Fun Camping Activities For Children While Camping

These days most kids are way more invested in electronic devices than in having fun outside. If we don’t introduce the kids to more outdoor activities, they are bound to get addicted to their phones or other devices. Besides, who doesn’t want to get away from their daily hustle of life and bond with their children?

On that note, camping can be an excellent means of recreation for kids. Camping will help the kids to appreciate the beauty of nature from an early age. As outdoor camping also requires a lot of discipline, focus, patience, and teamwork, so apart from recreation, kids have a lot to learn from these experiences. From assembling tents to preparing snacks, make sure your kids take part in all of these activities. This way they would enjoy their time outdoors very much. 

However, in this modern time, it’s difficult for kids to realize the numerous benefits of being outdoors. So, if you can make camping a fun and exciting experience for kids, they would become more outdoorsy and stop relying so heavily on their smart devices. Hence, we have put together a list of some fun activities that you can do with your kids that will keep them entertained while camping.

Fun Activities for Kids While Camping

Kids these days only have Wifi and TV for recreation; it’s time for them to go outside, have fun, and enjoy nature. Growing up, many peoples’ fondest memories were going camping. And if you want the same for your kids, here are some of the most fun activities that you can do while camping. 

Take A Small Hike

Since it’s not every day that the kids go out to nature camping, it’s a good idea to go on a small hike with your kids and explore the campsite. Hiking is one of the most important parts of camping. No camping trip is complete without a long family hike. Besides, the kids might get bored if you only confine them to their tents and they won’t get to appreciate nature.

You can also use a map as kids will enjoy navigating through the nearby natural surroundings. It will also boost their navigation skills. This will also give them a chance to get familiar with their campground. In case you’re planning to go on a hike at night, it’s better to wear headlamps.

This way, the kids won’t injure themselves in the dark. Moreover, hiking will be great exercise for your kids. If there’s a cave or a waterfall near your campsite, even better, kids will love to explore those places.

Rock Painting

While exploring the campsite, kids love to pick up various stuff along the way. Well, if you find any small rocks or pebbles near the area, let the kids collect them, so they can paint them. Painting in nature would be quite different. All you have to do is bring some watercolors and brushes or crayons with you. After they’re done painting, you can bring those home. However, make sure to check if picking up rocks or pebbles is allowed at your campsite. 

Play Games 

Kids are always eager to play games, especially when they are outdoors. Thereby playing games while camping with your kids is a must. In fact, many campsites even include a playground for children. But it’s not necessary to confine your kids to such a playground. As there are tons of fun games, you can play with your kids while camping. Such as:

• Scavenger Hunt: The scavenger game is a traditional camping game that both kids and adults love. This kind of game is a great way to keep the kids occupied. You just need to gather some objects and hide them around your campsite. And let the kids find them. However, make sure you play a scavenger hunt before it gets dark. 

• Card or Board Games: As the sun goes down, the weather near the campsite starts to get chilly. Thus when it gets dark, we tend to stay inside our tent. That’s where the card or board games come in handy. The kids can stay cozy inside their tent and play these fun games. 

• Flashlight Tag: If the kids get bored sitting in their tent, then flashlight tag is another fun camping game you can play with them to keep them entertained. Flash tags are basically like hide n seek, but it’s played in the dark. Some kids love playing this kind of game in the dark. However, don’t let them leave your sight when they are playing. 

Cooking Fun Snacks

A campfire is a great place to make fun camping snacks, or you can bring a camping stove. Here are some of the best camping treats you can make.

• Smores: Smores are a great treat for kids while camping, and it’s quite fun to make. Since both adults and kids love marshmallows, smores is the perfect snack to make at the campfire, and the smell of roasted marshmallow is divine. 

• Tortilla Pizza: Who doesn’t love pizza? And tortilla pizza is pretty easy to make, and they are delicious. Just spread some cheese, tomato sauce, and some toppings over the tortilla and heat it or grill it. 

• Popcorn: Popcorn is another light and easy snack that kids can make for themselves. You need to put the popcorn kernels on some foil paper and make it a pouch. Now with a stick, keep the pouch near the fire you made. After some time, the popcorn kernels will start popping. After they are done, you can eat them.

Campfire Stories

No camping trip is complete without a campfire. Even the kids love to help out by gathering wood, stones, twigs, etc. to make a fire. And campfire stories are one of the most popular traditions of camping. Kids enjoy sitting around the campfire eating smores and other snacks while listening to all kinds of stories. Some kids love to listen, and some might make up their own stories.

Although most kids like ghost stories, you can also tell stories that have some kind of lesson at the end, so they can both enjoy and learn simultaneously. All in all, it’s a pretty good activity for kids to do near a campfire.

Campfire Games

When the night gets chilly, you and your kids can gather around the campfire and play a few fun games together. Campfire games are pretty fun and everyone can participate. 

• Telephone: The telephone is the perfect game for when you’re warming up beside the fire. One person whispers a message to another person’s ear. And the message gets passed to everyone until the last person reveals what the message was. Eventually, the message gets changed, and everyone gets a laugh. 

• Alphabet Song: Singing songs around the campfire is another popular tradition of camping. And from kids to adults, everyone knows the alphabet song and will enjoy it while singing together. 

• Puppet Show: Shadow puppets are very entertaining, and you can have a blast with your kids while playing. Using your hand, you can make different kinds of shadows of animals or creatures. This is one of our favorite things to do while camping.

Stargazing

Once you and your kids are finally tired of all the camping activities you did throughout the day, it’s time to relax, lay down under the sky, and stargaze. Stargazing with kids would be quite a spectacular experience. Since most campsites are located far away from civilization, there’s less light pollution there. So, you would be able to see the stars pretty clearly.

There you have it; we tried to incorporate one of every type of fun activity that you can do with your kids while camping. However, while outdoors, the kids could go a bit out of control and injure themselves; that is why you should make sure to carry first aid at all times. Even though kids are supposed to roam around and enjoy themselves, you should always keep them under thorough supervision.

Make sure they don’t leave the campground, especially at night. Lastly, you can include these fun activities in your next camping trip with your children and show them that spending time with nature is a lot more fun than electronic devices.