Craft Idea's or Games to Play for Toddlers/kids WHILE CAMPING..

Get those little bug cages, I think you can even get them at the dollar store. The kids would have a great time going around collecting bugs and leaves and things! Good luck and have FUN!

When we recently went camping I brought pipe cleaners, pompoms, google eyes and popsicle sticks. I brought tacky glue along, so that we wouldn't have problems with our glue not sticking. My daughter made butterflies, caterpillars, picture frames (she added wild flowers to embellish them) and a few other cute items.

We also took paint and she painted rocks and made a fairy garden out of the rocks. She collected pinecones and wild flowers to decorate her garden and it turned out so cute. Other than that we played "Can't Touch the Ground" by jumping on rocks and logs and avoiding the ground, we rode our bikes that we brought, took short hikes and read books in the tent.

One other thing I did do before we left was create a "Field Journal" for my kids to add drawings of our camping trip to. We covered the top of a drawing tablet with scrapbook paper and added each of my kids names to the front of the book. I let them decorate their covers with outdoor type stickers and I attached a ziploc bag to the back of the tablet for a few markers to be held in. I do have to say that we were so busy when we were there that neither of the kids drew in their books. But, on the way home they were bored in the car, so I got out their books and told them to draw pictures about our camping trip. I now have 6-7 pages of colorful drawings of our outdoor adventures. There is still room in the book for more trips and I can't wait to see what they draw! Happy Camping!

Hi Theresa. We go camping with our little ones (3 & 1) a lot. I don't think you need to take all that extra stuff. a ball (kick ball kind) is great. Plan a scavanger hunt. take a flashlight for everyone and go on a night walk. play tick tac toe with sticks in the dirt. Have them help you find wood for the fire. collect leaves and pine cones you can use for crafts when you get home. Play tag. Once you get out there, there is so much to do you won't even take out the markers!

There are also some neat recipes for kids and camping. One we like to do is make muffins in oranges. You put the batter in hallowed out orange halves, put the other half on top, wrap it in foil and toss it in the fire. In about ten minutes you have muffins. You can probably google the recipe, I don't have it on hand.

One more thing. We like to pack a cooler just for the kids. It's inevitable they want to be in the cooler so just go with the flow. Pack a cooler for them with snacks you don't mind them eating... string cheese, fruit, yougurt, flavored waters, apple sauce. We all like digging around in the cooler for a goody!

Have a fun camping trip.

You could bring some yarn or string of some sort and wrap it around trees or whatever is in your area to make a blindfolded walk through the trees.(You blindfold them and they hold onto the string to walk through the path you create.) You could make up a scavenger hunt of things you think might be in your camping area, maybe even including some items you bring, and the person with the most items found on the list gets more marshmallows to roast that night. You could go on a nature walk looking at the different creatures and plants.

Hi Theresa,
The ideas you mention are good ones, and it's a good time to begin teaching them safety around a fire pit and outdoors too. You can have a marvelous time camping with kids! We have been a camping family since I was born 60 years ago, and our children and grandchildren were in the woods and around campfires from the time they were babies. We still camp as a family. At the last family campout there were 26 of us in tents on the Mogollon Rim, northeast of Payson. I write books with activities for children and have a page on my website with free ideas about things to do while camping with kids. http://www.winmarkcom.com/camping.htm
If you don't find enough ideas on that page, my contact information is listed at the bottom of the page. Call or e-mail and I'll provide you with many more ideas. Have fun!!
K. Winters, Mother of Family Ideas

We brought along an extra tent for the kids. We set it up for them to play in, and they loved it! We also got one of those huge bags of bubbles and different bubble blowers, which kept them occupied for a long time! Other than that, they spent alot of time picking the bark off the trees and playing in the dirt! We also brought along an extra little cooler so they had one to play with. They can fill it with rocks or leaves or whatever they want. Have fun!

nature walks - scavenger hunts - education about the surroundings - leave the forest as you found it or better

I say ditch the structure. My kids just loved roaming wild and free and throwing rocks and having the freedom they're not used in suburban life. I didn't really need to do anything at all to keep them entertained. Maybe you can have them do a nature scavenger hunt or just let them collect treasures in a bag.

When we went camping last year with my son and my brother's kids (2 almost two year olds and a 4 year old) they just loved exploring. We also brought sand toys. At Wal-Mart they have toy wheelborrows (SP???) for about $8, we took one of those and the kids loved collecting pine cones and other things in it. We also had a game the the kids and adults both liked, basically it is like horse shoes, but a lot safer for the little ones, you get 6 big washers (like nuts and bolts washers) and two large connectors for PVC pipes, about 5 inch diamater, you dig a hole in the ground and stick the pipe in the ground so it is flush with the ground, basically a large hole like on a golf course, then you just set your distance and try to through the washers in the hole. We made rules for whoever was closest got a point, if you got it in you got a point, ect. Obviously, the kids didn't care about points, they just liked throughing things. The adults really enjoyed it too.

Well to add an alternative to sommer's idea, you can use foil and flashlights and do a night trail. And my favorite thing to have on hand for camping trips is popsicle sticks and glue. The kids can do whatever they want with them and can be endlessly creative.

Bring pictures of leaves and bugs and birds and have the kids identify what they see and draw/ color it. Talk to them about the stars - stories about the origins of the constellations or, depending on the age, help them see shapes in them, like clouds. Make pine cone bird feeders - put pnut butter, then bird seed on pine cones and hang them in the trees. Make up stories about a squirrel, if you see one. Have them count the colors of flowers they see and maybe press them in a book. Have them make a pretend fire with stones around it (in the daytime) and teach them fire safety - when one of them understands, have him/ her be the "fire safety patrol", making sure that everyone follows the fire safety rules. If they are old enough, have them roast marshmellows for smores at night. Make up a scavenger hunt, where you make a list and they try to find the objects - like a stone with moss, a blue flower, a pine cone, an acorn shell, etc. They could pretend to be a brave explorer, like Daniel Boone (tell them the stories). I love camping and have camped all through the years with all of my 6 children since they were babies, and several times without my husband (when he couldn't come). It is a magical, fun time! But bring three times the clothes that you think you need! :-)

We just came back from camping and one thing that we brought was a butterfly net. We had one for each of our kids so they wouldn't fight and they ran around trying to catch all sorts of bugs. It was fun to watch.

K.

Collect leaves and have the kids put the leaf under the paper and run a crayon over it to get the impression of the leaf. Go on a hike or a walk through the camp (you can call it a secret adventure to make it more fun) and collect different things like pine cones, leaves, rocks, grass, berries, sticks, moss, flowers and all sorts of other things you find out in nature. Take them all back to camp and have the kids make a collage with their collections. Of course you will need glue, maybe some string to tie things together and paper. Or you can use the sticks as a background so you don't have to use paper at all. This way they would be able to take a piece of the camping trip home with them to remember all the fun they had and you don't have to worry about packing lots of toys/crafts to bring with you and it is cost free if you already have the glue, string and paper at home.

Get a fun foam craft kit. They have the sticky backs. Just peel and stick and some glitter paints and google eyes. My kids love these.