36 fun family camping hacks, activities + games to save your sanity

Whenever I go camping with my young kids, friends corner me with questions. Or rather, just one question: How do you camp with young kids and not go crazy? Believe me, I was there, too. I used to stress so much about our upcoming trips in the great outdoors. By now, though, I’ve gone camping with kids often enough that I’ve gathered these super-useful family camping hacks.

If you just use these family camping hacks (and perhaps adjust your expectations), you’ll fall back in love with all things camping.

Family camping fun is totally attainable, especially if you take a few of these hacks, tips, games and activities—all tested by me when camping with kids!

One last thing before I dive into all the great camping hacks! If you’re traveling to your campground, you’re going to love my book, Road Trip Games & Activities for Kids. Click the image below and snag yourself a copy of the e-book or paperback. The fun, customizable games and free printables will keep you entertained along every mile between home and the campsite—and beyond!

Family camping hacks to make you love camping again

I vividly remember my family’s first camping trip after having kids. My daughter had just turned 1, and we spent a long weekend in a rustic part of Oregon, near Cougar Reservoir off the McKenzie River. I hadn’t planned on it being a relaxing, rejuvenating vacation, but I was wholly unprepared for the amount of work it took to camp with kids.

At the end of the trip, I was exhausted, pissed off at my husband and never wanting to camp again.

Here’s the thing, though. Camping with kids can be an absolute delight, too.

So find those s’mores sticks, pack up the tent and get ready for family camping that is actually fun!

Camping hacks to make packing a breeze

1. Keep all your camping gear together

To make camping as easy as grab-and-go, put all your camping gear in a clear plastic bin. That way, you’ll never have to pack and repack all your gear, search for lanterns or ask yourself if you actually have camp soap. 

This is what we keep in our camping gear box:

• Plates, bowls, silverware, mugs and sharp knives
• Cutting board
• Camp soap (it’s biodegradable, so it won’t harm wildlife and rivers nearby) 
• Toilet paper
• Flashlights and lanterns (we use this flashlight because it will never break!)
• Collapsible camp chairs
• Mosquito repellant (we use this kid-safe bug spray)
• Mineral sunscreen (we use this SPF 50+ sunscreen that doesn’t damage ocean life, coral reefs or other sensitive wildlife)
• Fire starters
• Matches and a lighter
• Hatchet
• Plastic garbage bags
• Rope (we use this for many things, e.g. extending our dog’s leash and stringing up for a clothesline)
• Duct tape
• A hammock

2. Refill and replace your camping gear bin

As soon as you get home, replace anything you used up in your last family camping trip. That way, you’ll never have to second-guess if you have enough toilet paper for another family camping adventure!

3. Pack less

Ok, our minivan is always stuffed to the brim with a cooler, camping boxes, our big family tent, our clothes, the kids’ scooters and bikes, etc etc etc. But we pare down where we can. 

For example, we don’t bring a ton of changes of clothes. I average just one change per day. We’re not on a fashion show, and I don’t mind if the kids’ t-shirts are a little grimy.

Camping hacks for a cleaner campground

4. Pack wipes. Then pack more.

Wipes are pretty much the most important thing to bring on your family camping trip. When water, baths and washing machines are far, far away, a quick wipe does wonders.

5. Set up a hand washing station

You’ll also want a hand washing station when camping with kids. Set up a water jug with a spigot over a bucket or plastic bin (so the water that falls doesn’t make a muddy mess underneath). We usually set up ours at the edge of a picnic table.

Bar soap can get grubby real fast, since kids will likely drop it in the dirt the first time they go to wash hands. Avoid this camping mess by drilling a hole into regular bar soap when you’re at home. Then thread a piece of rope or string through the hole and attach it to the spigot. Voila, no more mess at your camping hand washing station!

6. Wipe your feet!

Keep a door mat in front of your family tent entrance. That way, kids will wipe off their feet before tracking pine needles into your sleeping space.

You and your kids should also take shoes off before getting into your family tent. That said, my kids mostly run around barefoot when we go camping, so a doormat helps keep dirt out.

7. Dry damp gear

Towels, swimming suits, clothes—it’s all bound to get wet. You want it to dry quickly without falling in the dirt and getting absolutely filthy. Here’s a camping hack to keep your gear dry and (relatively) clean:

Drape your wet towels and gear over your family tent poles. Using clothespins, clip the fabric to the poles. It may not look too classy, but you’ll have dry gear in no time.

8. Separate dirty clothes

Bring a big cloth bag (those big blue IKEA bags also work great) to wrangle dirty clothes. That way, your kids’ muddy pants won’t get mixed up in their clean clothes. 

