Ideas for camping fun with children
June 27, 2015
- Get the children’s input. What do they like to do? Swim? Hike? Fish? What do they want to see? Wildlife? Waterfalls? What would they like to eat? Hot dogs on a stick? S’mores? GORP? Use this information in preparation for your family’s time outdoors.
- Have an activity box for each child. Fill an old shoe box full of things such as:
- scrap paper, crayons, water color paint, colored pencils;
- round tipped scissors;
- coloring book;
- glue stick;
- small games like those handed out at birthday parties
- a favorite doll or toy car;
- some small craft project like making a friendship bracelet or an assort of pet rocks; and,and
- maybe a talking book or music CD (the library is a great source).
- For exploring, have a knapsack for each child with:
- sunblock and lip protection;
- a hat, wide-brim (all the way around is best);
- a whistle on a cord;
- one or two favorite snacks;
- water bottle or juice bag;
- plastic collection jar (for bug collectors);
- notepad and pencil;
- a small flashlight (LED style would be great);
- a small compass; and,
- kid-safe bug repellent
- Involve the children in the planning and preparing of meals. Even the youngest children can make a batch of “gorp” by mixing a box of raisins with a bag of nuts, and maybe add some chocolate candy like M&Ms. Older children can grill some burgers or make a batch of Camping Pudding.
- Make the child’s sleeping mat a game board. Use a permanent marking pen to draw a checker board, tic-tac-toe grid, race track or whatever on the sleeping mat. Collect the playing pieces from material around camp.
- As a memento of your camping vacation, give each children their own little disposable camera or some post cards to mail home.
- Print out the Bingo card below and cut out the four (4) cards. Give one card to each child along with a handful of pennies to cover or pencil to mark out sights seen. (I’ve had this Bingo game for awhile time. I think it come from a Martha Stewart magazine. If so thank you, Martha, for the quiet travel time.)
Print out as many as you need and enjoy
- Smokey for Kids Found this site while looking for something else – Ain’t that always the way 😉 It is full of interesting and fun stuff.
- Woven Newspaper Sitting Mat – a craft of kids of all ages to ease the sitting at picnic table.
- Splash into Upper Klamath Basin – half a dozen pages from a Forest Service provided coloring book. Print out the pages and slip into your child’s activity box.
- Track Identification Game – another possible travel time activity but also good to help learn what critters live in and around the campground. [Answers are C,E,D,B,A,F]
- Forest Wordsearch – this activity should take a little while, at least, I found it a challenge. A good rain day or quiet time activity.
- Most important — take patience and gather memories, children grow very quickly.
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