At home, camping experience can be as fun and exciting as the real deal! Pitching a tent in your backyard is a great way to strengthen the family bonds too.

If you are short on time or the full camping gear, or your children have never been camping, creating a backyard camping adventure is the next best thing. It provides the best of both worlds: the comfort of your home and the thrill of the outdoors.

Also, in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak, many families are in quarantine or following state-regulated measures of physical distancing and staying at home.

In these chaotic times, helping your kids feel like they are in the great outdoors is an awesome way to get them to relax, enjoy the fresh air and screen-free time.

Check out how you can set up your backyard for a memorable camping adventure!

Check out how you can set up your backyard for a memorable camping adventure!

Tips For the Newbies

For those of you who are new to this camping under the stars thing, a guide to the camping essentials can be helpful. Here is a couple of valuable information to guide you through your first camping experience.

Always check the weather before your camping adventure. Bring the tent, the right clothes, blankets, sleeping bags, and flashlights and make sure to have enough food for everybody.

It is best to make a checklist to ensure you have all the necessities.

Plan, prepare well, follow safety measures, and your first camping experience is sure to be a great success. Of course, when you are in your backyard, even if you forget something, you don’t have to travel far to get it!

Pitch a Play Tent

Set up Your Yard for a Backyard Camping Adventure

If you don’t want to end up with bored and unhappy youngsters, make sure to supply the tent with books, games, and other exciting stuff. Put a small table and chairs in the tent. Coloring books, crayons, and Play-Dough will keep your little ones entertained.

Strategy games like Connect Four, Mancala, and Checkers are fantastic for older children, and you can play them quietly while the little kids sleep.

Also, let the youngsters be part of setting up the campsite. Allow them to take charge as much as possible, even if it takes longer to put up a tent.

 

Build Campfire

Set up Your Yard for a Backyard Camping Adventure

Let’s be honest – camping experience without fire doesn’t come close to the real thing. Campfire is perfect for family gatherings, bringing a guitar, and singing along. Also, you get to make the popcorns the old-fashioned way.

Search for firewood with your kids, and teach them how to build a campfire safely.

A portable fire pit or chiminea is a convenient and transportable way to stay warm or toast some marshmallows.

Always keep the fire at a safe distance from the tent and other flammable things.

Prepare Delicious Treats for the Little Ones (and Yourself)

Set up Your Yard for a Backyard Camping Adventure

While camping in your yard, you can take full advantage of your home kitchen and prepare some delicious treats everyone will relish.

S’mores are essentials, as well as delicious hot chocolate! If you happen to have vintage thermoses, it will add a unique feel to the experience.

Cooking outside, over an open flame, will make the whole experience much more authentic. Hot dogs and chilli are the basics, but you can jazz things up a bit with grilled chicken breasts, grilled vegetables, or even with some veggie skewers.

Include Some Family-Friendly Games

You can bring board games outside if you are out of ideas, but you can also spice things up and take the kids on a treasure hunt or set up a ring toss!

Also, the backyard is perfect for Frisbee, badminton, volleyball, giant Jenga, or a game of cornhole. Water balloons and water gun fights are perfect for hot days.

Organizing a treasure hunt will surely keep your children entertained and engaged. Create clues that will lead children around the yard. You can use nature as a reference and mark the prize spot with an “X.” There are even treasure maps online that you can download.

Add a Couple of Magical Touches to the Backyard Camping Experience

A couple of lanterns and string lights can make a huge difference! When it comes to lanterns, opt for durable and waterproof ones.

You can hang the strands of lights inside your tent or map out your campsite by hanging them from four poles. You can even place them in bushes or up in trees and transform your garden into an enchanted world.

The more fairy lights – the more magical night will seem to your little ones. Just make sure the lighting is safe for outdoor use.

Paper lanterns are another amazing touch to the outdoor adventure! And with plenty of DIY online projects, you can make them with your kids on the rainy days.

Oh, and definitely make sure you deal with any bug issues ahead of time! Nothing ruins a magical camping experience faster than a parade of ants marching through your s’mores setup or a swarm of hornets dive-bombing your kids! You can contact a perimeter pest control specialist to get rid of any disease-causing pests and insects!

A Campsite Movie Night

How about spreading out blankets, throwing some pillows in front of the tent, and watching your favorite movies while snacking on the campfire popcorns?

You don’t need much to make an outdoorsy movie night. Just spread a white bed sheet or a canvas drop cloth as a backdrop and get a projector, and you are good to go.

With light strings and lanterns, it’s sure to be a special night you’ll all remember.

Enjoy the Night Sky

Set up Your Yard for a Backyard Camping Adventure

Stargazing provides fun and education at the same time. If it is a clear night, smaller children can count the stars and draw the constellations while the older ones can use a star guide and try to identify the constellations they see.

Spread out a blanket or two, throw down some pillows, and enjoy the night sky!

You can talk to your kids about the planets, the moon, or shooting stars while cozying up together in your backyard.

Camping is a great way to spend quality time with your loved ones. Also, a night in the backyard feels like an adventure and builds a positive relationship with nature.

Your kids will surely enjoy sleeping under the stars. It is an excellent way to step outside of the ordinary, for a day, without too much of a hassle.

Authors bio:

Bily Bum is an electrical engineer, tech, and gaming fan with 15 years of experience in the technology world. He uses every spare moment to go out in nature, whether it is camping, fishing, hunting or picnicking with family and friends.