The Secret to Super-Fun Camping at Home

"Are we going to be able to camp this summer? What about our annual family camping trip?" I feel you - I wish I knew too. Right now, no one knows - not even those of us who have been camping every summer for years and years. (not even families like mine who live and work in one of the best campgrounds in the United States all summer long)

The truth is that even if campgrounds are allowed to open this summer, for some of us, the risk of coronavirus might just be too much.

We may need to stay home instead.

If you don't want to risk traveling to camp this summer, you can have a super fun camping trip at home instead (and get quite a few educational bonus points for it too). It could be a fun family getaway right in your own backyard, and it might even be a great field trip or a way to help your kids reconnect with a best friend or two once shelter-in-place orders lift.

You just need to know one little thing.

Here's the secret to super-fun camping at home: there isn't one.

Seriously - to do super fun camping at home, just do what you do when you camp anywhere else (except this time you get to use your own indoor plumbing). It really is that easy. But just in case you're new to camping (or if the stress of this pandemic has fried your brain like it's been frying mine most days),

Here are a few suggestions for super fun camping anywhere:

#1 - Make a campfire

It doesn't have to be fancy, and you don't have to be an expert. Just grab some sticks, split some wood, and give it a go - or better yet, let the kids gather the wood, find the matches, and try the get the fire going while you watch and cheer them on.

#2 - Roast some marshmallows

Make s'mores if you like or just roast marshmallows over the campfire. It's funny how one little bag of fake sugary blobs brings on the fun every single time.

#3 - Eat outside

Meals, snacks, morning coffees, afternoon teas, and everything in between taste so much better when you have them outside on a camping trip. Whether you're super keen with cast iron skillets and griddles for scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancakes, or you're more of a cereal and coffee kind of crew, it all works - just eat it outside and you're camping. And if you've never tried hobo pies or baked potatoes cooked in campfire coals, trust me, you need them in your life at least once.

#4 - Tell stories

Take turns talking or telling a funny story around the campfire. It's so much more fun than flicking through your Instagram feed, and you'll probably learn something new about your kiddos in the process too. This could be the very thing you need to take the fun level up a notch so you can achieve the super fun camping at home status.

#5 - Sleep under the stars

Grab a tent, a hammock (if you have trees), or a camper - however you like to do camping, and set it up right there in your own backyard. Pretend you're at your favorite campground and have the camping trip you always dreamed of right where you are. Watch the stars pop out after sunset. Locate a few constellations. Watch them until your eyes grow heavy and you all fall asleep. If you're anything like me, you'll kinda wish you could do it every night of the year.

#6 - Don't over plan

I don't normally tell people they might spoil something they're trying to do with their kids, but if you over plan a fun family camping trip in your backyard (or anywhere), you might just spoil it. Just relax and let the good stuff happen - trust me, it will.

#7 - Leave your phones out of the equation

This is another way you might potentially sabotage your family camping trip. Help yourself out and don't even bring your phone anywhere near your camping excursion. Leave it under your pillow inside your house and get back to it another day if you can. I recently heard that researchers have found increased stress and decreased focus for people who can just see a cell phone. You don't want that - out of sight, out of mind.

#8 - Make room for learning from nature (not in the "school" way - in a magical way)

So much learning naturally happens when we're in nature, and to me, that's the best kind of learning there is. We learn how trees grow and die, their utility and beauty; how animals find homes and food and how they take care of their families; how we might survive in the wilderness ourselves if we ever need to; the beauty of fire - its power, danger, and usefulness; the sights and sounds of the night - the moon, stars, satellites, and nocturnal animals; the power of stillness for mind, body, soul, and spirit; biology, botany, and astronomy in things we've never seen before like bioluminescence, meteor showers, and baby squirrels; the lure of simplicity and how we really don't need all that we have; and a reconnection to a real, authentic, simple life far away from phones, emails, video games, Netflix, text messages, and their beeps, blurps, and siren calls.

Here's the best part - learning doesn't even have to be planned when we're in nature - it naturally happens in the most magical ways for kids and adults of all ages.

In the words of some super cool kids I know, "Every flower, every tree, everything in nature has a pattern; if you see them, you have learned something. Nature can teach you to be creative," and "I found that perfect beauty cannot compare to this rugged natural world and that there are rules in nature."

And that's it - the secret to doing super fun camping at home really can be that simple.

I even asked my kids what would make a backyard camping trip super fun for someone who wasn't able to get to a campground this summer, and their list was even shorter than mine: a tent, some marshmallows, fire, chocolate, graham crackers, and a sleeping bag.

Pretty darn simple.

Need some inspiration for this venture into nature? Here are a few photos from our summer camping trip in Maine last year, and here are the three books I read recently that made me even more convinced that nature is where it's at: Last Child in the Woods, Raising a Wild Child, and Where the Crawdads Sing. (Yes, that last one is a fiction book, but it really made me think.) And here are two documentaries my family loves about the way we can learn so much just from observing nature (they're currently on Curiosity Stream): The Origami Code and Nature's Mathematics.

Want to hang out with me on Instagram and see some of these camping ideas from my family in real time?

Connect with me on email - I'd love to hear from you!

Still want to consider a camping trip elsewhere this summer? Check out our togetherness tip "Camping After COVID" here for safety tips from a few camp-loving nurses I know.

Let’s go after those family adventures you’ve been dreaming of together.