25 Camping with Kids & Family Hacks, Tips, and Ideas

Last updated: July 24, 2024

Camping with kids can be hard, but you can definitely make your life easier with good preparation and activity ideas. We love camping in our family. We go at least once a year, and try to fit in more than one trip when possible. Being outside, cooking by the campfire, and sleeping in a tent are all things we love to do.

You might be lucky enough to have a camper, which can definitely make things easier, but we’re still roughing it with our tent. We just went camping last weekend, and I thought it might be helpful to share some of my camping with kids hacks with you. We’ve done it for several years now, with young kids and with a baby, so we’ve learned a few things along the way. This past trip was a little easier with a 3 and 6 year-old, but it still had it’s challenges.

I love how much the kids love it, and I think it’ll only get more fun and easier as they get older. I made a camping checklist, which I’m going to keep handy cause we seem to forget something, EVERY TIME! You can download my FREE camping with kids checklist here!

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Family Camping & Camping With Kids Essentials

As part of my tips, let’s get started with a list of camping with kids must have items. Here is my recommended list of things you must bring with you.

1 – Camping Bin

We have a camping bin that contains all our camping stuff that we have collected through the years. We only use it when we go camping, so we know we have certain essentials because they are already in our bin. I highly suggest creating one.

We try to add at least one thing to it every year. Obviously the big stuff doesn’t fit, but a lot of it does. We are going to have to start a second bin soon.

Here are a few of our commonly used and loved items:

• Egg Holder
• Camping Skewers/Roasters
• Tarp
• Hand Sanitizer
• Grilling Spatula
• Grilling Tongs
• Dish Soap
• Paper Towels
• Paper Goods
• Plastic Utensils
• Aluminum Foil
• Wipes
• Baggies
• Trash Bags
• Lighter/Matches
• Fire Starter/Lighter Fluid
• Mixing Bowl
• Mixing Spoon
• Rubber Spatula
• Kitchen Towels
• Knife
• Cutting Board
• Measuring Cups
• Empty Tupperware Containers
• Batteries
• Seasonings
• Flashlights/Lanterns
• 14 in 1 Camping Tool

These items used to be commonly forgotten, but since we’ve created the bin, it’s made our lives so much easier. You don’t have to worry about packing your whole kitchen every time because, for example, you have your regular mixing bowls and then your camping mixing bowl that always stays with your camping things.

As a reminder you can download the full camping checklist here.

Side note: Every time you go camping you’ll forget something and want to remember it for next time. Write it down right away because you’ll never remember it!

2 – Table Cloth

A table cloth comes in handy because it makes it easier to clean up messes, which inevitably will happen. Just pick up the plastic ones from the dollar store. And when you’re done, you just wrap all the trash in it. You could buy a few so you have one a day, just in case it gets too dirty or ripped. We just recently added this to our camping bin.

3 – Rug

A rug comes in handy to put outside the tent or camper. Kids get dirty so fast, and it’s much easier wiping their feet than sweeping out of a tent.

4 – Travel Activities

If you are having to travel quite a long distance to your campsite, have some fun activities your kids can play along the way. This fun travel bundle has it all, but the snacks.

5 – Chairs

Camping chairs are the best. You can get the little kids chairs, which are super cute, and the kids LOVE them. You won’t believe this, we forgot our camping chairs this last trip! Who does that?! Of all the things to forget. We were shaking our head the whole time. If this happens to you, hopefully you have a mobile picnic table you can move close to the fire.

6 – Water Bottles

Have the kids bring their own designated water bottle that they can reuse. My son has a blue one and my daughter has a pink one. It’s easier to fill up water bottles instead of using plastic cups and bottles. This is another item you can keep in the camping bin, so you know you have them every time.

7 – Two Pairs of Shoes

We always make sure the kids have two pairs of shoes. Slip-ons for those night bathroom runs and tennis shoes for running around the woods.

8 – First-Aid Kit

Make sure you have a first aid kit on hand. But preferably one that is tailored to kids, i.e. more band-aids, Neosporin foam cleanser, kids Tylenol, kids vitamins, etc.

9 – Towels

I’ve realized that even if we aren’t going swimming, towels are always a good thing to have on hand. I usually bring about 2-3 towels and they ALWAYS come in handy somehow.

10 – Lights (including Kids Flashlights)

You can’t have too many flashlights. Here is what we have:

• Big (adult) flashlights: Also known as a nice flashlight that lasts for a while and shines really nice. We try to refrain from the kids using it, which is okay because we make sure to have kids flashlights.
• Kids flashlights: Because they always HAVE to be holding one. As soon as it gets dark my kids are asking for a flashlight. These are relatively cheap, you can buy a huge pack of them for a few bucks. You can also get some at the dollar store. If the kids break them, it’s okay because they were cheap and you have a ton of them.
• Headband lights: These come in handy so much because you are hands free. You can also get these from the dollar store, but don’t plan on those lasting long. The ones from the dollar store usually only last one camping trip at a time.
• Battery operated lantern: This one works great in the tent, or sitting at the camping table.

You could also look into solar polar string lights, I’ve heard those are pretty cool.

