Backyard Camping Ideas for Kids

Daytime Camping

• Toddlers and preschoolers who still take naps might like to try a nap outside, or "daytime camping." Buy or borrow a pop-up kid-sized tent, one that does not require staking it in the ground. Let your child decide where to place the tent in the backyard. Put a sleeping bag or nap mat and blanket with a pillow in the tent. Spread a blanket on the lawn next to the tent and enjoy a snack before their nap. When it is nap time, the kids can crawl into the tent for a little rest in the great outdoors without the scary darkness and night sounds.

Backyard Campout Snacks

• Try traditional camping snacks, with a twist, that do not require the heat of a campfire for preparation. Mix mini graham cracker cookies, chocolate chips and baby marshmallows in a sandwich baggie for the flavor of S'mores without the mess. Pack canned Vienna sausages, or hot dogs that are cut in half, and use stick pretzels in the ends to simulate roasting hot dogs. Enjoy candy "pork-n-beans" made of cola-flavored (brown) jelly beans and cut-up strips of red fruit rolls (simulates the bacon). Pour juice into mini plastic canteens that can be found at the dollar stores. Pack items in your child's backpack along with the rest of the snacks.

Flameless Campfire Sing-Along

• Digging a fire pit in your backyard is not practical for most families and it is not wise to use a hot grill around small children. Create a flameless campfire for your sing-along by fashioning logs out of paper towel rolls and fire out of crumpled-up construction paper the color of flames (red, yellow and orange). To make it to glow like a real fire, place yellow or orange glow-sticks into the "campfire". Rocks placed around the campfire will give it a more authentic fire pit feel. Take turns with your child in leading the sing-along, making sure to include "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" sung as a round.

Night-Hike Backyard Campout

• Pitch a small pop-up tent in the backyard (not kid-sized, but not a full-sized tent requiring stakes) and fill it full of blankets and pillows. Set up a telescope (if you have one) and lawn chairs or blankets on the ground. Pack a backpack with snacks, binoculars, flashlights and bug spray or bug repellent wipes. Include a clear plastic container with holes in the top for catch-and-release firefly collecting.

  After the backyard campground is set, enjoy the evening by telling ghost stories or playing shadow puppets with flashlights in the tent. Wander around the backyard with the flashlight as you look for night crawlers and spiders spinning webs for the next day. Listen for owls and other nocturnal animal sounds, catch fireflies then let them go, and search for constellations and shooting stars with the binoculars. If anyone feels like camping out in the backyard, the tent is all set. But if the house sounds more inviting, everyone is mere steps away from the convenience of indoor plumbing and mosquito-free sleeping.