If you haven’t tried backyard camping, you’ve sure missed out a lot! The perfect way to entertain your whole family, creating a camping area in your own backyard is a great, budget-friendly alternative to taking expensive vacations while the school’s out for summer. It gives you the chance to spend some time with your family, reconnect, have fun, and hang out while enjoying out in the fresh air. Surprise your little campers and create a camping area in your backyard with these six handy camping “trip” tips.
Create your backyard family camping checklist
First things first, in order to embark on your backyard family camping adventure, you’ll need to make a checklist of all the things you’d normally bring for spending the day in the great outdoors. Go green in the “wild” – get quality camping gear made from recycled materials to make your camping experience more sustainable, and opt for long-lasting, easily repairable tents for an ethical family campout. Using solar-powered nightlights is a great way to utilize the energy of the sun to generate energy for illuminating your campsite at night, while durable, easy-to-clean bamboo cutlery will ensure you’re camping in an eco-conscious, environmentally friendly way.
Join forces with your kids to build the perfect family campsite
After everything is packed and you’re ready for your outdoor adventure, you can start building your campsite. The kids can help unroll the sleeping bags while you put up the tent. Let them tackle the decoration and set up the tent’s interior while you assist them. Fill it with all the different colors and toys, and make it as comfortable as possible by using blankets and pillows. Accessorize a little bit so it looks appealing to the eye – use stylish coastal cushions with stripes and colors reminiscent of the sea to create a nautical theme, thus bringing a dash of ocean breeze and a pop of color to your family campsite.
Prepare delicious camp food for all your family to enjoy
Everybody knows that it’s not a real camping adventure if you haven’t brought some camping food you can munch on when the stomach starts growling. Bring marshmallows and veggies that you can roast over the fire, or browse for some delicious vegetarian BBQ recipes online such as vegetable skewers and black bean quinoa tacos. For a super-authentic camping experience, you can either get the grill going, or you can build your own portable fire pit if you’re more on the crafty side. Either way, you are sure to create a pleasant ambiance in your family campsite as well as bring up the coziness factor.
Plan out some fun activities you can enjoy together
Curious by nature, kids simply love diving into exciting adventures, always looking for new ways to have fun. Encourage their curiosity and exploratory spirit by creating for them to investigate. Take on the role of the detective by searching for all the different species of insects, flowers, and trees in your backyard and bring a book to educate your tiny explorer. You could also organize a treasure hunt and turn it into a fun zone in no time. However, when the sun goes down, that’s when the real fun starts. Stargazing and identifying constellations are the perfect way to enjoy the starry night while singing songs and telling campfire stories will slowly bring the fun-filled day of camping to an end.
Make your camping zone safe and enjoyable
When it comes to spending the night outside, camping safety should be your top priority. Talk to your kids about the potential dangers that come from playing with fire and give them some fire safety tips. Also, make sure they don’t leave the yard and keep track of where they are at any given moment. After you’ve made it safe, think of different ways to make your camping zone more enjoyable. Leave your phones at home to eliminate distractions, and create a relaxing atmosphere in your backyard. Camping outside with your family will bring numerous benefits in terms of health and well-being – breathing in the fresh air will be beneficial to your body, while spending time outside will help you reconnect with nature and put all your family members in a great mood.
Remember – you can’t go inside the house!
Since all your family members are used to the convenience that comes with a modern lifestyle, it’d be a good idea to make it a rule that no one is allowed to go back inside the house, just to see how they’d handle different situations and also force them to be creative and come up with different ideas about approaching the issue. Doing so will help your kids think outside the box, finding different ways to solve the problems they’d never be facing if it weren’t for the exciting experience of camping with their family.
From roasting delish marshmallows and cooking finger-licking veggie burgers to thinking of fun, new games and sleeping under the open sky, there are countless ways to have a great time camping with your family. Have these six handy tips in mind next time you’re planning on taking your family for a camping “trip” so you can make the most of your backyard space and set it up in a way that is perfect for a fun family campout.
