Don’t wait for your kids to grow up before you instill the love of the great outdoors in them. Camping with kids is not as scary as it seems. Children love to explore and will easily be captivated by the many activities that go into traditional camping.
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Before you put your faith in a trial run, we have compiled several tips on how to make your camping trip with children a success.
Rehearse At Home
If this is your first time camping with the kids, try doing a practice run at home first. This can be a fun experience and helps the children understand what to expect and makes them feel less overwhelmed about camping once the trip begins. This is the point where they can communicate with you about how they feel about the upcoming adventure.
If you have a yard a test run here is perfect. Set up your tent overnight so that your children get used to the idea of sleeping in a tent. You may discover new things for example that your kids feel cold which means you need to pack extra layers for them. Some kids may complain about being uncomfortable in a sleeping bag in which case you can add a soft sleeping pad underneath so it doesn’t feel like they are resting on hard ground. If your kids are used to their night lights you can use fairy lights inside the tent and see if the kids find that acceptable and fall asleep.
You might have trouble finding large camping tents with rooms. Get creative. Screens made from bedsheets or blankets can help make a section for changing clothes.
Decide On The Camping Style
Glamping is a rewarding choice. Especially when you are camping with the whole family. Depending on how much the whole family can rough it, decide whether you want to book a spot at a traditional camping site, or go glamping. Glamping is more comfortable. The most useful thing about it is that many glamping grounds will offer individual bathrooms for every tent. Juggling adventure and children, convenient access to the facilities can be something you will be thankful for.
There are levels to traditional camping too. Some campsites offer a lot of amenities and organize recreational activities for all campers. Depending on the location you get to hike to areas that are seldom riddled with humans and can share these beautiful places with your children.
Organize Before You Get There
It’s a no-brainer that organization is king when it comes to any activity with kids. If you are not a seasoned camper you might also end up feeling overwhelmed at all the planning that goes into camping, because you are not used to it.
The best way around this is to make lists and keep them simple. You need lists for clothing, food, toiletries medicine, and camping gear.
Use transparent containers instead of bags to pack everything. You can stack the containers on top of each other and save space inside the tent. Label every box with the category the contents fall in. Because the containers are see-through you won’t need to fish through similarly labeled boxes to get what you need. Pack things you know you will need often at the very end so they are at the top of the containers.
Make sure you keep the initial lists, When you are packing up at the end of your trip, you can use these lists to check that you are not leaving anything behind.
Meal Plan
What do you see when you think about eating with your family during the camping trip? Some families like to have a meal around the campfire. Others like to eat like they would at home at the campsite picnic table. Whatever you decide know that you will be tired at the end of the day, and you shouldn’t plan on making meals the way you do at home. On top of that, how big is your burner stove? You have to accommodate according to what you can do.
The best thing to do is plan simple meals. These should be things that you can prepare with under 5 ingredients. Sandwiches, burritos, and quesadillas are the easiest go-to meals. So you can reserve these for lunches. For dinner maybe save a few one-pot recipes that require minimal ingredients.
Don’t buy extra pots and pans just for camping. Take what you use at home. A separate box of cooking supplies for camping is a waste of your money. On top of this, not only would you have to clean and pack everything at the end of your trip, but you would also then have to repack everything into storage when you get back home.
It is important to note. Be generous with the snacks you pack. Especially when you are camping with kids. You don’t want to deal with a hungry child at an odd time of the day when you are halfway on your walking trail. Pack some granola bars and dried fruit packs.
Always Be Prepared With A Safety Kit
Your safety kit is a first aid kit and some tools to help you in an emergency during the trip. It’s a wilderness adventure, so everyone is going to come home with cuts, scrapes, and bruises as souvenirs.
Your first aid kit should include adhesive bandages, sanitizing alcohol pads, antibacterial balm, anti-allergy meds, over-the-counter pain meds, hand sanitizer, tweezers, and scissors.
Your kit should also have addresses and numbers to the closest hospital or clinic. You should go through the route from your camp to said hospital once on the maps on your phone. When you get to the campsite take a brochure or a card from the visitors’ office and add it to your kit for reference. Teach your kids what to do in an emergency.
If you are camping in bear country, you have to stock up on bear spray. But more than that, read up on what you can do to prevent a large animal from disrupting your camping trip. For example, pack all your food, even the canned one in your car and not your tent or the communal kitchen. The scent attracts animals to your camping spot.
Make The Itinerary
Camping with kids should not be treated as a spontaneous adventure. You can’t say “We’ll deal with it when we get there”. If you want a seamless experience with the least amount of mishaps and tantrums, you want to plan the entire trip by the hour.
Remember don’t be controlling or upset if things waver a bit. But plan nonetheless. The idea is not that it is perfect, the idea is that you budget the time strategically and also be able to fit in everything you want to do on this trip. The best part about this is that you don’t have to wake up everything and take a family poll of what everyone feels like doing that day. Which leads to arguments and compromises and wastes more time.
To make a solid plan start by how long it takes you to set up your tent. Go by how long it took you in the rehearsal run at home. Call the campsite where you booked a spot and inquire what activities they offer like fishing, bicycling, paddleboarding, etc. Then inquire what activities they don’t offer but campers can enjoy in nearby areas like if there is a famous landmark nearby that you know your kids would love to visit.
Next, make a list of all the activities you can do. Then fit them on your calendar for the trip starting with what you would do once you set up your tent.
Now realistically, nothing goes exactly as you plan it to the minute. But close planning helps stick to the original plan of everything you want to do as much as possible.
Make Reservations
Whatever camping style you decide on make sure you book a spot for your tent. You will be surprised how quickly popular camping sites run out of space weeks in advance. Most campgrounds and glamping sites are operational seasonally, so it is a good idea to make bookings months in advance.
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