We blinked, and it was already the fourth day of our 5-day family camping trip to Shenandoah National Park! Time flies when you’re having fun, as they say. Since Day 4 was our last full day, sunrise to sunset, outdoors, we really wanted to make the most of every moment immersed in nature. Read on to discover everything we did on Day 4, from nature crafting and teaching the kids new skills to exploring the park trails one last time. Let’s get right into it!
Before today’s adventure, rewind to Day 3 “Campfire Magic – Food, Stories, and Family Fun” for campfire meals and memories.
Getting in Touch With Creativity
Like most young kids, my niece and nephew love crafting. After breakfast at camp, we spent the morning at the picnic table getting in touch with our creativity as a family. Their mom brought along empty journals for everyone to use during our trip, and it was the perfect vessel to document our time outdoors.
Everyone approached their craft journals differently, but we encouraged the kids to channel nature, both through the subject matters they chose to convey and the mediums they used. We drew things we’d seen throughout our trip, like the waterfalls at White Oak Canyon and the constellations we gazed at the night prior. To get really creative, we also tried to incorporate natural items wherever possible, like adding pressed foliage to our pages and painting with colors extracted from bright flowers.
Since crafting can get messy, it ended up being the perfect opportunity to teach the younger generation about Leave No Trace Principles, too! We placed a durable poly tarp over the table before starting, which also made clean-up a breeze. It was an overcast morning at Shenandoah for us, but if you plan on crafting on a sunnier day, consider using a canopy or sunshade tarp to protect you and your family from strong UV rays.
Hiking, Outdoor Photography, and Learning New Skills
Once crafting was done and the crew enjoyed a quick lunch, we headed out for our last hike of the trip. We’d heard amazing things about the Story of the Forest Trail, another family-friendly hike nearby. At a little under 2 miles, it was directly accessible from our campground, Big Meadows, and offered beautiful views of local nature and wildlife. My brother is huge on photography, so we brought along a few different cameras and took turns capturing scenes throughout our hike. Outside of a basic outdoor photography lesson, we also wanted to teach the kids a few more valuable camping skills while on the trail. Like every seasoned camper knows, there are a ton of skill sets one could learn to help them succeed outdoors. On this particular day, we focused on how to read and use a compass, as well as reading trail maps. Since we learned Leave No Trace Principles earlier that morning, we made it a point to carry that lesson throughout the day, encouraging the kids to pick up after themselves instead of us adults doing it for them. The Story of the Forest Trail is also an amazing place for outdoor education, thanks to its abundance of signs teaching visitors about the park’s native plants and local animals. If you have kids yourself or are even just around them often, you’re likely familiar with all of the “why?” questions coming your way. While they can get repetitive quickly, our family really wanted to encourage the kiddo’s curiosity about nature, answering each “why?” question to the best of our ability while out on the trail.
Back to Games
If you’ve been following our family camping series thus far, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that our crew loves a good game! After our hike, we headed back to the wall tent to rest our feet and decide on what game we wanted to play. Since the adults had made most of the decisions up until this point, we let the kids take the reins and lead our afternoon of games. Not only did this ensure their enthusiasm for the activities, but it also gave them an important sense of involvement and pride in leading a part of our day.
At their request, we started with a friendly game of hide and seek at the campsite, which was, admittedly, super fun. There were plenty of objects to use for hiding around camp, from the trees and nature itself to our many pieces of gear and equipment, like the canvas tent and its tent accessories, the hammocks and camp chairs, and the stack of firewood, to name just a few great hiding places we found. Once the kids got tired of hide and seek, we moved around the campfire for a stationary game of I Spy.
Gratitude in the Great Outdoors and Closing in on Day 4
Our family stayed at camp for the rest of the day, playing a number of games that the kids led and eventually eating a hearty beef stew dinner. With our final full day of camping coming to a close, we gathered back around the campfire to reflect on our time outdoors together. Our family’s main takeaway was just how much fun we’d had away from the distractions of everyday life and the addictiveness of our screens. We all agreed that disconnecting in these ways and reconnecting with nature was so important to our mental and physical health, and we all felt better for it. Plus, there’s nothing better than the uninterrupted quality time we were able to spend together.
To dig a little deeper into our reflections, I prompted everyone to go around the circle and share their favorite moments of the trip so far. After all the hard work we’d put into making this trip memorable, it was heartwarming to hear what memory each family member would take with them at the end of our adventure. Grandma said that spending quality time with Luke, the Labrador, in the cozy luxury tent we’d created was one of her favorite moments. The kids both agreed that our nature scavenger hunt on Day 2 was the most fun they’d had. My brother cited our photography session on the hiking trail as his highlight, while his wife enjoyed our nature crafting the most. For my partner and me, teaching the kids basic outdoor skills was something we’d both taken pride in, and sharing our knowledge and love of the outdoors made the entire trip worthwhile to us.
Upon hearing everyone’s thoughts on our trip, it was clear to me that it had been a massive success on almost every front. While Day 4 was our last full day outdoors, we still had one more exciting day ahead of us. So, stay tuned for the final installment in this 5-day family camping series to discover how our crew went about collecting memories, packing up, and heading home!
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