It was the first overnight trip my husband and I attempted with his daughters, at the time ages 15, 13, and 9. We also had a four month old puppy. Reflecting back on it, two nights in a tent with teenagers, a puppy, and five relatively non-campers, it seems a little bananas!
However, it has become a tradition to camp each summer with our now blended family of six including a toddler and the reason is simple: camping bonds a group of people through its simplicity, low-key and tech-free activities, and collective responsibility of living in a campsite. Cell phone service is limited, the sounds of nature create a relaxing vibe, and activities like setting up a tent, looking for sticks and getting a campfire ready, or putting together meals give everyone a job. If you are new to camping or planning your first camping trip as a family, here are 5 Tips For Camping With Kids.
Find a campsite that works for you
Keep it extra simple! There are a few places not too far from Rochester that might be ideal for your family for a quick drive there and back. We love Old Forge in the Adirondacks. It’s about 3 hours from Rochester, has some amenities on the property and a few cute little towns if you want to enjoy ice cream or sweatshirt shopping for the shockingly cool nights in mid-August. Old Forge has paddle boats and canoes for rental, a few shallow beaches, and homemade donuts in the morning.
Additionally, camping can (and in my opinion, should, especially for beginners) offer amenities like easy access to facilities and potable water close to the campsite and blow-up mattresses if it will make the time away more comfortable. Even a cabin is a great option! Nature surrounds you, the stargazing still possible, and you’re warmer with access to a bathroom for middle of the night needs. You can’t go wrong with a Yogi Bear’s Jellystone (Mexico, North Java, or the Finger Lakes) either! This is your permission to do what feels right for your family in terms of accommodations especially if you’re nervous about the new adventure.
Plan for easy meals
Camping meals can be simple but fun and everyone can pitch in from the shopping to clean-up. Bananas, hard boiled eggs, or bagels make an easy breakfast. Lunch could include a sandwich-making assembly line (classic nut butter with/without jelly or wrap roll-ups) and dinner could include a kid-friendly charcuterie board with elevated snacks for the grown-ups or make ahead pasta salad with hot dogs on the campfire or grill.
You’ll want some long sticks or skewers anyway for the inevitable s’mores. Bring ingredients for a simple trail mix, the creation of which can be another job (mixing and packaging) for preschool or lower elementary kids then you can enjoy a homemade treat on your walks. A cooler to house an assortment of beverages and a few items that need to be kept cold will help, too.
Rotate your camping activities
Find a balance of exploration activities and chilling at your site. We bring hiking shoes along with cards and a few packable board games (you already know the importance of simple rules). With the wide range of ages in our family, a walk usually allows for photo ops and natural observations. Water and bug spray keep whining to a minimum. For younger kids, print our Summer Hike Scavenger Hunt Printable.
Campsite activities can include a wide range of sedentary to more active: aforementioned board or card games and coloring, individual reading, read-alouds of silly or scary stories or sharing family stories, throwing a ball, or an impromptu hidden talent show.
If it rains, pack up and go home. That’s it. When I was younger, my parents loved camping, we went a few times every summer, and one year we tried to stick it out in a leaky tent. It’s gone down in history as The Time We Never Went Camping Again.
Remember these camping essentials
As with any trip, I cannot recommend enough packing plenty of snacks. Whatever will keep your family going a little longer is a good idea like cut veggies, portable fruit, individually wrapped cookies or crackers. I think camping is a lot like flying: you can’t underestimate the importance of snacks for ALL members of the crew.
Bring flashlights and plenty of batteries. Toddlers like their headlamps just as much as the grown-ups for night walks or sitting at the campfire. Along those same lines, already charged portable chargers for your phone are smart. So as to keep the trip as tech free as possible, buy a few disposable cameras! The shots of family and nature from all eye levels are sure to be keepers once developed.
Rain gear, extra blankets, and sweatshirts just in case will keep everyone comfortable. Even in the summer, temps dip low and rain overnight doesn’t get in the way of daytime fun but a trip to the bathroom quickly becomes wetter than it needs to without a poncho or umbrella. Everyone will sleep best with some small comforts from home so don’t forget the loveys!
Stargaze
Speaking of bedtime, allow it to go a little later and be sure to look UP. Those stars will remind you that daily family life on the campsite or back at home are just a small piece of this big, beautiful world. This can even be a backyard activity (if this article hasn’t convinced you to try camping) but there is nothing more wondrous than stargazing with the people you love the most on a summer evening.
Simple Family Times
Camping can be a throwback to simpler times and a trip with built-in connectors. I credit that trip five years ago with the beginning of our tenuous bond as a blended family; it’s a shared memory we’ll always have, and it started an unexpected tradition.
Let’s be clear: my husband and I are not campers. It was on a whim that we took the girls on their first camping excursion outside of the back yard but we’ll always say yes when they ask if we’re going camping this summer. We’ve added their cousins to the mix and camped with another family two summers ago. Are we Campers with a capital “c” ready to tackle chillier temps than western NY in August or a place that doesn’t have ice cream within fifteen minutes? Nope, and I’m okay with that.
Our family grew a teeny tiny blossom on that trip to the Adirondacks five years ago so I believe firmly in camping’s power to bond. The positive emotions experienced far outweighed the discomforts of sleeping with a large Labrador puppy in a tent with four people still grieving the break-up of their family; I learned that walking in nature leads to small talk that eventually builds into meaningful conversation and breaking out Uno always creates some friendly competition (I now know they like me because the girls have NO problem slapping down that Draw 4 and looking me dead in the eye). No matter what your family dynamic is or even if your tent and campfire set-up is in the backyard, camping might provide some entertainment, relaxation, and an opportunity to grow together.
