Help! I'm going camping with my 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 yr old daughters next week and I need help with ideas of easy fun activities I can do to keep them entertained. Note we are going camping for 7 days (yup) and it rains at least some part of the day for 90% of the time we are up there. (I know your asking yourself why we go where it rains) It's really pretty and it's also a location picked my other family members that have been camping there for years. Luckily we have a small (really small) camping trailer. It's dry so I'm not complaining. My 1 1/2 year old is fearless and I'm afraid she'll just walk into the woods and not look back. We love camping so I'm excited but also worried how I'll keep my kids safe and happy. Those of you that are daring enough to ruff in in the woods what have you done with your little ones to keep them safe and to keep them having fun?
Thanks
Ps Also what really, really easy and fast meal ideas do you have. Apparently my hands are going to be to full to create a gourmet dutch oven meal every night.
My husband's aunt and her whole family camp A LOT and they have this good sized inflatable pool that they take with them. They blow it up and put toys in it and put the little ones in it to play. They are at that age where they chew on toys so it keeps them clean and it helps keeps the crawlers and early walkers safe.
one thing I like to do for safety is get glow stick necklaces. When my son (who is 6, so he gets more running around that your little ones might) is camping with me it helps me SO much to keep track of him at dusk when it's harder to spot him.
That's all the tips I have for you, but I LOVE camping and I love hearing that you're going. Have a great time!!!!
We just got back from camping and had a blast! However, here in Colorado, the water was CRAZY high and we had to threaten the kids (3, 6 and 7)to stay away. Don't know about UT though, just keep it in mind.
What works for us are hot dogs (either over the fire, or boiled in the trailer), easy Lipton side dishes, ramen noodles, instant Quaker oatmeal and mac and cheese (which goes well with hotdogs). If you can, invest in or borrow a pressure cooker. You can make so wonderful meals in 1/4 of the time in a single pot. I'm all about easy cleanup and quick meals so we can enjoy our time, not maintain all week. Can't help too much with a Dutch oven. I believe you have to cook that all day.....right? I think you will have your hands full of kids...much less cooking.
For entertainment, I brought the glow necklaces (worked for fun and as a night light) and little, cheap flashlights. We had fun seeing how things looked different at night. We brought bubbles (various types....we threw a football that had an attachement that made bubbles as it soared...etc) and did lots of exploring. My kids love books, so we read and colored when the rain hit. We also had rain coats and since we could get dry in the camper, I let them play in the rain and change into dry clothes and hung the others to dry. Change of clothes, socks and shoes were essential. I had the kids bring one pair on tennis shoes, and one pair of slip-ons to kick around in at camp. Of course that made for some dirty feet, but happy kids. :) The ribbons sound like a fun thing too!
Good luck! Have fun!
Updated
Totally forgot one of our good ole standbys.....pipe cleaners!!! The can make into all kinds of things!! Letters, shapes, jewelry....whatever! We use those on cars trips too and you can just straighten them for the next round!
The glow stick necklaces are a great idea. I used those light up pacifier necklaces on july 4th (couldn't find the glow necklaces) and loved it. Does the camping trailer lock? Being in a desert area, you have to find a way to lock it. That's what I am most scared of with my daughter, is her walking out of the tent while I'm asleep. They can be very quiet sometimes lol. I put a lock on the tent when we go to sleep.
Hobo stew is a great meal
Chicken or steak fajitas (chicken or steak pre-cooked)
6 can tortilla soup (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/six-can-chicken-tortilla-sou...)
Tostadas (taco salad basically), just pack the cold stuff in separate zip lock bags in an ice-filled cooler and pre-cook the ground beef
I like this site for some meal ideas for camping
http://www.quietjourney.com/recipes/
Grilled peanut butter sandwiches (I heard they were really good, can't wait to try them myself)
We started camping with my son when he was 9 months old in a tent, i put my sleeping bag across the opening because him getting out was my biggest fear too.
Entertainment ... I am a bit of an over-planner and googled and had an activity for every day .. now that he's 5 he defines the games so I have forgotten many, but .... One fun thing I remember was to take a piece of masking tape and put it around their wrists sticky side out and go out and make bracelets out of natural things you find on a little walk by sticking flowers and leaves to the sticky tape. . I also brought a bunch of colored ribbons and some of those plastic rings that hold your shower curtain up and we tied pieces of ribbon on the rings and decorated the trees around our camp. Girls may not be as into this as my boy was, but I also bought one of those bug homes with the magnifying glass and we captured a different critter every day and made him a home. For inside when it is raining, lots of play dough and books.
For food an easy recipe is to take a hamburger patty, onions, carrots and cut up potatoes wrap it in a foil packet and cook it over the coals. We also usually do shish ka bobs when we camp, but i cut up and marinate all the meat and veggies before I leave (so i don't have to drag spices and stuff with me) and use one of those baskets instead of the skewers.
