Camping with kids? Check out these outdoor essentials!
Ahh the joy of camping with your kids! Our kids love taking the travel trailer out partially because we have special things for them on it. I have compiled a list of things deemed our outdoor essentials for camping with kids. Read below to see what works for us and what will work for you, too!
A mode of transportation.
1. Our kids’ favorite things are their scooters. Everywhere we go we see kids on scooters. They are everywhere and you have to watch closely when driving in the park because there are so many. Our 7-year-old son has this electric scooter, while our 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son have these scooters. We found a 2 wheel scooter for $5 at Walmart that our daughter occasionally uses, but she isn’t as comfortable on it a she is a 3 wheel.
Into the woods!
2. When we go on hiking trails the kids get hungry and thirsty. Who would have thought? So for Christmas this past year we bought them each backpacks! We also included these Nalgene bottles for them since they are pretty hard to break (I had a friend drop hers off of a mountain and it didn’t even crack). I normally don’t spend over $10 for a cup, but considering these would get lots of miles I was ok with the $13 price tag! The final thing we got for the backpacks is this pocket microscope. While they are young, it is neat to see their faces light up when they can see a leaf on a microscopic level. Plus, my husband and I enjoy them, too!
Just sitting around…
3. The nighttime things that make all the difference are comfy chairs for the kids, I found some bag chairs on sale at Walmart last year for $5 apiece. I love a good deal! I can’t justify spending a lot on bag chairs because we cart them down to the beach and they only last 2-3 years after being used around saltwater. That’s our experience with them for the past 9 years.
S’more time!
4. Our kids will tell you that no camping trip is complete without a fire and s’mores. And honestly, who can argue with that? We had been using metal hangers for marshmallow sticks until I found this set. They are easy to clean, have a nice little handle to hold onto, and are the perfect size for the kids! There is also a colored ring around the top of the handle to help avoid any arguments!
Can’t go camping without a tent!
5. We can’t go camping without this cute little tent! It is the perfect addition to the kids’ outdoor toys to spark imagination! They use this as a house, a restaurant, a boat… the list goes on. It took about 5 minutes to set up and comes with extra stakes. I added the 9×12 outdoor rug to try and keep dirt and leaves out and it worked well! The rug also shows how large this tent is!
Prime entertainment.
6. For a fun movie night check out this little projector! I was very impressed with the image quality of this projector- people walking by would stop and ask about it because the picture was clear and crisp. The one complaint I had with it was the onboard speaker wasn’t very powerful, so I bought a mini sound bar. This one packs a punch and it’s perfect for limited storage! I wish I had gotten a picture of it in use, my oldest son loved watching Cars outside. In 35ยบ weather. He was bundled up so it was all good! Once it warms up again we plan on having outdoor movie nights! Especially at the beach!
Light up the night!
7. The final essential items are flashlights and glow sticks! Head over to your local Walmart or dollar store and grab the cheapest flashlights you can find! Walmart has large packs of glow sticks that you can grab or add to a grocery pick-up order. I strap multiple glow sticks to our kids each night so we can see them, but so cars can see them, too. I have been known to hand them out to other kids at parks as well.
