Keep it Simple: Family Camping Made Easy and Fun For All

Have you ever returned from a family camping trip that felt more like a chore? Camping with your whole crew has its challenges; any parent of a toddler, teenager or potty-training child can attest to that. But what if it didn’t have to be such a challenge? Maybe, just maybe, there are ways to make it less chaotic by keeping it simple. From spacious family tents to make a site feel comfy and homey, to planning activities and simple meals to fuel and fill the days, here are tips to make family camping easy and fun for everyone.

8 Tips to Make Family Camping Trips Easy and Fun

1. Choose a Local Campground With Amenities

One of the best ways to make family camping trips easy? Stay close to home! Book a campground that’s only a few hours drive and within a town or region you’re already familiar with. Simply put: It’s less of a commitment and keeps the stakes low, in case you need to head home.

And when you do stay local, be sure to choose a campground that offers amenities like restrooms and showers. Until your kids and teens are mature and capable enough to dig a cathole or the like, this will make camping trips far more comfortable (hygienically speaking) and easy for everyone.

2. Create a Comfortable Shelter

Families often consider booking a cabin for camping, mainly because it offers a sense of safety and privacy, and feels much like a home. It's certainly preferable to a tight, stuffy nylon tent. However, there are far better tent options available that can feel just as homey, such as canvas bell tents and safari-style wall tents.

These style tents offer spacious interiors for large families (choose an appropriate size) and the canvas means breathability and natural sunlight, making your tent far more inviting than a dark, cramped-feeling cabin. Additionally, you can fill that space with comfortable camp furniture and other tent accessories, such as bunk-bed style cots (kids love them!) and camp chairs.

3. Let Kids Pitch In and Participate

Kids are generally thrilled to help out around the campsite. Plus, small tasks keep kids from getting bored while also helping set up or break down camp. Of course, some tasks like pitching the tent and starting a bonfire should be left to the adults, but they can help by bringing you stakes from the tent bag or picking up kindling. If kids are older or teenagers, they can help set up the camp kitchen or unfold camp chairs.

4. Plan a Few Fun Activities

Besides allowing kids to pitch in with chores, you can also beat boredom with a few family-friendly activities. Research the area and find activities or pack games and things for them to do (especially for those rainy days). Consider bringing along family games for everyone, especially portable yard games, as well as a few small things like coloring books or a nature-themed scavenger hunt.

Look into the area you’ll be camping for other fun outings. Consider easy, kid-friendly hikes or bike trails, visiting local pick-your-own farms, attending seasonal festivals, or spending a day cooling off on the water (at a pool, lake, or beach). The campground bulletin board might also offer inspiration.

5. But Remember to Keep Plans Flexible

The opposite of the previous tip is also true. Don’t force an activity or routine on your kids. Sure, there are lots of parental reverse-psychology mind games that work to reframe and entice an activity into something you already know they’ll find enjoyable. But ultimately, let your kids choose their routine (sleeping, eating, playtime) and learn to go with the flow. Practicing flexibility ensures family camping is less stressful.

6. Keep Meals Fun and as Simple as Possible

Meal planning should be simple. Cook and pack meals at home to free up time for memory-making at the campsite. Pre-cooked, foil-wrapped meals are great if you have time, but you can make it even easier than that. Think easy-to-cook mealslike campfire-grilled hotdogs or cans of chili and soup. Packing pre-diced veggies or fruit (watermelon is perfect!) offers treats the family can grab when they're feeling snacky.

Mealtime can also be a lot of fun. You can let kids interact and prepare their food, teaching them how to safely cook over the fire with accessories like skewers and pie irons. And you can plan fun desserts, such as s’mores and Dutch oven cobblers, too.

7. Make Cleaning Up Easy on Yourself

Meal-planning brings us to another tip. At home, it’s easy to wash sticky hands and pick up the kitchen table after meals. But at a campsite? Not so much. Do yourself a favor and make clean-up easy by bringing wipeable tablecloths, a collapsible sink for cleaning cookware, or even compostable plates and utensils you can pack out. A portable shower/spray hose doubles as a handy tool to help rinse dishes and dirt/sand off gear or little hands.

8. Keep the Camping Trip Short & Sweet

Longer family camping trips require more planning, meals, activities, and gear. So one no-brainer tip for keeping everything easier and fun is to think short and sweet.

Limiting a family camping trip to a weekend or a quick 3-day triphas two advantages. First, it reduces the stress of planning that often falls on the adults. And second, it caps how long you’re away from home. Because let’s face it, as much as you may want your entire family and kids (teenagers especially) to appreciate a week in nature away from it all, everyone can hit their limit. So cap that outdoor time and keep the memories precious.

Easy Family Camping Trips Create Learning Experiences

Each time you venture away on a family camping trip, you’ll discover how to make it easier and more fun. You’ll learn basic things like how much food you really need to pack. Or what activities and games keep the crew from going stir-crazy. You might even pick up a few clever tips and tricks from campsite neighbors who have kids too. Either way, it helps to make notes and camping lists to help you pull it off perfectly next time.

The best family camping tips and tricks make life at the site go smoothly. Share your advice with us and help fellow families out!