First Time Camping with Kids
We took our first camping trip, together as a family, to Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park, just outside of Birmingham, AL. Check out their website here for more details about their campsite. It was a great setup, we enjoyed camping there, as well as hiking and exploring. We loved our first time camping together as a family and also learned some valuable lessons. We learned a little more about what activities to plan, what gear to pack, and what food to make while camping. Check out some of my tips to prep for your next camping trip as a family!
Family Activities for a Camping Trip
- We love to go hiking as a family, and it’s such a fun way to explore the outdoors as a part of our camping experience.
- Fun sports games like frisbee, throwing a football, Spike ball, etc. Growing up my family always played frisbee golf and it was the best! My dad would make up a course for us and we had so much fun playing that together.
- Card games are really fun for camping, as well. Even young kids can understand how to play Uno, so it’s a great choice.
Top 10 Best Gear for Camping with Kids
- Solar Charger Powered Portable Bank, this was a miracle to have camping for so many reasons. It just needed to sit out in the sun to charge, and it had a strong light that we used as a lantern at night time. We were also able to charge our phones using it. Such a great product to have on hand!
- Lightweight Sleeping Pad this is one that I haven’t tried, but want to try on our next camping trip. We brought a queen blowup mattress, but quickly discovered it was very challenging to actually get it blown up. Kurt took it in the car and couldn’t completely blow it up to transport it, which meant it was also really uncomfortable for sleeping.
- An outdoor blanket, is a must! We really liked using our outdoor blanket for the little ones to sit on at meal times. The styles and options from Picnic Time are my personal favorite. You can also use the code: BLOSSOM20 for 20% off their products and free shipping.
- Folding table, this is another product we really could’ve used, and will definitely be packing next time.
- Popup 6-person tent, we were able to fit all 5 of us very comfortably in this tent, and we loved how easy it was to put up and take down. We were also able to fit our pack-and-play which was really nice to have for our baby.
- Hammock, another item that we would love to bring along for a future camping trip. We saw so many campsites with hammocks set up and it looked so relaxing and nice.
- Telescoping, marshmallow stick, we just used the cheap metal roasting sticks, but these ones I linked from Amazon are pretty cool!
- Instant popup canopy, since we experienced rain for a few hours our first night ever camping with kids, we were definitely wishing we had packed one of these. It would’ve been a great way to keep a small area outside of the tents dry, as well.
- High-quality adult sleeping bag, these are a great find on Amazon!
- Kids’ sleeping bag with pillow, we packed everyone’s pillows on our trip, but for the future, it would be much easier to use a sleeping bag that already has a pillow attached for them.
What Food to Make for a Camping Trip
We chose to keep things super simple for our first camping trip, and bought Costco hot dogs on our way to the campsite. It was awesome though, while we were setting everything up, the kids were able to eat, and we had no prep and no cleanup. I do look forward to doing some tinfoil dinners in the future. Here’s a list of some great ideas that I would love to try! If at all possible, it is nice to have the meat cooked prior to packing it for the trip, just because re-heating takes so little time, compared to actually cooking all the food in a tinfoil dinner.
I made these simple and delicious, breakfast sandwiches before leaving for our camping trip. First, I made a batch of scrambled eggs, and heated up some sausage patties. Afterwards, I put everything on English Muffins and added cheese and little bit of maple syrup. Then I wrapped each one in foil and stored them in a cooler. In the morning we pulled them out and put them on the fire for about 5 minutes. It was such a yummy breakfast. We will definitely make these for future camping trips!
For lunches, we packed fruit, bagel sandwiches, and some other fun snacks like dried mango, trail mix, Lara bars, and Hippeas Chickpea puffs (that we love).
Overall, we had a great initiation into camping as a family and we’re so looking forward to our next chance to go!
Sincerely,
