Seven Tips for Camping with Kids

Thinking about taking your kids camping for the first time? Or, maybe you’re trying to convince them it’s not all mud, bugs and undesirable toilet situations after their first school camping experience left them scathed? Luckily, with the right gear, a positive mindset and a few camping tricks up your sleeve, you can guarantee the most enjoyable experience possible for you and your family. Ultimately, you will be able to convince your kids that camping is pretty cool, and definitely worth getting outside for.

Here are seven of our top tips for camping with kids: 

1. Prepare for the Road trip

Want to avoid hearing the standard ‘are we there yet?’ repeated more times than you can count? Of course you do, because no parent is immune to the road trip whines. If you want to prevent your kids from feeling bored and angsty during the drive, you’ll have to make sure that they’re properly entertained. One way to do this is by turning your car into a makeshift cinema with the help of some headrest monitors and a bunch of tasty snacks- because every kid likes movies and treats. Classic road trip games like ‘I Spy’ and ‘Categories’ aren’t out of the question either, but just don’t rely on them solely to provide long-standing entertainment. Aside from movies and games, audio books and activity books are also worth bringing along.

2. Have Other Activities on Hand

Hopefully, your camping agenda won’t be so full-on that you’ll have a few spare moments to chill out, relax and just enjoy living amongst the great outdoors. In these situations, you’ll need a few activities on hand to prevent the kids from getting bored while you soak up the sunshine or have a snooze in your tent. This is where board games come in- the failsafe boredom buster for all age groups. It’s also the perfect alternative to going out in wet weather. Aside from board games, you can also bring books, lawn games, or arts and crafts kits.

3. Help Them Pack the Right Clothes

Whether you’re going camping in winter or summer, it’s important to have your kids dressed right if you want to keep them happy and healthy. Luckily, there are plenty of fantastic guides out there that can teach you the basics of dressing your kids for activities in the summer or layering them up for adventures in the winter. The general rule here is to avoid materials like cotton (which is a poor insulator and can take very long to dry) for activewear and instead, opt for synthetic materials like polyester and nylon. If you’re going camping in the winter, wool is also a good choice.

4. Designate Duties

Camping trips call for teamwork, so it’s only fair that you have your kids share in on the workload. Trusting kids to do jobs like collecting firewood, washing up or collecting rubbish will give them a sense of independence and allow you to get onto the fun things faster. Plus, it’ll prevent your kids from feeling bored.

5. Ask for Their Input

It’s important that all fellow campers are involved in activity planning, and that includes your kids as well. If you want to make sure that everyone has something to look forward to and is enjoying their time, then you have to account for differing interests. To make them feel included and heard, make sure that you run activity ideas past your kids. Ideally, you should encourage them to make at least one or two contributions to your agenda.

6. Educate them on Nature

There are plenty of reasons to go camping with your kids, and aside from family bonding, exercise and skill-building, the opportunity for outdoor education is one of them. Camping trips are the perfect opportunity to expose your children to the wonderful world of nature and teach them how important it is to treat every living being with respect. Opportunities for wildlife encounters are almost always guaranteed to cause a stir amongst the youngsters. However, it’s important to remind your kids that animals are not toys and should therefore, always be interacted with cautiously. It’s also important to educate your kids on what to do when you come across a potentially dangerous animal, like snakes. You might also want to teach them about how to identify poisonous plants.

7. Limit Electronics

The whole point of camping is to escape the monotonous indoor lifestyle and venture out of your comfort zone. So, while kids may insist on bringing along their hand consoles or iPads ‘just in case’, you should try and limit the number of electronic devices that you take on the trip. Electronic devices are necessary for taking photos, but you may want to limit their usage in the car rather than on the campsite.

Find All Your Camp and Outdoor Accessories at Supex Products

Get everything you’ll need for your next camping trip with camp and outdoor accessories from Supex Products. We always ensure to offer the highest quality camping gear and equipment, fit for both novice and experienced campers alike. With our wide range of camping furniture, tent poles and accessories, bedding, camp cookware and more, you are bound to find everything you’ll need to make your next camping trip the most memorable one yet.

To discover our wide range of camping gear and equipment, head into your nearest Supex Products stockist today!