My kids love camping. All w
inter long they wanted to know when we would be going again. And the thing they look forward to the most? Biking. Being eight and five they aren’t allowed to venture far from home, and living in town I make them stay on the sidewalks. They love the freedom when we camp to bike all over the campground and through trails, and just have the chance to discover new places. We bought a couple of sets of walkie talkies and attached one to each bike, and keep a set with us at the campground so we can keep in touch with them. And they really come in handy. Our son had no clue where he was once in the campground but was able to contact us by radio and tell us the campsite number he was infront of, and my husband found him instantly.
I also like to bring along some cheap kids shovels and rakes. The kids go in amongst the trees and rake out the sticks and needles on the ground and make their own house, or fort. They find big rocks and use stumps to create tables and chairs to decorate their home with. We give them sandwiches and snacks to take over to their place to eat. The love doing this and giving us parents the grand tour.
When camping near a lake or river you can’t forget to bring shovels and buckets. Summer time is of course sand castle building time. The kids can spend hours on the beach digging motes and castles. It give the adults time to just sit back and relax by the water, or it’s a fun time to spend with the kids getting down and dirty.
Both of my kids love to smash rocks. If you’re on a lake or river and there are lots of rocks around, smash a few and see how different they look on the inside compared to the outside. Most rocks are quite sparkly inside. My little guy loves this and has a whole collection at home. I’ve even put some in a nice jar in my living room to display for him, and it makes us remember our fun times camping. It might be a good idea to put on some sunglasses when doing this though, or be sure to tell kids to look away or close their eyes.
Kids love going for walks with the adults. If there are any trails at the campground, go for a walk. Finding that perfect walking stick always seems to be a treasure for kids along the way as well. Even if there aren’t any trails, just walk around the campground. It really doesn’t matter what you’re doing or where you go, the best part for kids is just having mom and dad doing things with them.
Of course, you can’t forget the campfire.