11 – Glow Sticks

Another light option is glow sticks. You can also get these from the dollar store. The kids love them, and they are a fun activity at night. We recently found a glowing beach ball and glowing flying saucer. Just throw the leftover ones in your camping bin.

12 – Baby Wipes

Baby wipes come in handy in every situation, even if you don’t have a baby. Always have a few on hand.

13 – Portable Potty (If Potty Training)

If you are in the potty training stage (bless you), it might be smart to have a portable potty on hand. Sometimes the restrooms are all taken, or they hold it too long and can’t make it to the bathroom in time. Super easy to take and clean up.

14 – Pack ‘N Play (If Needed)

If you have a baby or toddler, a Pack n play comes in handy. It makes a good crib at bed time and a good, safe place to set the baby or toddler down while you try to cook or get things done.

15 – Bags, Bags, and More Bags

Baggies, trash bags, and plastic bags come in handy throughout the whole trip! You’ll have trash, leftover food, opened food, muddy kids clothes, or things you want to save and you have no idea what to do with them. Bags! All size bags!

16 – Clothes Pins

Clothes pins also come in handy. Hanging up clothes, closing up bags, or pinning something down. Such a small thing, but they can do great things!

17 – Bring Activities

While there is a lot to do while camping, it’s good to bring activities for the kids to do. We usually bring an activity bag.

Some good kids camping activity ideas are:

• Sidewalk Chalk – Can create a 4-square court
• Water Guns – My little boy loves water guns and he just goes to town. Plus, they come in handy when it gets super hot and you need to cool off.
• Bubbles – You can get bubbles from the Dollar Store or make your own big container with this homemade bubble recipe.
• Frisbee
• Baseball – We bring the little kids baseball set.
• Kickball – Helps with 4-square
• Soccer Ball
• Camping Bingo
• Nature Scavenger Hunt – Here’s a simple Nature Scavenger Hunt printable that is great for toddlers.

18 – Don’t Forget the Essentials

It’s pretty easy to forget the essentials because they aren’t essential unless you need them. We try to always have these on hand in our camping bin:

• Bug spray
• Sunscreen
• Hand sanitizer
• Wipes
• Paper towels
• Snacks – You can’t have too many snacks, and it’s a good thing to have in case dinner doesn’t go as planned or it’s taking longer than usual to cook (which seems to always happen to us).
• S’mores stuff

Best Family & Camping with Kids Hacks

Now that you know the top camping with kids hacks as far as when to bring with you, let’s review some other great kids camping hacks to help you have an amazing trip.

1 – Choices

Don’t forget to let them make some of the camping choices. Some ideas include where to put the tent, what to make for dinner, what to do for dessert, and their favorite snack. Let your kids pack a small backpack of their favorite “camping approved” toys.

2 – Keep It Simple

I often forget that kids are easy to please. You don’t have to go all out to make them happy. For example, sometimes it’s better to choose the cheaper, easier option for breakfast so you can get over to the park.

3 – Dirty Clothes

Keep dirty clothes in one big trash bag so you don’t mix the campfire smelly clothes with the other ones. Plus, when you get home you can just throw them in the washer.

4 – Too Much Water

You CAN’T have too much water. We have a 5 gallon container that we take with us, plus a couple gallons of water, plus a pack of water bottles. Depending on if you are staying at a campsite with a water spout, you might not need this much. We use our 5 gallon container to wash hands, dishes, or fill up water guns. 5 gallons goes a long way, and you can easily fill it up at their water station.

It’s also great to have a few gallons of drink water to fill up water bottles, or if you have room, freeze them and put them in your cooler. We never run out of water.

5 – Hand Washing Station

Speaking of water. We usually turn our 5 gallon container into a hand washing station as well. The kids are always getting dirty, so it’s nice to have a place to “hose” them down.

6 – Don’t Stress About Bedtime

One of the things that can make a camping trip turn bad real quick is the stress behind bedtime. We have tried putting the kids to bed and then sitting by the campfire without them, but it never works. We all usually crawl into bed around 10:00 pm. This is why we can’t go camping longer than 2 nights. 🙂

7 – Unplug

We like to use camping as a time to unplug from the world. We don’t do any electronics (if we can help it), and my husband and I also stay off our phones. Plus, I think this will really come in handy as they get older and just learn to accept it.

8 – Start Small

If you have never been camping with kids before, I would recommend starting small and doing a test run. Maybe do a backyard camp night or only go for one night. You don’t want any major surprises.

9 – Set Boundaries

Make sure to set up boundaries. Our kids know about fire safety and staying close to the camp site. We go over the rules every time we go and now they are just ingrained in them, I think. One trick is to write your campsite number on your kid’s hand so if they were to get lost, hopefully someone would direct them back.

Which camping with kids hack are you going to use?

Good luck on your next camping trip. I hope some of these tips and hacks will help with your next camping with kids trip! And don’t forget your FREE Camping Checklist.

More kids activity articles you might be interested in:

• 47 Quarantine Summer Activities for Families
• 43 Free and Frugal Summer Activity Ideas
• 9 Easy Science Experiments for Kids with Household Items