The Great American Backyard Campout by the National Wildlife Federation is June 23, 2012. This is a fun opportunity to join thousands of other families in camping and sharing the outdoors.
This is also a great opportunity to experience camping with your tykes for the first time. Camping in your backyard is an easy first step.
Here’s 5 reasons why:
1. You are already home. If for some reason the ‘boogie man’ shows up, your tyke changes their mind (or you do for that matter) you can easily head back inside.
2. Your tyke is already familiar with the backyard making it less stressful to sleep in an unfamiliar place.
3. You can bring the comforts of home outside. Set up the tent with favorite blankets, pillows, toys and games. Whatever you think will make your tyke more comfortable. It’s much easier to bring all those things into the backyard then trying to pack them all into the car for a camping trip away.
4. You don’t need any special outdoor gear. You can pitch a tent if you want (local outdoor shops rent them), sleep on the patio, sleep on a trampoline if you have one, or just sleep on the ground. No need for sleeping bags either. Blankets and pillows will be just fine.
5. The more the merrier. Have a couple of your tykes friends join you. Play games, have a cookout, read books, tell stories and then settle under the stars for a night of sleeping outside.
Sound like fun? Absolutely!
Join the Great American Backyard Campout and sleep under the stars!
Here is a fun activity to do with tykes (of most ages) while camping out…
Scavenger Hunt
1. Color Scavenger Hunt: Put together a list of 5-10 colors your tykes can go around the backyard and find.
2. Alphabet Scavenger Hunt: Choose 5 -10 letters items in your backyard start with that your tykes can hunt for.
3: Rhyming scavenger Hunt: Pick 5-10 words that rhyme with items in your backyard your tykes can find.
4: Specific Items Scavenger Hunt: Make a list of 5 – 10 random items for your tykes to search for.
After your tykes complete their lists. Sit in a circle and have everyone share their findings.
Thanks to Barb from the Handbook of Nature Study, who has coordinated the Great American Backyard Campout Link-Up. Here are some other wonderful blogs participating where you can find motivation, tips and ideas for having a fun and memorable campout.
So are you ready? Are you going to camp out with your tykes under the stars on June 23rd? If so, where are you camping?
I hope so! We will be camping, but not in our backyard. We will be under the stars in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Great list! I totally agree with you about giving backyard camping a try.
We blow up our air mattresses and regularly sleep with blankets and pillows on our back deck. It if gets cold or the bugs annoy us, we can always go inside. I love falling asleep under the stars.
Thanks for joining the link-up.
Our kids loved camping out in our backyard a couple of years ago & were eager to try the “real thing” as a result. They love exploring at night – and scavenger hunts are a great way to do so.
We camped out with our kids (plus a few) in our backyard two weekends ago and it was so much fun. We would this weekend but we have Bible School this week so it’s not going to work out, but we’ll be backyard camping again the following weekend.