KIDS and CAMPING

[Bronson&Danni]

hi we are heading off in late sept for our first big camping trip to rainbow beach and fraser with the 3 kids , 11,6 and 4 and for those who take the kids on their trips was wondering what you take for entertainment for them when hanging out at the camp site at night mainly?
thanks

[hillsjeep]

We take their nintendo DS's but we usually find that after a day of running and riding around all they want to do is crash. We took them away this weekend and the Nintendos didn't even make it out of their bags (I'm very glad to say!)

[geko104]

Kites are great during the day but at night send em to bed with one of those portable dvd playes and some of their favorite movies and they get a buzz from watching it in a tent while you are left alone to enjoy some campfire banter and a few quiet ale's. My kids have all grown up but this works really well for the families we spend our quality time with. That is after you have spent some quality time with your kids. Its also a lot of fun giving them a torch and going on a night walk to see if you can spot any wildlife, its amazing what comes out at night.

[Bronson&Danni]

thankyou for the tips the portable dvd is a great idea and it feels like it kind of defeats the purpose of "family camping" but lets face it there are going to be times at night at some stage where they will have nothing to do and with the kids tucked up in bed that gives my husband and i to spend some time together ,yes my hubby has already planned to go for night walks just wondering what to do on those nights we dont go walkabouts with the torches. thanks for tips much appreciated.

[geko104]

Family camping trips are like quality time with your kids but you have to have some "me" time as well. The trick is to find the balance that suits you.

[BEU77Y]

We take a portable dvd player every time.....You can still have plenty of quality family time, but the dvd just gives an opportunity for both the kids and yourselves to unwind a bit before bed. Ours only comes out after the day is done, we've had tea and cleaned up and they're ready for bed. Like has been said above, you'll find after a full day of exploring they'll be dead on their feet anyway - it's just a matter of whether or not they're willing to give in to it.

There's plenty to do on Fraser during the day to tire them out - swimming at Eli Creek and Lake Mackenzie, send them up and down the dune to Lake Wabby a few times....that'll see them exhausted come night time lol.

[GU'NIT-Patrol!]

make sure stop in a few places too, kids in the car for too long is bad for their body. It'll let you and give your car a little bit of a rest too

Cheers

[-AJ-]

We've done at least 20,000 kilometers in the past 2 years. The most boring part for my boys was getting there, they think the view is boring and always the same....
What we do:
- Pack carsick prevention.
- Stop every 2 - 3 hours. Take a footy and let them run, go to the playground etc...
- A laptop and a Nintendo DS for the back seat. The laptop has a hard disk loaded with movies and games and a good screen so they can both watch.
- Small Waeco at the back seat (between the boys, also as a dividing line) so we don't have to stop to get a drink or snack.
- Play games together, like 'I spy' and word games
- Last time I made a quiz with a few pages of information about the area we were going to and questions with a few puzzles. Took some time, but it kept them busy for an hour and they learned a lot.

At the campsite we don't need the electronic stuff, plenty off other things to do, but sometimes we watch a movie together.

[GU'NIT-Patrol!]

We've done at least 20,000 kilometers in the past 2 years. The most boring part for my boys was getting there, they think the view is boring and always the same....
What we do:
- Pack carsick prevention.
- Stop every 2 - 3 hours. Take a footy and let them run, go to the playground etc...
- A laptop and a Nintendo DS for the back seat. The laptop has a hard disk loaded with movies and games and a good screen so they can both watch.
- Small Waeco at the back seat (between the boys, also as a dividing line) so we don't have to stop to get a drink or snack.
- Play games together, like 'I spy' and word games
- Last time I made a quiz with a few pages of information about the area we were going to and questions with a few puzzles. Took some time, but it kept them busy for an hour and they learned a lot.

At the campsite we don't need the electronic stuff, plenty off other things to do, but sometimes we watch a movie together.

Their you go, now thats a father

Happy fathers day mate, and all to you guys in the forum !

[Jeeps]

Their you go, now thats a father

Happy fathers day mate, and all to you guys in the forum !

x2

My wife and i are big campers but we're stuck at home because our daughter (16 months) cannot get to sleep in a tent. The last 2 times we went out we didn't get any sleep on any night. She's a great sleeper at home in her cot, we'll get 8-10 hrs of unbroken sleep (unless she's sick) each night but she can't settle in a tent. So we're not camping for a while now, maybe another year or so at the most hopefully.

Even so, she loves every daylight moment but we still took the portable DVD player and found that indespensible especially under the tarp when it's raining.

