My husband and I have always enjoyed camping. We camped often when we were newlyweds, and even took our first born with us pretty early on, but once we had our son and we were taking 2 kids, it felt overwhelming and we went a long stretch where we just didn’t make the effort. We kept telling ourselves we’d pick it back up when the kids got older, but we’ve been parenting toddlers for quite a while and what we’ve learned over the years is that you just have to figure out how to incorporate them in to the things you love. You absolutely can have a good time camping with kids, even as young as toddlers, if you plan ahead and keep your expectations realistic. With technology taking over our kid’s every waking moment, it is more important than ever to be purposeful with connecting with nature and learning to love the thrill of adventure.
We have 4 kids that span in age from 3 years old to 15 years old, and camping is one of the things we can all do together as a family that everyone can enjoy. Theres a few things we have learned that have made our trips successful, and every time we go, we learn something new. I’ll share some of our best tips and a few of the gear items that are most helpful when we take the whole crew.
Maintain nap time if at all possible
My number one, if you don’t hear anything else, please remember, tip? Realistic, age appropriate expectations. Honestly this is an across the board travel tip, but especially so when you are camping. When we are camping with our toddler, the whole trip really has to be set at his pace. We make sure to plan plenty of rest breaks, and if at all possible keep nap time a priority. What this looks like for us is to plan fewer things during the day, stay close to our tent site when possible, and planning excursions that we will need to drive to for a time that we can squeeze a nap in while he’s in his car seat. Typically when we are on the camp grounds, I’ll go lay with our 3 year old to nap in the tent, and my husband will take the older 3 on a hike or out on the kayaks. This gives them about 2-3 hours to get in some more challenging activities that the toddler wouldn’t be able to safely participate in. Having a well rested little one goes a really long way to keeping your camping trip an enjoyable experience.
Snacks are king
As a family we generally try to make meal time a priority, but when we’re camping, food is fair game at all times. We bring tons of fresh fruit and easy to grab snacks like pepperoni, lunch meat, cheese, etc. We still limit the amount of junk (chips, crackers, packaged food) we eat, but any time they reach for a nutritious snack, the answer is yes. We tend to snack for most of the day and then eat a meal around the fire for dinner. That said, when you’re packing, make sure you throw in lots of “grab and go” and plenty of sandwich options. Our ice chest always includes gallon size bags of pre-washed fruit (strawberries, blueberries, grapes, apples, oranges), sliced or cubed cheddar cheese, pepperoni, lunch meat (my kids like turkey), yogurt, and pre-boiled eggs (we get a pack of 24 from Sams for our family of 6). We also like to bring a variety of nuts, beef jerky, and tuna packets. We typically eat boiled eggs, and/or yogurt for breakfast, and snacks and sandwiches through the day.
Make and freeze as much food ahead of time as you can
For dinner, we like to all sit around the fire and share a meal. We prep as much as we can before hand to make it easier to cook and clean while we are camping. For our last camping trip my husband made some hamburger patties ahead of time so they were ready for the grill. I made chicken taco soup and some taco meat for burritos ahead of time and froze it. Our first night at camp we usually plan on hot dogs and s’mores because its fast and easy, and then all we have to do is heat up the food we’ve prepared ahead of time for the other days. Freezing your prepared food before packing it not only helps keep it fresh longer, but also prevents any leaking in the ice chest. Having the biggest part of the cooking mess out of the way before you get to camp, means you have less clean up to do while you’re away from your home kitchen and needing to conserve water.
Bring a play yard for your toddler
I can not say enough how helpful it is to have a portable play yard at camp (we have this one). It is super helpful to have a place to corral your little one while your hands are busy cooking or cleaning dishes, or even just a place they can play while you sit down and have your coffee in the morning. Our play yard is probably the most used travel item we have ever purchased. We bring lots of stationary activities to rotate in the play yard. Some of our favorites are some spill proof bubbles, a playmat with hot wheels, and some stacking blocks. We also put his swinging camp chair in the play yard in the mornings and it gives him a place to sit and have his “coffee” (some whole milk with vanilla flavor) while we take our morning slow and have our coffee as well. It’s also really helpful during meal times to have a place to offer boundaries, he tends to do better eating when the whole wide camping world isn’t available for exploring. Sometimes I’ll even sit in the play yard with him, there’s plenty of room in there.
Be willing to change the plan
If things aren’t working, be willing to change things up. Always be willing to take a different trail, stop to see those rocks, stop to draw circles and squares in the dirt. Something my kids’ coaches used to say when playing sports, but it works here, is that you’re only as strong as your weakest player. Keep your expectations realistic and think ahead of time what your child is capable of and make sure to keep your actives within a range that they are able to succeed. If you have older kids and younger kids, it’s fine to split up at times and give your older ones space to try more challenging activities, while your little one has an opportunity for rest.
Everyone is responsible for their own “stuff”
I am in the habit of taking care of everything at home instead of teaching the kids to be responsible for it (I’m working on it), and camping has been a huge help in working toward teaching them responsibility. Everyone has their own color “mess kit” (Plate, bowl, cup, utensils) and they are responsible for keeping it clean for the trip. Everyone washes their own dishes after they use them, and then hang them to dry in their mess bag. We also use plastic bins for their clothes and toiletries and everyone is responsible for managing their clean/dirty clothes, and hanging their towels on the clothes line after showers. If you don’t hang your towel to dry, you won’t have a dry towel for tomorrow’s shower. If you don’t wash your dishes well, you won’t have clean dishes to use for tomorrows dinner. It’s a great opportunity for natural consequences because everyone only has 1 of each so there’s no grabbing a fresh one that mom took care of when they chose to slack on their responsibilities. They learned quickly to keep up with their camping chores. As a family of 6, it is really important for everyone to pitch in.
The big take away here:
Be flexible, and share responsibilities. That’s really probably my biggest life tip in general, but especially for traveling and camping with small children (or big children honestly). Be sensitive to when things need a direction shift and be willing to make changes to the plan when needed. We show up with the mindset, we are here to be slow and just be outside. Camping is our time to completely leave stress and expectations behind. We have nothing to prove to anyone out here, we are legitimately here to do whatever the day brings us. If we spend the whole morning sitting in our camp chairs staring at the trees, that’s a good morning. If we spend the morning sweating while we climb the rocky lake shore, that’s a good morning too. We have a loose idea of what is available to do, and then just do (or don’t do) whatever we feel like. Outside *is* the activity. Everything else is bonus.
Some of our favorite camping stuff
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