Uno is one of our regular camping activites
Some of the parents I’ve spoken to about family camping these past few years have expressed some nervousness about how to keep their kids busy and entertained over the course of a weekend in the woods. While we tend to focus on “camping things,” like hiking, campfires and s’mores, it’s important to realize that just because you’re camping it doesn’t mean you can’t do some of the things with your kids that you already do at home.
Hiking is a great way to get everyone outdoors and into nature.
Hiking is a great outdoor activity that parents and children can enjoy together. It’s also a good way for kids to learn about nature and the environment and maybe some wildlife too, if you can coax the kids into an early start.
Of course, you might have to do a bit of coaxing to get the kids to go hiking, at all! Our three children encompass the entire spectrum of motivation, when it comes to hiking. Our oldest daughter (8) actually bugs us to go hiking, while her younger sister (7) would never go hiking, if it were up to her. It’s too soon to tell which side our son’s (4) motivation will fall on.
Goat Meadow Snow Play Area is located on the southern border of Yosemite National Park, 1 mile off of Highway 41. The 1 mile road is not plowed, so chains or 4-wheel drive is required.
It doesn’t matter whether you are in snowy New Hampshire or rainy California, winter weather can put a serious crimp in your outdoor family activities. Having never lived in the northern climates, I’ve always had romantic notions of how much better snow must be, than the (relatively) cold and rainy locations that I’ve spent my life in. There’s not much that you can do in the rain, except wait for it to stop and, even then, most outdoor activities are still a messy affair.
Keeping dirty hands and faces clean can be a camping challenge
A big concern that we have, when we are on a family camping trip, is keeping the kids clean throughout several days in the backcountry. We’re not clean-freaks, but our kids love to play with worms, slugs, salamanders, and whatever else they can find. And we all know that kids aren’t nearly as careful as adults, when it comes to keeping dirty hands off of food or away from mouths, noses, and eyes. Fortunately, there are some good products on the market that can help families keep little hands and faces clean.
Watching your kids grow up and learn about responsibility is one of the great joys of family camping.
One of the most important things we can do as camping parents is to pass along our love of the outdoors to our kids. Now, kids naturally love camping so this isn’t a difficult task, but we need to remember that our kids are constantly learning by watching what we do, so teaching our kids starts with us doing the right thing, too.
In the military we called it “police call,” walking through an area and picking up everything that doesn’t belong there. Fortunately my kids aren’t in the military, but that’s no reason to not “enlist” them in helping clean up the campsite. It’s a Scribner Family ritual that we perform twice; once to pick up any trash and debris that the previous campers left behind, and again after we break camp, to ensure that we don’t leave anything behind for others to deal with.