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Camping a Great Outdoor Family Activity to Make for a Fall Fun

September 21, 2017 by Pete Gilbert 2 Comments

autumn camping tent

(Photo: Andrew Neel | Unsplash)

As the heat of summer burns off, the nights creep ever so longer, and the air turns crisp and cool, my family returns to our favorite fall tradition — a weekend camping trip.

Even with small kids, camping doesn’t need to feel like an impossibly miserable weekend sleeping on the cold, hard ground. With a little preparation, camping can become a fall favorite for your family too.

Camping starts with a tent

First, make sure you have the right kind of gear. Of course, you’ll want a tent. If you don’t own a tent, borrow one. Just make sure you practice setting it up in your own yard (and check you have all the parts) so you are not surprised or frustrated when you arrive at your campsite. While setting up, make sure your kids are involved in helping too. Have them help arrange the inside of the tent with sleeping bags, pillows and blankets. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can even allow them to hammer in the tent stakes using a rubber mallet.

Food prep

Cooking over a campfire is a lot of fun, but it can be tricky as well. If possible, cook food in advance so it just needs to be reheated on the campfire (this is especially awesome for bacon). For cooking, nothing is more important than marshmallow roasting sticks. Also, if you want to blow your kids’ minds, use Reese’s Peanut Butter cups instead of chocolate for your s’mores.

Plan your fun

Make sure you have activities planned to complement your camping trip. Do a little research to find a short family trail that all of you can hike, or a nearby nature center. And, have a rain plan. Pack board games, a deck of cards, whatever else you need to wait out a passing rainstorm. Don’t forget, you can always leave if the weather or your child’s behavior gets too bad. You’ll only be out the money you spent on the campsite and at that point you’d probably happily pay that to be back in your own bed anyway.

Oh, I almost forgot, pack you own toilet paper. You can thank me later. And hand sanitizer. Lots of hand sanitizer.

 A version of this first appeared on Indy’s Child.

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Filed Under: play Tagged With: camping

About Pete Gilbert

Pete Gilbert is really Brian Craig, a stay-at-home dad to three elementary-school aged kids, is A Dad Influence blogger and monthly columnist for Indy’s Child the Magazine and Cincinnati Parent Magazine. He is also co-organizer of Indianapolis Dads Group and a sixth-grade spelling bee runner-up. He can be found on Facebook, and Twitter.

Comments

  1. Sam says

    October 9, 2018 at 10:12 am

    I can’t wait to go camping with the family this year. Me and my wife like to go camping every autumn but this will be the first Autumn that we’re bringing the kids.

    Reply
    • Kevin McKeever says

      October 10, 2018 at 8:38 am

      Have fun!

      Reply

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