Worried about keeping your little ones entertained in the great outdoors? Here are a few ideas sure to fill those long summer days and nights under the sky!
Daytime Activities:
- Scavenger Hunt: Make a list of 8-10 items for your kids to find. Even young children can look for a leaf, rock, or flower.
- Photography: Ask your children to help you capture your camping trip in pictures. Once you get home, you can develop the photos and make a scrapbook together!
- Go on a Bug Safari! One of my daughter's favorite books is Bug Safari by Bob Barner, about a young explorer who tracks an army of ants through a "bug-infested jungle"...his backyard. Take this book along, read it together, and then go on a little bug safari of your own. Older children can journal their findings along the way.
- Take a hike or ride your bike!
- Build a tepee. Don't know how? Read here.
- Make cool leaf rubbings that you can frame when you get home. I remember doing this in grade school, don't you? If you need a refresher on how, click here.
- Pet rocks. Find some cool stones to paint and get creative. Keep them as mementos or give them away as gifts!
Nighttime Activities:
- Study the stars. Give your kiddos a lesson on constellations. Warning: You may want to read up on your Cassiopeia and Canis Minor ahead of time :)
- Tell tall tales. With young ones, fairy tales will do. With older kids, you may want to have a ghost story handy. OR you could make up a story together--just take turns adding to the tale...this could be very interesting.
- Flashlight fun. What kid doesn't love a flashlight? And what better place to have some flashlight fun than outdoors? Bring back memories of your childhood with flashlight tag, look for creepy crawlies in the dark, or make shadow animals on the walls of your tent!
- If you have an electrical outlet and you aren't a camping purist, try this...bring along a computer and projector, hang a sheet from the trees, and watch a movie under the stars? Don't forget the popcorn!
- Take a late night stroll. Walk hand in hand. Listen to the sounds of nature. Enjoy the peace and quiet.
- And, if all else fails, there are always SMORES!