[Harb]

Do whatever you have to to stop an all out brawl if they get bored.....
All of the above works with us.
Serena has done at least 350/400,000 km's on our trips and is only now starting to get bored......getting older I supose.
She is into singing along with her Ipod and headphones now, but be warned, you will need earplugs to dull down the strange new langauge that comes out of their mouths as they sing.....very strange....;)

[BEU77Y]

Totally agree, Harb... Our 8 year old (going on 18) sings along with her mp3 player and it sounds terrible! The car stereo gets turned up, that's for sure. She sometimes holds a note ok when she's singing along with the car stereo, but once those earplugs go in, all she does is scream......if only she could hear herself.

Have to agree with AJ too.....we stop every couple of hours for a 'wee break' and stretch the legs a bit. Everyone benefits from it and it really doesn't matter if you get to your destination an hour later than you should.

We take big water bottles for each of the kids and us and a bag of snacks that is readily accessible is a necessity also.

There's plenty of car based games you can play aswell, as has been mentioned above. You can make words out of car number plates, call 'pang' when you spot a VW etc.

Family camping trips are the best, can't wait for our next one! September/October long weekend is our next trip, and our 4 year old is already counting down how many more preschool days between now and then.

[steveandviv]

We have also done all the above and it's great advice. We also have those Seat things that attach to the front seats so they put their cards etc in there and that demarcation line (the middle) seem very important. At the camps site the little one likes playing trucks so there is always room on the rood for a tonker truck. the 6 year old like to ride his bike but fraser might make that a bit hard. I really recomend the In car DVD option.

[chris_miller]

x2
My wife and i are big campers but we're stuck at home because our daughter (16 months) cannot get to sleep in a tent. So we're not camping for a while now, maybe another year or so at the most hopefully..

Dont give up so easy, we have a porta cot that is setup at home to get the little one used to sleeping in it, then we set the porta cot up in a room by itself in the big tent. That worked out well. First trip we had same problem as you did...

DVD is in vehicle for travel only,,,, NO electronics when camping as thats the whole reason to get out and about. The fire always keeps them amazed for hours in the evening untill they go to sleep. We also have small (3 person) seperate tents for each group of two to allow for a bit of room which lets them go off to sleep as the need.

[Tired Triton]

My missus and i dont wish to smother our children with electronic gadgets. The purpose of going camping is to enjoy nature, or do simple things with the kids to teach them basic survival skills that will be of great use to them throughout their lives. Teach your kids knots with ropes, teach them fishing, cooking, basic camp craft (setting up, maintaining and packing up), and our favorite game was to sit by the fire in our chairs looking up at the starry night sky and be the first to spot the satellites. Taking electronic gadgets is asking for problems once you get to camp - they might find fishing boring compared to their newest electronic game. Once the batteries go flat, watcha gonna do? K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid)

[discogirl]

we have taken our daugther away with us since she was 3mths old we used our portable dvd player to get her to sleep in the tent. ie back ground noise as at home its the same enviromently nosie it worked extremly well for her and we got a good sleep!!!!!,shes now 3yrs old to keep her occupied i play i-spy and other games on the road,when set up camping we go exploring toghter looking for animals i try to include her in everything i do so she learns the about the out doors even setting up the tent is now a game,at nite spotlite is fun or a story and those cheap glow sticks you buy from the two dollor shop keep her and her friends occupied for hours
(about $2.50 for a tube of 10)

[Barry Mundi]

I must be old school as well :)

I couldn't think of anything worse than the kids taking dvd's & nintendos camping.

Read a book, tell stories, play games, get back to the basics, isn't that what campings all about ?

My partner & I regularly take our 5 kids (including 3 teenage girls) camping without electronic gadgets & always manage to have a great time.

[luxa]

Collecting Wood - burning the marshmallows..... fishing or even just collecting the bait should keep them occupied.

Card Games ?

Even try asking them what "one" small toy they want to take to play with in the tent, or camp at night ?

Luxa

[patroler]

We're going away for a year and taking their dvd players and nintendo's. The kids have always taken the nintendo's to the beach, but have never used them there.
After a day of running around, they are rooted. They will sit in front of the fire, cook marshmellows, if they still have energy they go and play spotlight.
If they are causing me grief i walk away, sneak up behind them and scare the crap out of em. That stops them trying to walk away. :thumb:

[PK1]

I agree - I've never taken DVD's and stuff - don't need them! My 2 boys used to play up on the first day, after that we could do hundreds of kays a day, as long as we stop every couple of hours they are fine. On the bitumen, we used to play cricket:

5 minutes each player
Runs per vehicle coming the other way - 1 run per car, 2 runs 4by, 3 runs for something towing, 4 runs truck, 6 runs for a Jeep!
A red car is a wicket.Vehicles must be moving, and play is suspended if the speedlimit is less than 100kmh (towns etc).

