Do your kids crave a camping adventure? Whether you’re planning a trip to the great outdoors, or pitching camp in your own backyard, Joyce from Childhood Beckons and I got together to share some simple camping activities to keep the kids entertained!
Tasty Camping Treats
Banana Boats — Whip up a tasty campfire treat!
Make Your Own Ice Cream in a Bag — Perfect for camping adventures!
Inspiring Outdoor Activities
Tell Stories… with Clouds! A great open-ended activity for budding authors.
No clouds? Try making some easy Sunprints!
Geocaching — Put your scavenger-hunting skills to the test!
Bird Watching — Take along a field guide, and try identifying as many different bird species as you can.
Make “Fossils” — A little air-dry clay can make some interesting fossils with branches, shells, and leaves. Many more ideas for nature crafts can be found here.
When the sun goes down, have fun… in the DARK with flashlight limbo, shadow puppets, glow in the dark dancing, and lots more!
Ten simple ways to connect with your kids outdoors can be found here.
Camping Pretend Play
Pretend Campfire — Lots of imaginative play time fun!
Pretend S’mores — All the fun of s’mores without the calories!
Build a Fort — Indoors or out!
Pitch a Tent in the Backyard — And other budget-friendly staycation ideas can be found here.
Have fun!!
I love pretend camping! Just wrote about how our family pretend camps this week. I love all of the ideas that you have for fun. May have to try a few we haven’t done yet like sun prints.
Dear Valerie,
I remember camping with another family when I was a kid. Their boy woke up his dad to tell him that the frogs were keeping him awake. Neither of them slept after that!
Love,
Mark
Great ideas. Camping is always fun for young children and can be a lot of fun in the preschool classroom. Look at my preschool students activities during camping week:
http://www.brennaphillips.com/canoeing-in-preschool
http://www.brennaphillips.com/camping-out-in-preschool-summer-camp
and s’mores too http://www.brennaphillips.com/camping-week-must-have-smores
and during other times of the year as well they enjoyed camping out with books http://www.brennaphillips.com/camping-out-with-books-2
So much fun and good for learning experiences too. Thanks for posting your camping fun.
I always look forward to Mark’s comments. Lol!
such fun ideas! i can’t wait until my son is old enough to go camping! i forgot how fun it was!
YAY! We will be having a backyard camping staycation this weekend. Your post came just in time. Thank you!!!!!!
Those are really brilliant activities. It’s really fun. I bet the kids will really love it.
LOVE these ideas! Just wanted you to know it was featured on our site today: http://www.thedatingdivas.com/food/101-camping-tips-ideas/ Thanks so much for sharing!!!