We camp quite a bit, and it is fun & exhausting with little ones! My usual fears for my kids are keeping them warm at night & getting too far away for me to see them. Years ago, while hiking in Yellowstone with a ranger, I asked him why he had little jingle bells tied to his shoes. He said it was for the bears. I think it would work just as well for little ones. You'd be able to hear them every time they stepped, and it would be easier to keep track of them.
Some mini-kid binoculars have been a hit with my kids for camping trips & nature hikes. (You can even make your own with 2 toilet paper roll tubes taped together & decorated.) As well as a special bag or bucket to gather "treasures" in while on nature hikes. Sidewalk chalk if you're camping where there are big rocks. (I always take some when we go to Moab.) Glow bracelets, kid card games (Go Fish, Old Maid, etc.) for playing in the evenings, and a battery powered lantern are also must-have things for us. The lantern is great because the kids can hold it & it can also double as a night light until the kids fall asleep.
I was in charge of all the food for 30 people for 5 days for girls camp last year. I wanted to make good food that would be easy to make. I pre-cooked all the hamburger that we were using and put them into pre-measured baggies. We had spaghetti one night so I seasoned some ground beef with italian seasoning, onions & garlic and wrote "Spaghetti" on the baggie. The night of the dinner, I added the ground beef to the sauce & the cooked noodles & served it. Then we had taco salads another night, so I had seasoned the ground beef with taco seasoning & tomato sauce & wrote "Tacos" on the baggie. I froze the baggies of meat too, so it would also help keep the other foods cold.
For breakfast, we had "Boil-in-bag omlettes" where you get quart size freezer bags & put all your ingredients into it, eggs, ham chunks, olive slices, diced onions, peppers & tomatoes. Add a little S&P and put them (make sure they're sealed good) into a pot of boiling water. It only takes a few minutes & they're really tasty & super easy to clean up. Quart size is good for one or two people. The freezer bags work better than regular sandwich baggies because they're a bit thicker & the zipper part stays closed better.
Dutch oven chicken is easy too. Just take your favorite chicken pieces (breasts, thighs, wings, whatever) and put them in the dutch oven. Pour your favorite bbq sauce over it & "bake" it until the chicken is done. Dutch oven potatoes are easy too. Layer thinly sliced potatoes (season how you like) & onions, and then some shredded cheddar cheese and ham chunks. Bake until tender. Right before it is done, put a layer of cheese on & let it get all gooey & tasty.
By far the best hit EVER is dutch oven cinnamon roll. Get the Rhodes bread dough. Thaw it out & once it is thawed out, roll each loaf out into a "snake" about an inch or so in diameter. Then, mix some sugar (granulated or brown) with cinnamon (do the proportions of sugar & cinnamon to your taste). Roll the "snakes" in the sugar to coat them. Then, start at the middle of the dutch oven & wind the "snake" around to make a spiral. Use all 3 loaves to fill one 12" dutch oven. Let them rise for 30-45 minutes, or until they've doubled in size. "Bake them until they're starting to get a light golden brown. Let them cool a bit & then drizzle with some icing (powdered sugar, milk & vanilla). Enjoy them while they're warm & with a glass of cold milk! They're delicious & really easy. Your oldest can help with this & have fun helping too.
Baby wipes are great for the evening wipe down of the kids too. Let them get dirty, have fun & make LOTS of memories! Have a blast & good luck!
Shellie
Can you take the kids to the vet and have those micro chips put in them? j/k, but, put bells around their necks, watch them close. Do you have one of those sectioned gate/fence things to make a closed in area for them to play? A play pen maybe for the youngest so you can cook and not worry she is walking off into the sunset.
Meals,, make burger patties to bbq, hot dogs, sketti already made and you just heat it up, its always better the second day anyway. Chicken breasts, ready to go. Get stuff all ready at home and into ziploc bags. Less work, less prep, less clean up. Mac salad done and ready, in a container. fruit cut up and ready before you go, Veggies sliced, diced, seasoned and buttered wrapped in foil to toss on the fire. Steams in its own bag. Bake potatoes before you go, wrap them in foil, and warm on the grill. Camping is wonderful because even burned toast tastes sooo good!
I have four kids and so far have only camped with 3 of them. I have never once had a hard time finding something for them to do. They run around, play in the dirt, go in and out of the tents, campers, etc. We bring some toys and books but don't remember them touching the bag. I must say, I do watch them like a hawk. They all of course are lectured constantly that if I cannot see them they are too far but two of them were 1 and 3 and still did not have listening skills on all the time. Luckily they have never ventured off on me yet.
Some of the things I do with them are go on hikes, look for bugs and critters, take pictures, bird watching, marsh mellow roasting, etc. Since you will be stuck inside sometimes, you will just want to arm yourself with indoor fun, like the toy bag, books and coloring.
As far as easy meals, I usually prep everything before we go. I have the obvious, hamburger patties and hot dogs over the fire. Then I set up chopped veggies and pre-seared meats to make a stew to cook all day, I have veggies sealed up in tin foil to cook on a grill. As long as I prepare everything before I go I find all meals to be easier.
Good luck and happy camping.