As far as at night, I always used to find they were tired out pretty early, especially if they have had a couple of hours before tea to play cricket, bocce (great fun with kids) etc etc.

I'd leave the electronics at home....

[Myfault]

I'm with patroler, got to give them a good scare. I managed to get a whole lot of the kids about 3 years ago real good and they still talk about it. They now expect it so it is getting harder. Still have a chuckle about it though.
We take a laptop so they can watch a movie as they go to bed. Seldom get past 1/2 hour as they fall asleep. The campfire and marshmallows seems to be the finishing touch at the end of the day. I take a 9 and 14 year old and they seldom make it past 7pm, never past 7.30. Gives me time for a bottle of red before my bed-time.

[Rodeoman]

Seeing your doing beach camping, most likely everyone will be in bed early. Between the sun, swimming and digging big holes in the sand which are all good family activities as well as helping the whole family pass out early at night.

At night you can try and spot satellites in the sky with the kids or get a glow in the dark Frisbee.

[Going Off]

we got some idea's from this web site when we went our last trip, hope this will help
Activities for Kids - Travel Tips (http://www.activitiesforkids.com/travel/travel_hints.htm)

[steveandviv]

we got some idea's from this web site when we went our last trip, hope this will help
Activities for Kids - Travel Tips (http://www.activitiesforkids.com/travel/travel_hints.htm)

What a great site - thanks for sharing.

[steelo]

Boys, girls? We have a 14yr girl & 2 boys 13 & 11 & if there not kept busy its "battle of the sexes" time. The 14yr is at that "I know everything & you don't know what you're talking about" stage but is at times quite mature & as such a mp3 & a book/mag keeps her happy most of the time. The 2 boys are usually happy with mp3's & gameboys but also enjoy the scenery if its interesting. The youngest is also ADHD which can make life interesting at times.
At camp its the team & card (surprisingly) games that are the go. Walks to check out the wildlife are a big plus as well. At night as stated by others the old DVD is a big plus & keeps everybody happy.

[Scotty'sTriton]

Our young kids are tired by night time so no problems there just mashmellows by the campfire and glowsticks are great sometimes we play little games like: keep the story going, chineese whispers, etc

[Going Off]

[QUOTE=steveandviv;554934]What a great site - thanks for sharing.[/QUOTE

your welcome

i know what its like i have 2 boys we have done some big trips. one we went a way for three weeks its hard to keep the little takers busy when all you want to do is sit down and have a beer and relax

[stuartd]

Jeeps - Try the port-a-cot thing. It worked really well for us. PM if you want to borrow one for a trial.

On long trips my wife and I usually share the driving through the night. We normally leave aroud 4pm in the afternoon, stop for dinner then the kids go to sleep. We go hard all night until the kids wake up. Then we push through to about lunch time before we stop for the night. This method usually can get us to where we want to be within 2-3 days. Like the rest have said once there awake you have to stop every 2 hours to let them run off some energy. Books, magazines, mp3, dvd are all good in the car but once we are at the camp site the electrickery stuff stays in the car.

[Chaddz79]

My little bro (now 11) has done probably 5 trips around the country and still does 3 trips a year to the cape th desert or somewhere..

I dont think camping trips ar the place for nintendos or the like. The kids should be out bushwalking, chasing dangerous animals and stuff like that. Of a night let them build there own campfire and teach em how to make a damper and go off on their own. Me and my bro grew up like that and have benifited from it.

In the car get them started on reading the maps and figuring out where thy are going, you might be surprised at how a simple mind can figure things out.

Make them feel a part of the trip and you will have no problems and give them th responsability to do things on their own of a night!

[wishnIwozfishn]

For night time activities we make sure we have torches and a good supply of batteries as the kids love playing hide and seek in the dark. Even on an open beach they'll play it if its dark enough. LED lights reflect off spiders eyes so they keep amused for ages looking for spiders on the ground with the headlamp LED's (amazing how many there are!) They also love those cheap toy guns that shoot a laser beam for playing army men (just disable the sound or it'll send you crazy). Marbles is also a cool time burner on the sand and even gets the adults cranked for awhile. Tossing horseshoes at a star picket or big rubber O rings on to a tent peg can be a winner too.
Whilst travelling, the kids get into their nintendos, MP3 players and videos. We got a cheap in car DVD system at toysRus and it seems to do the trick.

[fixa]

We are about to venture off for our first family camping trip with our 2 year old. Have a camper trailer in which will be a porta cot for him. He usually sleeps 10 hours a night at home, just worried he won't sleep in the tent... anyone have any tips? music in the background for him maybe?