Level 10 travel tip: When you get home, simply dump this whole bag into the washing machine. No sorting through packed bags necessary!

9. Embrace dirt!

Even if you keep your home spotless, you’ll need to let go of some of your ideas of cleanliness when you’re camping. Things are just dirtier out in the woods, and you’ll have a much better time camping with kids if you let some of the need to clean go.

Your kids might love it, too! My own girls embrace the #wildchild ethos of camping and get real dirty. I figure it’s fine, and we’ll go back to baths when we get home.

(We don’t bathe our kids when we camp. They get washed off-ish when we play in the river or lake, but that’s about it! So if you need permission to skip a few baths—you got it!)

Fun camping activities for families

10. This isn’t a rave, it’s camping!

Ok, so glow sticks might remind you of that brief period where you danced at raves in abandoned warehouses (no? just me?), but they are our #1 family camping activity to bring extra fun to the great outdoors. I pick up a pack of glow sticks (or bracelets, necklaces or even wands) from the Dollar Store or the dollar spot at Target. For mere pennies, you’ll create a night your kids will never forget.

You can have a dance party (pacifier necklaces optional!), play catch or hide and seek with the neon-glowing goodies. Just be careful to clean them up when you’re done.

Level 10 travel tip: Attach a glow stick to your dog’s leash. You’ll not only keep an eye on him in the dark; your kids will also think it’s hilarious.

11. A front-row seat to a nighttime show

I know bats and bugs—and other critters that come out at night—aren’t going to win any popularity contests. But your kids (and you!) can lose some of that eep-factor by letting them put on a nighttime show for you.

Simply stretch out a white sheet between some trees on your campsite, then aim a powerful lantern at the sheet. Bugs will be attracted to the light (remember that adage about moths and flames?), and bats will swoop in to feast. (You’re welcome for the bug buffet, little bats!)

This unusual and entertaining nighttime family camping activity is something you’d never do at home, which makes family camping fun—and totally unforgettable.

12. Let nature inspire arts and crafts

When we go camping with kids, I always pack a few arts and crafts supplies. I bring the bare minimum, though, so the kids can use nature in their projects, too.

By bringing just paper and glue, the girls are inspired to make nature collages. This is a particularly good activity for when the kids need quiet time—or Mom needs a few uninterrupted minutes to sip on a can of wine.

Looking for more outdoor crafts and activities? Check out my full post on more than 30 camping art projects.

13. Campsite tic-tac-toe

My kids love tic-tac-toe, and this nature-inspired version of the game is a total blast!

First, take four sticks and lay them out in the # sign. That’s your board. 

Then get your kids to each collect 5 of the same items—rocks, pine cones, flowers, whatever. These will be their X’s and O’s!

Set up on a side of your campsite or on a tree stump so their game doesn’t get interrupted, and let the fun camping games begin!

14. Map the campground

If you brought along paper—or even tore off a portion of a paper grocery bag—your kids can draw a map of the campground. Then they can play explorers!

Better yet, have them draw a map and hide treasure somewhere. Then they can challenge someone else to find the hidden treasure. X marks the spot!

15. Create a camping bucket

On one camping trip with my kids and their friends, I made camping buckets for all the littles. With a few bucks at the dollar store, I quickly created an individual camping activity kit for each child.

Simply buy some buckets and write each child’s name on his or her own bucket with puffy paint. Then fill the bucket with a handful of camping activity items they can use the whole trip. I filled our buckets with:

• a magnifying glass
• a notebook and pen
• chalk
• bubbles
• chip clips (these work great as “pinchers”—for some reason, little kids love picking up sticks, grass stems and more with these!)

Camping safety for kids and families

16. Personal first aid kits in an Altoids tin

Pack each child their own first aid kit, or what the internet calls a “boo boo kit.” In an Altoids tin or old medication bottle, pack a few band-aids of different sizes, a few wipes in a ziplock bag and other first aid gear.

This kid on YouTube has a genius tutorial on making your own boo boo kit, or mini first aid kit in an Altoids tin. 

Kids will love to carry their own first aid kit when you go hiking or on other adventures. It makes them feel so important!

You should also have a well stocked first aid kit on hand. We always have one in our go-bag in the back of the minivan. (If you haven’t made one of your own yet, I strongly recommend you keep one in each of your cars in case of a major emergency. We live in Portland, where the risk of an eventual major earthquake is high, so we have a survival go-bag similar to this one.)

17. Call a safety meeting

When you arrive at camp, call a safety meeting first thing. This is when you and your kids will go over all the safety details to keep everyone in tip-top shape during your family camping trip.

