You don’t need a Boy Scout merit badge to build a roaring fire at your campsite – all you need are a few simple supplies and the following technique.

To get started on your campfire, there are a few things you’ll need to gather, including matches, newspaper, twigs and logs of varying thicknesses. It’s probably easiest to bring the matches and newspaper from home, although you may be able to find a camp store nearby that carries these items. You can find twigs around the campground, and you can even make it a game for small children to see who can gather the most. As for the firewood, drive around the community surrounding your campground. You should be able to find at least one home that has firewood stacked for sale with a “scouts honor” cash box.

As a note, many campgrounds are asking that campers refrain from bringing firewood from home, in order to control the introduction of emerald ash borers and other pests into managed forests. Don’t waste valuable car space bringing firewood that you may just have to throw out – wait until you get to the campground to purchase firewood locally.

When you’re ready to start your campfire, begin by crumpling up several pieces of newspaper and stacking them in the middle of your fire ring. Don’t ever try to start a campfire in anything other than the cement-filled fire ring located on your site – this could have disastrous results! The best time to start your campfire depends on what you plan to do. If you intend to cook lunch or dinner over the fire, start it at least an hour ahead of time to give the coals time to form. If you’re only interested in roasting marshmallows and spending the wee hours with friends and family around the fire, shoot for a mid-evening start.

Once you have a small pile of newspapers built up in the middle of your fire ring, begin to stack the twigs vertically around the newspapers, forming a small tee-pee over them. You don’t need to completely cover the newspapers with twigs, but you do want to include enough so that the twigs will burn long enough to catch the heavier firewood on fire. Next, add pieces of firewood around the twig tee-pee in the same structure. For best results, make a pyramid of three thin pieces of firewood over the twigs, and then add 2-3 heavier logs around the perimeter.

Once your structure is set, light the newspaper in several places around the fire ring using the matches you brought along. The goal is for the newspaper to burn long enough to catch the twigs on fire, which in turn catch the thin logs and then the heavier logs on fire. If the newspaper goes out before catching the twigs, add more, being careful to avoid any pieces of paper that are still on fire. Once the fire is going, keep an eye on it, using a separate stick to nudge any falling pieces into place. At the end of the night, be sure to douse any remaining embers with water to be sure the fire doesn’t spread overnight.

When you’re packing up for your big camping trip, the last thing you want to do is to weigh down your car with all the extra pots, pans and kitchen utensils you’ll need to prepare your favorite meals over the camp stove.  You also need to pack sensibly when it comes to perishable foods – nothing will ruin your camping trip quite as quickly as spoiled meat or potato salad.  If you’re stuck on what to pack for your camping trip, read on for more tips on easy-to-prepare campsite meals.

Breakfast

Check your local grocery store for pre-mixed pancake batter.  In most cases, all you’ll need to do is add a certain amount of water to the package, shake to mix and pour onto a fry pan on your camp stove.  To round out the meal, pack a few eggs and some strips of bacon.  Cook the pancakes first, then the bacon and then the eggs – they’ll pick up a nice outdoorsy flavor from leftover bacon grease in the pan.  Just be sure to eat this meal within the first day or two of arriving at your campsite so that the eggs and bacon will still be fresh.  After the fresh stuff is gone, cereal and toast (check your sporting goods store for a camp stove toaster) can get you through the rest of your trip.

Lunch

Lunchmeat and deli cheese make great lunch sandwiches for the first day or two you’re at your campsite, but if you’re going to be around for longer, you’ll want to pack some non-perishable items as well.  If sandwiches are your thing, consider peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese – their ingredients will keep longer in your cooler.  You can also try things like canned spaghetti or soups that heat up well in only one pot.  Be sure to pack plenty of goodies – like cookies, crackers and other snacks that will help round out your meals and keep hungry kids going until mealtime.

Dinner

When you’re making dinner at your campsite, you have a couple different options.  For an authentic camping experience, consider roasting hotdogs on sticks over the fire.  Just be sure to purchase pre-cooked hotdogs – there’s no guarantee that an over-excited 8-year-old will evenly roast a hotdog to an internal temperature of 160o!  If you have a Dutch oven or tripod for hanging pots over the fire, you can also experiment with stews (either canned or pre-mixed from home) or by cooking baked potatoes in the fire. 
If you’re working with a camp stove, you’re options are only limited to what food products you can bring with you or purchase from a local store.  With a single fry pan and sauce pot, you can cook up dinners as complicated as ham steaks and rice pilaf or as simple as canned ravioli and green beans.  You can also ask at the campground check-in station for directions to the nearest pizza place. If it’s nearby, you may be surprised to find out that they’ll deliver directly to the campground.

Above all, when you’re planning meals for your upcoming camping trip, think food safety first.  Meat products and any salads should be eaten within a day or two, since the temperature of your cooler isn’t as stable as your refrigerator at home.  Milk, cheese, eggs and condiments have a slightly longer shelf life, provided you ice down the cooler regularly and make sure that the items are as buried in the cooler as possible. 

Camping can be a lot of fun for younger children – however, you’ll need to prepare differently than you would for a camping trip with your buddies. If you’re thinking about taking your children on their first camping trip, read on for more helpful tips on camping with young kids:

Start with Short Trips

Even if you pride yourself on the month long wilderness adventure you recently took, it’s best to start young children on shorter camping trips – no more than two to three days at a time.  Camping trips – as fun as they may be – are stressful on young children, who aren’t yet used to being out of their comfort zone for an extended period of time.  Young children may feel uncomfortable when they’re away from their usual routines, even if you believe the natural world is infinitely more fascinating than the host of television programs and video games that seem to constitute a normal day in your house.  Start small, and when your children start begging to stay longer, go ahead and up the length of your trip.

Plan Your Days Wisely

However, don’t think that you need to pack more activities into these few days, just because you’re taking a shorter trip.  Camping should be a relaxing activity for you and your children – and you won’t achieve that if you plan something for every moment of every day.  All those fabulous attractions and learning opportunities will still be there next year, but if you try to shuttle your children back and forth to all of them over the span of a weekend, you’ll end up with some cranky children – at best.  Instead, shoot for one or two attractions a day, and be sure to leave plenty of time for bumming around the beach.

Look for Campgrounds with Family Amenities

Campgrounds vary widely in the amenities they have on site for families with young children.  While most have at least a playground for younger visitors, some campgrounds also feature waterfront access, picnic facilities and sports fields.  Some campgrounds even host special programming for children.  These programs are typically free to campground guests, and may include everything from identifying local plants and wildlife to junior ranger programs that teach children outdoors skills.

Get Feedback on Potential Campgrounds

So how do you tell if a campground is family friendly?  First, check online.  More and more campgrounds are setting up websites that enable visitors to look up their amenities before you make a reservation.  If you aren’t able to find a campground’s website, try giving the campground a call.  The person staffing the check-in office should be able to give you a good idea about what resources exist for families at the campground.  In addition, you might find it helpful to ask friends and relatives for recommendations – parents with first-hand knowledge of a campground may be able to tell you whether or not the campground is as family friendly as it claims to be!

Wherever you wind up going, remember to stay flexible during the trip. If bad weather hits and your children are miserable, don’t be afraid to pack up and go home. It’s far better to reschedule for a better weekend than to leave your children with a bad impression of camping!