Fun activities help create family memories of camping

Camping with your family provides a wide range of possibilities for enjoyment. From basic activities including swimming and hiking to more creative activities like storytelling and cloud gazing, there are activities for all ages. Since camping is a great way to relax your mind and free yourself from the demands of your daily life, activities should be a combination of structured and spontaneous, not something else you need to do.

Each member of your family should suggest some activities that they would like to do while camping. These ideas should take a bit of preparation when packing bikes, radios, backpacks, books, games, swimsuits. etc. are included. These structured activities should only consume part of your trip.

Staying busy doesn’t have to mean filling every hour with structured activities. Camp should include downtime for everyone and that, in itself, creates spontaneity. Give this kind of time a little thought so that when the time is right, your family can enjoy activities they hadn’t thought of or done before. This is what creates memories.

Structured activities can include:

Swimming – No matter where you are camping, you are sure to have a lake, stream, or pool near you. Swimming is great exercise and a lot of fun for all ages. Send your children to swim with their lungs and explore the bounties of nature for themselves. If you are camping at a commercial camp, you may even be lucky enough to find a pool for your children to swim in. But whether it’s a natural or man-made lake, as long as your kids can swim in them, you know they’ll stay busy.

Cycling – Camping is about discovering nature and doing physical activities, and what better way to combine the two than to go biking? When biking with your kids, make sure you have a map and first aid kit handy, so you don’t continue to worry about getting lost or getting hurt and instead can fully focus on the stunning view.

Hiking – You don’t have to be a serious hiker to enjoy hiking through the beautiful display of nature, wherever you are camping. Bring a map of the area and take your family on a hiking trip they will remember.

Build a Campfire – Camping is not camping without a campfire. Although fire can be a danger, with attention to the fire and the supervision of children, the whole family can sit around the campfire and be memorized by the flames. Let your children find twigs (on the ground, never cut them from a tree) and throw them into the fire. Once you light the fire, enjoy its warmth, roast marshmallows and hot dogs, and enjoy how the dancing flames bring your family together.

Crafts: Bring items from home or have the kids find what they need to create nature crafts. Gather twigs to build a castle or fort, find rocks to paint to create rock pets, or bring glue and scissors and let your kids create whatever they can imagine.

Toys and Balls: Bring items that will keep the family entertained in bad weather and will be enjoyed outdoors. You can throw a baseball and gloves, football, or frisbie for hours between family members. Bring age-appropriate toys that can take on a new dimension at camp, like a small truck. There will be hours of fun and imagination as your kids (young and old, and Dad) transform the land into a construction site or trails.

Dice: These five small, square, numbered cubes can turn rainy days into lots of fun indoor activities. Do not lose sight of how these cubes can also be used outdoors on the picnic table or choose who does what to play, clean at night or pack to go home.

Fishing – Children under 12 generally do not need a license (make sure you and all anglers have the correct license for the state you are camping in). This is a great activity if you are near a river, lake, or pond. Bring the rods and teach your kids to fish. There may be competitions with prizes for the first fish caught, the smallest fish, the most fish caught and, of course, the largest fish.

Learn a little: do a little research on the area you will be camping in before you set off. Without sounding like a “lesson” or “school”, search for the historical sites or talk about what the Explorers of the past went through as they made their way through the area. You can also learn about plants, birds, and animals that are native to the area.

Spontaneous creative activities

Take a night walk – the best time of day is at night. Children are often in bed, so make a night walk a special activity for the family. Look at the stars, listen to the silence, smell the fresh air of the countryside. There is nothing better than this.

Scavenger Hunt: Provide a list of items such as plants, leaves, or animal tracks that each family member can see. Take a nature walk and have everyone mark everything they see. A planned scavenger can also be made. Bring items from home and place them around the camp. Provide some puzzles and clues and see how many they can find. Be careful around plants like poison ivy, oak, sumac, etc.

Storytelling – Tell stories about when you were a child. Children, both young and old, like to hear “when you were young” stories about your camping or outdoor adventures. Once the stories begin, everyone will come together to tell their memories. Another way to tell stories is to start one and let everyone in your family add it and see where the story goes.

Watch the Clouds – While sitting in your camp, watch the sky and find the characters in the clouds. Better yet, put a blanket on the floor and lie on your back to find your shapes and see if you can see what others in your family see.

Climbing – Children love to climb. Find a hill or some rocks along the shoreline that they can play on. Let your imagination take over for hours of fun.

Skip Rocks – Scour the shores of the lake to find flat rocks and see who can jump your rock the most of the time. This activity will be enjoyed by the whole family, since even the little ones can try jumping rocks.

Journal – Pack a blank journal to use when you feel something has happened that needs to be documented. Provide each family member with paper to do this and ask them to read their entries over dinner or while sitting around the campfire.

Sing songs: If your family wants it, singing traditional campfire songs can be a lot of fun. You can also photocopy the inside of everyone’s favorite CD and sing along to some of your favorite songs.

Camping with the family should include activities. It may sound very relaxing to sit around the campfire all day, but your kids will need to keep busy. Use these tips to help create an enjoyable family camping trip that will create wonderful memories. A successful camping trip will lead the man, many others. Camping is a great family experience. Go and have fun.