Some topics to cover:

• Fire safety: How to behave around the camp fire
• Off-limits areas: How far kids can roam on their own, and when they need an adult
• Water safety: If you’re camping near a river, lake or ocean, tell kids they cannot go anywhere near the water without an adult
• Poisonous plants: If poison oak, ivy or sumac grows where you are camping, show kids what it looks like so they can avoid it

18. No berries, no mushrooms

Make sure everyone understands this important camping rule: Never eat mushrooms or berries. Even delicious-looking fruit and fungi can be poisonous.

19. Avoid bugs

We regularly burn citronella candles to keep mosquitoes at bay in the morning and at dusk. If your kids are too busy running around to benefit from this natural insect repellant, have them DIY bug repellant bracelets:

Tie the ends of three strips of cloth in a knot. Then have them braid those strips together, creating a band. Soak the band in a mixture of naturally bug repellant essential oils (such as citronella) and then tie it to your child’s wrist.

You may also want to bring a wasp trap to keep yellow jackets and other stinging insects away from your kids.

20. Keep foods safe

When you’re outdoors, it’s super-important to pay attention to storing your food safely. You’ll want to pack lots of ice in your cooler to keep meat and other perishable food at a safe temperature so your crew doesn’t get food poisoning.

If you want more, check out my post and infographic on how to pack a cooler correctly.

When you prep your meals, keep food out on a picnic table the least amount of time possible. That leaves less time for bacteria to grow. And put any leftovers back in the cooler immediately.

Bring along small ice packs to keep food cold when you go on hikes or picnics. There’s nothing worse than catching a tummy bug from not keeping foods cold enough!

21. Keep wildlife away

If you camp in bear country, your camp site will probably have a bear box to secure your food. But no matter where you camp, it’s a good idea to keep all food—including coolers—inside your car, if you go drive-up camping.

Many many years ago, before we had kids, Hubs and I went camping with a bunch of friends. We left a bunch of food out overnight. (We may have consumed one or several alcoholic beverages…) In the middle of the night, we woke up to noises in the campsite. We peeked out our tent and shined a light on a SKUNK eating muffins on the picnic table!

You don’t want bear, skunks or any other critters nosing through your stuff. So keep everything secured, especially overnight, to avoid unwelcome wildlife!

Family camping meals made easier

22. Pre-prep as much food as possible

My motto when it comes to camping meals is the more I do at home, the better. I’m not into doing a bunch of chopping when bugs are everywhere, camp fire ash always seems to drift toward the picnic table, and I’d rather be playing with my kids.

So I do as much as I humanly can to prep camping meals before we ever leave home.

For example, I’ll make a big quinoa vegetable salad, chop veggies for tin foil dinners, and even pre-grill burgers. That way, when my kids and I are starving after a super-fun day camping, dinner doesn’t take an hour to make. I can just throw a few things on the coals to warm up and BAM! Dinner is served.

23. Coozies for sippy cups

When my kids drink their morning milk, their poor hands used to get freezing cold holding a sippy cup. After all, mornings when you first wake up camping can be chilly!

Then I found this genius family camping hack: Stick sippy cups in a beer coozie! Their hands will stay nice and warm.

24. More s’mores in the morning

Before you try to roast me over the fire for parenting blasphemy, hear me out why s’mores in the morning is actually a good idea. After all, whoever thought giving kids marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate just before bed never had to struggle to get littles to sleep in a tent. S’mores at night make no sense!

That’s why when we go camping with kids, we do s’mores either after breakfast or in the afternoon. That way, kids have lots of time and opportunity to run off their sugar buzz. My kids are much more likely to fall asleep in our family tent if they didn’t just eat a ton of sweets!

25. DIY foil dinners

Kids like to be in charge. (Or maybe that’s just mine being bossy leaders?) That’s one reason why DIY foil dinners over the camp fire is the perfect family camping meal!

All you need to do is set out an array of pre-chopped ingredients. Then everyone can select what they want in their foil dinner. Here’s how to make ’em:

Set out a long rectangle of tin foil. Place your ingredients in the middle. Drizzle with olive oil, garlic, any sauce you want, and seasonings. Fold the tin foil around the ingredients, creating a compact rectangular package. (You may need to double-wrap the package in a second layer of tin foil.) Place the package on hot coals (not over flames) and turn halfway through cooking. Our foil dinners typically take a half-hour to cook.

Some ideas for DIY foil dinner ingredients:

• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Broccoli
• Onion
• Sweet potatoes
• Tempeh

26. Never underestimate the appeal of a good weenie

100% of the time we go camping, hot dogs are on the menu. But when we camp, I’ve told everyone they must be called camping weenies. (because how fun is that?!)

Kids love grilling their own food, and a plain ol’ hotdog tastes extra-good after a long day of outdoor fun.

