My Favorite Camping Activities for Kids

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Do you have fond memories of camping as a kid? Have some camping themed fun at home and in the classroom with camping crafts for kids and camping activities for kids. It’s an easy way to enjoy the best parts of camping with your little ones this summer!

Today, I’m excited to share with you my favorite camping crafts and activities. I’ve got lots of great crafts, printables, and worksheets you can use with your early learners to build important literacy and numeracy skills. Plus, I’ll share my favorite hands-on camping activities for kids and fun camping games too.

Keep reading to discover fun with s’mores, tents, and fireflies for your kids this summer. Plus, get a book list that’s perfect for summer read alouds while you’re camping!

The Best Books About Camping for Kids

If you’re planning a camping trip this summer, you’ll want to take along some great books. There are lots of great camping themed books for kids you can share with your little ones this summer. 

You can use these camping books to read all about camping right in your classroom or living room too. They’re fun to read and filled with opportunities to build print awareness and literacy skills with your kids this summer. Check out my favorites:

A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen

A Campfire Tail by Sarah Glenn Marsh

Don’t Feed the Bear by Kathleen Doherty

Going Places by Paul A. Reynolds & Peter H. Reynolds

The Camping Trip by Jennifer K. Mann

I love pairing a book with a great snack. Themed snacks are a fun way to reinforce lessons with young children. S’mores are the perfect camping snack to add to your storytime this summer!

To make your own s’mores, grab marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate. Want to make s’mores indoors? Try an electric tabletop s’mores maker you can use in the living room for a tasty camping treat.

Printable Camping Crafts for Kids

Printables make preschool themes and fun summer activities easy. I’ve got so many fun summer camping crafts for kids and camping activities for kids that you can print and use in your classroom, at home, or on the go this summer. Print as many as you need and be ready for summer fun!

Cut and Paste Camping Craft

Cut and paste crafts are easy to do with early learners. Plus, they’re perfect for building important cutting and pasting skills your preschoolers and toddlers will need as they grow. 

This cute camping craft for kids will let your kiddos create their own little campers. Plus, they can get creative decorating the tents with stickers or finger paint for even more fun this summer! Included in this bundle, you’ll get boy and girl campers to make creating your own little campers even easier as well as an adorable S’mores camping craft for kids.

How To Make a S’more

Making s’mores is easily the best part of camping with kids! You can cash in on the fun right at home this summer. Just grab my printable “how to make a s’more” camping activity for kids and have fun building s’mores together. 

This activity focuses on sequencing and following step-by-step directions with early learners. It’s a great way to help kids practice these important skills while having fun at home and in the classroom this summer.

Campfire Shape Activity

This cute printable camping activity for kids is a great way to practice shapes. Your preschoolers and kindergartners can identify the shapes and color the campfires in this shape recognition camping activity.

S’more Counting Pages

You can build early numeracy skills like counting and number recognition with s’mores too. Check out my s’mores themed counting pages. They’re a fun way to explore counting using tally marks with your early learners.

Plus, kids can practice their number recognition skills as they count the s’mores on this printable camping activity for kids. It’s a super fun way to learn math during the summer months!

F is for Firefly Coloring Page & Craft

Summer learning isn’t just about counting and numbers though, there are lots of letters to explore and learn about too. Check out my F is for Firefly coloring page for a fun letter of the week activity your kids will love!

You can use this coloring page on a rainy day, road trip, or just as a fun activity to help your kids learn to identify letters and letter sounds this summer. It pairs well with Fireflies in the Night by Judy Hawes and an evening spent hunting your own fireflies in the backyard.

Plus, there’s a cut and paste firefly jar craft you won’t want to miss too. You can use this craft to “capture” your very own firefly friends this summer without harming any living things. 

Counting Fireflies

Keep the camping fun going with one more hands-on firefly activity for kids.

Grab this free counting activity and practice math and fine motor skills on your next night under the stars.

S’mores Addition

Practice simple addition to 5 with this fun, hands-on camping activity for kids.

Grab the included s’mores printables or use pom poms to build each math problem on your mat. Then write the addition equation on the lines provided.

Hands-on Camping Activities for Kids

Printables are great fun, but learning with young children should always include hands-on activities too. I’m excited to share some of my favorite hands-on camping activities for kids with you just in time for summer. Here are so me of my favorite things to do in addition to reading great books, catching fireflies, and making  s’mores.

Camping Pretend Play

Set up a campsite in your classroom or living room this summer! You can include insects, glow-in-the-dark stars, plants, and forest animals. Don’t forget to add a pop up tent, sleeping bag, and a pretend campfire to your set up. 

This would also be a good time to discuss fire safety tips as your kids pretend to cook smores!

Then, encourage your kids to plan their own camping adventures, pretend to cook on the campfire, and see what it would be like to take a nap in a tent. Your kids will love these engaging camping activities this summer!

Going On a Bear Hunt

Have you ever been on a bear hunt? Me neither, but I do love acting out the song with my kids. Check out We’re Going On a Bear Hunt from The Kiboomers with your kids this summer. 

You can use this sing along to get them out of their seats, banish the wiggles, and encourage some healthy physical activity too. It’s one of my favorite summer camping activities for kids.

Marshmallow Painting

This marshmallow painting activity is a process art project. Process art is so fun for kids because it focuses on the process of creation, not the finished product. Activities like this are perfect for encouraging creativity, exploration, and learning through play. 

In this marshmallow painting process art activity, your kids will use large marshmallows, washable paint, and candy or lollipop sticks. Spear the large marshmallow with the stick, it will become your paintbrush. Then, explore painting your own campfire with the washable paint and your marshmallow paintbrush for one of my favorite camping activities for kids.

More Camping Themed Learning Fun

There are so many fun ways to learn and explore with camping activities for kids this summer. Here are some of my favorite resources to add to camping themed lessons and camping crafts for kids. Adding these tools to your summer lessons is a good way to keep your kids engaged and excited about learning. Check out my favorites:

Animal Tracks Matching Game

When you’re camping, you’re likely to come in contact with some wildlife. While you’re exploring and learning about the forest animals you’ll see, try this Animal Tracks Matching Game with 25 different animal tracks to explore this summer. 

Learning Resources New Sprouts Camp Out

This Learning Resources Camping Set is made to encourage early learning through play. You’ll get 11 pieces including a campfire and a kid-size lantern for your kids to use in camping pretend play this summer. It’s the perfect addition to your camping pretend play set up!

Meland Kids Camping Set

If you’re going to take your kids camping (even in the backyard) you’ll want to grab this Kids Camping Set from Mitcien. It’s filled with all the things they’ll need for camping successfully with the family this summer. 

There’s a pop up tent in this set that your kids can set up on their own, plus a bbq set to encourage dramatic play with your little nature explorers. You’ll also get a lantern, campfire set up, and a tote bag to store all their camping goodies.

Discoverer Outdoor Exploration Set

Another outdoor exploration set I really like for camping themes is the Discoverer Outdoor Exploration Set. In this pack, you’ll get a bag for your kids to carry while hiking, binoculars for spotting wildlife, a compass, magnifying glass, and a safety whistle too. Your kids will love using this set for nature study, hiking, or camping activities this summer. 

It’s especially fun when paired with activities that help kids connect with nature. Number two on this list is my favorite!

I hope you’ve got lots of great ideas for camping activities for kids and camping crafts for kids to do this summer! Do you have some favorites that I didn’t mention? I’d love to read about your favorite camping activities for kids in the comments, so don’t forget to share them.