A mega-outline of considerations when camping with young kids
Below are some things to think through when planning a camping trip with very young kids. These are just outlines to get you thinking through the elements that apply to your family. (Common wildlife/plant info relates to central North Carolina)
Safety considerations
Here are some considerations regarding safety when camping with your baby, toddler, or preschooler.
- Snakes
- Teaching kids young not to touch any snake they find, immediately tell an adult, to look on the other side of logs before stepping over, etc
- Types of venomous snakes:
- Copperheads
- Cottonmouth
- Timber rattlesnake
- Coral snake
- Everything else is non-venomous and bites are treated exactly like any other cut
- Good snake information website: https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/reptiles/snakes/
- Insects
- Wasps and bees
- Spiders
- Mosquitos and chiggers
- Fire ants
- Ticks
- More tick information: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/ticks-and-tick-borne-diseases
- Plants
- Poison ivy
- Toxic plants and mushrooms
- Wildlife (while hiking, at campsite/food storage vs critters)
- Bears
- Racoons, chipmunks, squirrels, mice
- First Aid kit
- Pre-dosed or easy to dose kid medication, if removed from original packaging - make sure to write weight and dosage information where medicine is stored.
- Tylenol
- Motrin
- Zyrtec or Benadryl
- Adult medicine to ensure safety and comfort required to get home or seek further help if needed
- Stomach medicine (pepto chewables, anti-diarrheal)
- Pain medicine
- Sinus/cold/flu medicine
- Zyrtec or Benadryl
- Poison Ivy wipes
- Benadryl topical anti-itch cream
- Bandages or all shapes and sizes
- Saline eye rinse (great for sand/gnat in eye)
- Wandering
- Setting visual boundaries
- Bells, squeaky shoes, glow bracelets
- Safety at the campsite
- Be mindful of traffic on the camp road and don’t let small children play in the road
- Hammer tent stakes all the way into the ground so if kids trip on guy lines there is nothing they will fall onto
- Be extra careful booking waterfront sites with littles
- Keep knives, scissors, hatchets, lighters, and other tools out of reach at all times
- Heat illness/dehydration
- Altitude
Meal planning
Here are some considerations regarding meal prep/cooking when camping with your baby, toddler, or preschooler.
- Methods of cooking at a campsite
- No cooking at all
- Precooked meals and nonperishable foods
- Camp stove
- Low-cook meals (dehydrated, just add boiling water)
- Regular cook meals in pots and pans
- Campfire
- Foil packets
- Roasting sticks
- Pot on the grate
- Pie irons
- Food storage
- Check your campground/park regulations for food storage
- If not in a bear area -
- Store food in hard-sided containers
- Store food bins + cooler either in the car or with tops that lock or use bungee cords around the tops to prevent racoons from opening
- If in a bear area -
- Use provided bear boxes and store all scented items (toothpaste, creams, food, milk, etc) in the bear box
- If no bear box is provided, follow local regulations on proper hangs/storage
Having fun
Here are some considerations regarding entertainment and having fun when camping with your baby, toddler, or preschooler.
- Ideas of things to bring to the campsite
- Water/mud kitchen items (A small bin to hold water, some dollar store kitchen items, and a few recyclable plastics like yogurt tubs)
- Open ended toys like plastic animals, magnatiles
- Coloring books, travel puzzles
- Bubbles
- Hammock
- If suitable space: stomp rocket, soccer ball
- Be mindful of any activities that could leave a mess/introduce unnatural elements into the environment such as painting, playdough, kinetic sand, etc.
- Activities away from the campsite:
- Visitor center visit - pick up junior ranger booklet, get passport stamp, ask questions about trails/park, check out museum exhibits
- You can visit more than once during your stay! Visitor centers make a great 30-45min afternoon activity or during rainy days.
- Hiking
- Long hikes, short hikes, fast hikes, slow hikes, hikes while babies nap, toddlers hiking, all the hikes!
- Scenic picnic meal/snack away from the campsite
- Campground loop walks
- Pointing out colors of tents and RVs, waving hello to fellow campers
- Scenic car drive
- Occasional additional park activities: swimming/lake beach, kayaking/paddling, playgrounds
- North Carolina State Park Junior Ranger Program
- Park-specific activity books can be found at many parks
- Generic activities can be found on the website
- Even if your kids are too young to complete the booklet as intended, there are still great snippets to read, things to point out and talk about, small images to color, etc
- https://www.ncparks.gov/education/junior-ranger-program
- North Carolina State Park events
- There are many kid-friendly programs at our local state parks
- https://www.ncparks.gov/events-list
Sleep strategies
Here are some considerations regarding sleep when camping with your baby, toddler, or preschooler.
- You know your kids best!
- Prepping toddlers and preschoolers before the trip:
- Read books about camping
- Talk about sleeping in a tent
- Talk about any differences between home sleep vs. camping sleep
- Talk about how during camping at bedtime you will hear: other adults talking, cars on the camp road, neighboring camp noises, birds chirping, wind in the leaves, car doors shutting, zipper sounds, etc and explicitly tell them that they can just keep falling asleep during these noises
- Prep kids for where you will be, what it might look like, and what they should do if they wake up in the night. Idea “And remember, if you wake up in the night it will be dark in the tent. You can roll over and go back to sleep. If you need me, I will be right next to you in the tent. You can whisper my name to get my attention”.
- Sleep gear and bedtime routines
- Consider bringing portable white noise and a way to make your tent (or the child’s sleep space) darker
- Bring as many elements from home as you can for toddlers/preschoolers - story books for bedtime stories, pillow/blanket from home, special stuffies/lovies, audiobook/music player, etc and try to keep the routine as similar as possible.
- The bedtime routine while camping often takes longer than at home (walking to the bathroom building for potty/teeth/etc in and of itself takes a lot longer, as does arranging and finding all of the sleep items and getting settled into the tent for stories/songs/etc), so plan to start the routine earlier than you think no matter what time you’ve declared as bedtime!
- Sleep safety
- Tots in Tents recommends safe sleep practices for young babies
- Keep zippers at the very top of doors, out of reach of tiny hands
- Keep any dangerous items (medicines, knives/tools) or messy items (toiletries) in a locked bag and/or out of reach in the tent
- Be mindful of overheating, especially when children go to sleep earlier in the evening than adults when it is warmer
- Bathroom visits (for kids and adults)
- Consider printing a portable potty for evening/nighttime use for both kids and adults after kids are asleep
- Timing
- Opinion A: Keep the time of bedtime close to what it is at home
- Opinion B: Let them stay up later and get more tired
- You know your kids best to know if they will become overtired and harder to wind down if they stay up late (or if they will wake up earlier from going to bed late), or if they will get tired but calm and make bedtime easier
- Strategies for night-wakings
- Prep kids for what they should do if they wake up in the night
- Have in your head a handful of strategies to use during night wakings
- Low intervention ideas:
- Hug and kiss and verbal reassurance
- Back rubs, holding hands, hand rested on back/belly
- A quietly sung song
- Medium intervention ideas:
- Snuggling in parent’s bed
- Rock to sleep
- Mini bedtime routine re-do (quietly read story book, song, hugs and kisses, whatever the routine is for you)
- Very low music or audiobook
- High intervention ideas:
- Walk in carrier
- Strap into car seat for drive on camp road
- Quiet awake time in the time before trying bedtime again
- Watch a video laying down
- Other things to consider:
- Nursing or bottle feed
- Pacifier or chewy