Sure, you can make a gourmet camping meal—there are about a million pins for those. But when we camp, simplicity is the name of the game. You don’t have to be fancy; after all, you’re in the woods.

Tricks to make family camping more comfortable

27. Pick your campsite strategically

Most state parks and other reservable campsites have maps of the park layout. When selecting the campsite you reserve, pay attention to what’s nearby.

You do not want to camp next to the camp bathrooms. (These areas get tons of foot traffic from the rest of the campground going to do their business.) Plus, they can smell. Yuck!

In addition, do not camp next to a garbage station. These are super-stinky and similarly get a lot of coming and going.

When you avoid those spots, you and your kids will be much more comfortable—and have a lot more fun camping.

28. Send kids on stick patrol

Before we set up our tent, I send my kids on a mission: Pick up every stick and pinecone you can within the area where we’ll set up our tent. I make it into some kind of game so they actually get excited about clearing a spot for our family tent. That way, sticks and rocks don’t make an uneven, bumpy floor in our tent!

29. Cushion your sleeping bag

No one wants to sleep with a tree root poking them in the back. Depending on what level of comfort you and your kids need to sleep while camping, there are options for you:

• If you’re used to couchsurfing… put a yoga mat beneath your sleeping bag.
• If you’re used to motels… put an inflatable raft beneath your sleeping bag. (These double as fun floaties on the lake during the day!)
• If you’re used to hotels… set up a camping cot and sleep off the ground.
• If you’re used to 4 star accommodation… put an inflatable mattress beneath your sleeping bag.

TBH, we got tired of the yoga mat route, so we invested in a queen-sized inflatable mattress and a battery-powered pump that inflates it in mere minutes. We sleep so much better while camping now! And we’ll never go back to sleeping on the ground. Because everyone has a lot more fun on a family camping trip if you actually slept.

30. Recreate your kids’ home sleeping environment

The first time we went camping with kids, we didn’t think to bring along a white noise machine—and boy did we pay for it! My older daughter, who was just 1 at the time, hardly slept at all.

The same goes for whatever your kids require to sleep well. If they use a lovey at home, bring that. You get the idea.

31. Double up on jammies

Where we camp in the Pacific Northwest, some nights get cold. Temperatures sometimes drop to the 40s or even close to freezing!

To keep kids comfortable at night in the tent, I layer jammies. I’ll usually put them in a two-piece pajama set with a fleece footed pajama on top. That way I don’t worry when they inevitably squirm out of their sleeping bag in the middle of the night. They still stay warm.

32. Keep clothes warm

Early mornings tend to be chilly when you’re camping. Help ease the transition from sleep to a glorious day by keeping the next day’s clothes inside your sleeping bag all night. They’ll stay toasty warm from your body heat, so you and your kids don’t get chilled when changing your clothes!

33. Bust out a camping poncho

I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that somehow, flashlights always get misplaced when you’re camping. (Why? How? Maybe campsite gremlins!)

To keep track of this ultra-necessary bit of camping gear, designate one spot where the flashlight is always returned to. We have a mesh pocket near the door of our family tent where a flashlight lives at all times. That way, if someone has to get up to pee in the middle of the night, they don’t have to search in the dark to find a light!

35. Peeing in the woods…?

My family spends a lot of time outdoors, so ever since my kids were old enough to recognize they had to go #1, they were able to pee in the woods. But not every child is as comfortable using the Great Outdoors as their personal potty.

That’s why I recommend bringing a portable potty, even if they’ve been using a regular toilet for a while. (We have this potty and swear by it because it’s easy to clean and doesn’t take up much space.)

Your kids may be grossed out by the restrooms in campsites anyway and prefer to use a potty. And children who recently potty trained may need to wear a diaper or pull-up to bed in case of accidents. Sleeping in an unfamiliar place, especially where they’d have to pee in the dark, may mean children who stay dry through the night have uncharacteristic accidents.

36. Embrace the adventure!

The biggest thing you can do to ensure a fun family camping trip is adjust your expectations. You probably won’t sleep as well as you do at home. Your kids may skip naps, throw tantrums or trip over a tent pole. That’s ok; family camping isn’t perfect.

Your kids won’t remember the crummy moments. They will remember the special time you spent together as a family outdoors. So just roll with the not-so-great parts of camping with kids.

And if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the six summers we’ve spent family camping, it’s that it gets easier every time. So pack up that tent and get ready to make memories!

Camping with kids for a summer of fun

Do you feel more prepared for family camping now? Do my recommendations for family camping hacks, fun camping activities for families and gear recommendations make you feel more confident? I’m pretty sure they do.

So here’s to a summer full of glorious camping trips. See you out there!