. (codes.ohio.gov, effective January 1, 2025) The department that does it: The department of children and youth shall register child day camps and enforce this section and sections 5104.211 and 5104.22 of the Revised Code and the rules adopted pursuant to those sections. (codes.ohio.gov, effective January 1, 2025)

Then come five exemptions. One of them: (5) A program that provides activities for children who are five years of age or older and is operated by any county, township, municipal corporation, township park district created under section 511.18 of the Revised Code, park district created under section 1545.04 of the Revised Code, or joint recreation district established under section 755.04 of the Revised Code. (codes.ohio.gov, effective January 1, 2025) So a camp missing from the state’s list may be a program the law does not ask to register. Day camp registration and its exemptions has all five.

Is “registered” the same as “approved”?

No. The law defines approval separately: The department shall approve any child day camp that meets both of the following: (codes.ohio.gov, effective January 1, 2025) (1) The department inspects the camp and determines that it meets the standards established in rules adopted under this section; (codes.ohio.gov, effective January 1, 2025) (2) The camp is accredited by the American camp association or a nationally recognized organization that accredits child day camps by using standards that the department has determined are substantially similar and comparable to those of the American camp association. (codes.ohio.gov, effective January 1, 2025) The staff ratios and the lifeguard number we quote are in the rules for approved camps. Approved day camps has them.

Who looks at overnight camps?

The board of health, under a different chapter of the code. No person shall operate or maintain a resident camp without a permit issued by the board of health having jurisdiction. (codes.ohio.gov, effective January 1, 2022) Before a permit is initially issued and annually thereafter, or more often if necessary, the board of health shall cause each resident camp to be inspected relative to compliance with this chapter. (codes.ohio.gov, effective January 1, 2022) Overnight camp permits quotes the rest.

What about background checks?

One section on day camps: No child day camp shall fail to comply with section 5104.013 of the Revised Code in regards to a person it appoints or employs. (codes.ohio.gov, effective January 1, 2025) How it is enforced, and which camps it does not apply to, is on the background checks page.

What do the rules leave to you?

In the sections quoted on these pages we did not find a staff ratio for a day camp that is registered but not approved, a staff ratio for an overnight camp, or a routine inspection of a day camp that is registered but not approved. We read only those sections. Our not finding a rule is not proof there is none; other law may apply. It is a reason to ask the camp directly, and the questions page is built for that.

The Revised Code and Administrative Code quotations on these pages are from codes.ohio.gov, the state’s own publication of them. The overnight camp page also quotes one Ohio Department of Health page, read in a web browser and marked that way. The effective date shown beside each code quotation is the one that page prints. If a later check does not find a quotation or its effective date, the site is not rebuilt until the registry is corrected or the quotation is removed. This is not legal advice.