Top Tips to Planning a Successful Camping Holiday with the Kids.
Family camping trips are fun and exciting, especially with school-age children. They can instil a love of the outdoors in kids, a respect for nature and wildlife and are good for your and your children’s physical and emotional wellbeing. A family camping trip can also be a great way to celebrate an important life event, test your survival skills, or simply relax and enjoy your surroundings. Single parent camping holidays are a great way to have an inexpensive and enjoyable holiday with kids.
Whether you are a seasoned camper or a first-time camper, it’s important to plan and prepare your camping trip well in advance to ensure you and your family have a smooth ride, from buying camping essentials and planning your holiday itinerary to ensuring your vehicle and trailer are safe to use for your family camping trip.
Let’s take a look at how you can make the most of your camping trip with your family:
Follow Campsite Rules and Camping Etiquette
You have chosen the perfect location for your family camping trip; but did you know the importance of knowing and following campground rules and camping etiquette? While camping in the wild can be an excellent outdoor adventure for families, you want to ensure that you don’t violate any rules to avoid getting banned or restricted from using any established campsites. Adhering to campground rules means everyone, your family included, gets to enjoy and make the most of the site. Campsite rules are clearly advertised so make sure you and your family familiarise yourself with the rules of the site you are staying at before you set out on your camping holiday.
In addition, you should ensure you and your children follow camping etiquette. Camping offers a great sense of community, yet to ensure everyone has a positive camping experience, all campers must adhere to camping etiquette:
- Always keep in mind that every national park and camping site has its own set of camp rules, such as trailer size restrictions. For most campsites, the permitted trailer size is between 20 and 40 feet, like the trailers from Johnston RV Country.
- Don’t litter. Clean the area you used and throw any trash in designated waste disposal containers.
- Don’t disturb the wildlife, and do not destroy plants – respect the local flora and fauna.
- Always observe proper RV etiquette. Turn the lights off when you’re ready to call it a night because awning lights may disturb fellow campers and are often a source of complaint.
- If you’re travelling with pets, be aware that their behaviour can have an impact on other campers. Constantly barking dogs may ruin the camping experience of your neighbours.
- Quiet hours for most campgrounds are between 10 pm and 6 am. Respect quiet hours by not playing loud music and keeping noise levels down.
Have Fun and Bond with Your Kids
Any outdoor activity, camping included, is a great opportunity to bond with your kids. If you like the idea of strengthening the relationship with your children, you should plan some special activities to ensure you make the most of your time together.
Here are some tips to help you have more quality time with your family when camping:
- Use your camping trip as an opportunity to teach your children about nature and wildlife. There are lots of games & activities you can do outside with kids, such as treasure hunts, camping bingo or ‘I spy’.
- There are lots of great card and board games that are perfect to keep you and your family entertained in the evenings. Try to find some that your kids don’t know yet and that are fun for all ages. You can add your own twist to make the games unique by incorporating special challenges.
- Make your camping experience more memorable by sharing stories with your children over a campfire about your own camping trips when you were young, and about how camping might differ now.
- Take lots of photos of your family camping trip, including shots that include all of you. This way you can preserve your wonderful holiday memories. A great way to showcase the best family shots is to convert them to canvas prints and hang them on the wall.
Stay Healthy on Your Camping Holiday
Becoming sick on a camping holiday is unfortunate but can happen, especially if you travel with children. Always be prepared and carry an outdoor first-aid kit. It should contain the usual essentials, such as a set of plasters, bandages, wound cleansing solutions, anti-allergy medication and ointments, a thermometer, pain killers, and anti-fever medication.
One way to stay healthy and safe on your family camping holiday is by bringing bottled water. This way you will avoid diarrhoea, especially if you are on holiday with teenagers or young children who have sensitive tummies. It is not safe to drink tap water in campground areas or natural spring water in mountains or forests because there is a risk of the water being contaminated.
The key to making the most of your family camping trip is proper planning. Make sure that you know the campground rules and have packed and planned as many details of your trip as possible well in advance. If this is your first camping trip as a family, consider doing a test run. You could go away for the weekend, stay one night at your local campsite for one night or even put up a tent in your garden. A camping trial run is a fun experience for the whole family and gives you the opportunity to spot any issues before the big camping trip. After all, you want to make the most of your family camping trip.