[Big_Waity]

Try a night in the tent in the backyard first. If it all turns to poo, you an go inside and try again in another few months. At 2 years old he should be fine though. Some friends of mine just came camping with their little girl who is about 9 months. She slept fine in the tent, on her own with us just outside. Only started crying once it started pelting down with rain(a really big storm came over). She then calmed down once her dad was with her. Kids like familiarity and so long as there is mum or dad and a familiar toy or blanket he should be fine.

[jimbo1967]

I have four daughters - 10, 8, 5, 3 (just yesterday).
They run around like mad idiots all day. Exploring, running, climbing, chasing birds and roos, playing hide and seek. They crash before 7.30 and we often wake early with the active bird life and animals like roos or goannas being tempted by the tasty morsels they can smell (your esky and rubbish bin etc). They have no trouble sleeping. Go on...get out there. They love it.
We do take the portable dvd but the kids last 5 minutes before being asleep. Would also be handy for rainy periods - take some board games as well for the older ones.

[dirtygq]

The dvd players for the drive and the great outdoors for when you get their.It is great to get the kids away from the idiot box and letting them run around making their own fun.

[KUSTOM V840]

Our little fella is 17mths and the dvd player is great for rainy days or late nights. He only watches it for about an hour a day, the rest of the time we are always doing something. It only goes on in the car when he get winey after 3hrs or more of travel.

[squeeker]

I got no kids of my own but growing up we did alot of camping and my brother and i never had any DVD's or nintendos, the only electrical toys we occasionally took (depending on where we were going) was our remote control cars, otherwise it was just playing with what we could find there, going exploring around the campsite, or swiming and other random acctivities that we could think of at the time. Other than that to get to sleep at night we took these amazing new inventions that made us think, concentrate and kept us entertained, (also used to relieve bordem when traveling) they are called books, kinda like a dvd but the movie plays in you head, using this thing called your imagination.
Is it really sad that at the age of 26 I'm already thinking the kids of today are to soft, do any of them even know what a book is any more? its realey a problem being this cynical this young, really must work on that.
Though I do agree with the ipod, We used to have our walkmans and discmans when traveling, they really do help the trip go faster.

[DIRTPILOT72]

We only use DVD players, DS, and i-pods for travelling only!!!

Night time they are always so tired that they are asking to go to bed, we have never had the problem of kids being bored on a camping trip yet!

Have a good trip!!! :thumb:

[rumpig]

We are about to venture off for our first family camping trip with our 2 year old. Have a camper trailer in which will be a porta cot for him. He usually sleeps 10 hours a night at home, just worried he won't sleep in the tent... anyone have any tips? music in the background for him maybe?we used to take a porta cot to fraser and sleep in a big dome tent when our daughter was young, never had any problems at all. if he sleeps alright normally in the porta cot i can't see why you should have any dramas in the camper, atleast the porta cot is something familiar to him.

[fixa]

Cheers all.
Will just suck it and see. Worst case scenario missus and son fly home, while i get a leisurely drive home from vic... more room for beer!!! lol

[fixa]

Well just got back from 5 weeks on the road....
First night in Rockhampton.. at a park near the highway. All good until an ambulance goes past around 9pm. Then he's up, no more bed. I've had 3 or 4 beers, so missus drives him in car till asleep. not very relaxig nights sleep for us.
Next night was better, and got better from there.
We were even waking up before him in the end, unheard of at home...
We worked out he likes his own space. We erected a blanket between him and our bed, and he slept much better if he couldn't see us.. dunno why.
All's good now, got the next trip planned already!!!

[grimbo]

we just has 2 weeks away camping with our 1 year old. It was so much easier than we thought it was going to be. he had a ball, slept better in the tent at home ( trying to convince my wife to put a tent up in the backyard for him). Can't wait to go away again for 5 days at Oz long weekend.

He was going to sleep in his porta cot but once we set it up we realised he had out grown it. Tall bugger like his dad. So it was just a the mattress from it on the floor next to us with no dramas. best thing about that setup was that he was able to crawl aall over us after he woke up (which was usually after we woke, bonus) so we could have a play. But even better was that at night when he was tired he would just crawl onto his bed to go to sleep. if only he would do that at home.

[GippsSurfer]

We just got back from our 1st weekend away camping with 3 kids 5, 3, and 9 months... I know its not a big trip like most of you lot seem to being going on, but Ive gotta start somewhere....

We basically involved them in everything we did, fire wood collection, cooking, etc... they had a ball and didnt miss the TV or their toys for a minute... the 2 older ones both got to take one teddy / toy and that was it... by the end of the day "helping" us they were stuffed and pretty much fell into their bunks...

EVEN THE MISSUS HAD FUN!!!!!