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THE GREAT OUTDOORS — Even for experienced campers, taking kids camping can be overwhelming.
The gear and the planning needed multiply exponentially when kids are involved, and sometimes it hardly seems worth the trouble. But by slowing the pace of your next trip and adding a few new traditions to the mix, your next family campout can be a standout.
When I was growing up, camping was a big deal for my family. Every summer we would set off for Big Cottonwood Canyon for a full week of dirt, s’mores and streams. These are some of my favorite childhood memories, and as an adult, I now fully appreciate what an overwhelming task it was to take six kids camping for a week. My parents made it look effortless. A large part of that ease came because they established consistent rituals and traditions that let us know what to expect while still keeping camping exciting.
Here are a few traditions to help make camping a great experience for your children:
A daily toy
One of my mom’s smartest camping strategies was bringing a new dollar-store toy for each kid each day of our trip. We would await the opening of the big red chest after lunch every day, wondering what new joy was in store. The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying our new treasure, whether it was a plastic bow-and-arrow set, a Frisbee or a small package of army men.
The toys filled the periods between chasing squirrels, identifying new insect life and setting marshmallows on fire, and gave my parents a break from having to keep us constantly entertained. And all for less than a dollar a day.
Boat racing
If your campsite has a small stream nearby, another fantastic kid-friendly activity is boat racing. If you have a small, safe stream running through your site, bring along some cheap plastic boats and watch your kids design elaborate courses for their boats. Using sticks, rocks and leaves, they’ll spend hours creating obstacles and eddies to make their race more exciting.
Just make sure you’ve thoroughly dammed up the end of the “course” so the boats don’t disappear downstream at the end of the race. Please make sure that the stream is absolutely safe before you let your children play by it and remember that a grown-up should always be supervising.
Another more environmentally-friendly variation is for older kids to create their own boats out of pieces of wood, twigs or leaves. Kids who are familiar with whittling can carve their own watercraft, and younger ones can find an already-boat-shaped stick.
Fun foods
The very simplest camping traditions come from just doing something differently than you would at home. Food is an easy way to accomplish this.
For example, “sugar cereal” is generally not allowed at our house but we always make sure to bring some along for camping and it’s become one of my kids' favorite parts of the trip. You can pack one big box of a fun “forbidden” food or several small surprises to dole out day by day. Another beloved camping tradition we picked up from my husband’s family is making s’mores for “breakfast dessert.”
Any kind of unusual or not-usually-allowed food can be a big deal for kids, so on your next trip, find a way to bend the rules and watch your kids grin.
Imaginative games
Our family’s favorite camping tradition, passed on from my childhood, is a visit from the "Brownies." Brownies, little elf-like creatures who live underground and don’t interact much with humans, will bring your family individual treats after dark if you know their secret song.
- Hello, Mr. Echo, how do you do? Hello? Hello!
- Hello, Mr. Echo, how do you do? Hello? Hello!
- (listen for the echo to see if the Brownies sing back!)
Each of our evenings around the campfire end with our family singing the Brownie song. Then we all hunt through the bushes around the edges of the campsite for the treats the Brownies have hidden for us. They always bring something new and exciting, candies that mom and dad would never allow or treats we’ve never even heard of before.
So take the leap and take your kids camping this year. With a few new traditions to help your children have a wonderful time without much fuss, you can all have a memorable, relaxing experience in Utah’s beautiful outdoors.
What are some of your favorite camping traditions? Let us know in the comments.
Olivia Meikle is the host of the popular What'sHerName history podcast and teaches at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She's also a writer, hiker, camper, singer, wife and mom.
