CAMPING WITH KIDS
Written by CampingEarth staff writer, Shelly Maurer.

We began camping with our three young children about 8 years ago. Our camping ventures all began when we were offered a 1978 Palamino (pop-up) camper by a relative. It was the same relative that took me camping when I was a child.

We began to camp at State Parks only because you couldn’t beat the price! We started out camping at parks that were not far from home just in case it wouldn’t work out with the children. Little did I know that this first venture would be something we would continue to do for years to come several times a year!

The first few camping trips I packed everything you could think of…mind you the camper came with several items…silverware, pots & pans,…even lights to hang! I packed several toys for our kids to play with and lots of extra clothes. For a while the toys would get played with by our youngest daughter, especially on those camping trips where buckets of rain fell as we sat inside our pop-up. Board games were always a good thing to have along.

As years went on and we purchased our first “new”, like brand new, 1999 Camplite pop-up, my packing went down quite a bit. I have learned to ALWAYS have enough extra clothes and shoes for the kids. On several occasions, my son has gotten quite wet while walking on logs in the swamp/woods.

I no longer take along the bags upon bags of toys for the kids. Although they have gotten older, they still like to have some things along to play with but their favorites are outside games although we still have a cupboard in our camper for the decks of cards, badminton, bocce ball, jump ropes, and sidewalk chalk.

Our favorite find is a can similar to a gallon paint can that has playground games inside. Inside this can there is a ball pump, a playground ball, sidewalk chalk, four rubber bases, and the can may also be used for Kick the Can. It also came with a book of suggested games to play with these items….kickball, four square, kick the can…All of this in one can for just a couple of dollars! Yet it is compact enough to fit in our game cupboard.

We have added Washer Toss (Washoes) and Ladder Golf (Blongo Ball) to our list of games that we bring along on each trip. There are times that these games go untouched for the simple fact that the kids think of their own things to do with their time. They hike in the woods, ride bike, build forts, or just sit by the fire and whittle sticks. They have learned how to carve bow & arrows with their pocket knives. It is so enjoyable to see them use their imagination and come up with things to do outdoors.

On a recent camping trip, we ventured for our first outing of Geocaching. With our Garmin GPS unit in hand, we made our way to our first cache. The kids were excited to find it and even more excited to see what “goodies” it had. We managed to find 6 of the 10 at the State Park we were at (surprised to see how many were in the park) and had all we could do to convince our eager son, who wanted to keep going and find them all, that we wanted to save some finds for our next trip there in August.

The kids are very excited to teach and show their aunt and uncle the fun in Geocaching when they join us on our next camping trip. Not only are the caches fun to find, since they range in size and shape from a film canister (which usually just has a paper for you to log your find) to an army box, but the time spent getting to the cache like the walk on the trails through the woods and conversations with kids along the way, make the trip all the more memorable and special.

Oh and if you intend to give Geocaching a try, stock up on those little toys from cereal boxes or toys from kids meals at restaurants. When you get to the cache, you date and sign the log book and then you may exchange one of your goodies for one inside. Just remember that some caches may be in the smallest containers so it is best to keep your goodies to trade on the smaller side. It is also suggested to bring your own pen/pencil since some caches are so small they wouldn’t fit one in there for you…….A camera would be another item to definitely bring so you can take pictures!

For us, the best thing about camping and enjoying Geocaching is you are outside taking in all that fresh air for the entire day…hours! Nothing beats bedtime when all are tired from the fresh air and venturing all day.

One of the games our family played while camping during Memorial Day weekend was Bocce Ball.

If you have never played bocce ball or have never seen it played, it is a form of lawn bowling.

Balls are tossed or rolled at a target. Whoever is closest to the target scores points.

To see a demonstration of how the game is played, click on the youtube video link below.

The game was first played in Italy and is traditionally played on oyster shell courts. Our family plays a version that is called the West Coast Style which means it isn’t played on a court but instead in an open grassy area, although we also play it on the beach.

It is a great game for camping because it can be played anywhere there is a little bit of open grassy area. We usually have enough space to play it right at our campsite, but I do want to give a word of caution. The balls may look harmless but they are heavy so care needs to be taken to play away from camping units and other people. The ball hurts if it hits someone.

Although the game is intended to be played on flat ground, our family never lets a little bit of uneven or hilly ground stop us. And, if the area we have to play in is small, we don’t throw the target ball very far. If we have lots of space then we will toss it further away although it is challenging at any distance. I think it is most challenging and fun when the distance the target ball is thrown each round varies.

Our family’s technique varies according to the surface we play on. A toss with a roll is best for grassy surfaces where a ball is almost guaranteed to roll a little. On sand the ball usually comes to a dead stop when it lands so an accurate toss is essential if a person wants to score any points.

It can be played with single players or teams of players. This weekend we played with four teams of two and then with 3 individual players later on. It is easy to adapt to the number of people playing.

The game is available at stores such as WalMart and Target during the summer months and can be purchased online any time of the year. Prices range from about $20 up to about $100.

The set pictured below is available through Amazon. When purchasing a set to play while camping, I suggest buying one with brightly colored balls that will be easy to see on the grass.

Camping and playing games goes hand in hand. Our family’s favorite camping game is ladder golf but we have lots of others we enjoy as well.

One fun board game is called What’s Yours Like. What I like best about the game is that it is fun and different no matter if playing with kids, a group of adults, teenagers, or a group of older people.

A “guess word” is picked and everyone except the person in the “hot seat” gets to look at the word. They all then describe that item to the person in the hot seat but they try to be as clever and subtle as possible to prevent that person in the “hot seat” from guessing too quickly.

For example, the guess word may be “swimsuit.” The clues people may give might be, “mine is tight,” “it’s hot when I wear mine,” and “I hate shopping for mine.”

To watch a video of the game being played, click here.

Click here to see how well you can play the game with a couple sample clues. I’m pretty bad at the game. I played all five sample questions and only answered one correctly.