Camping With Kids – Bad Weather Survival Kit

Bad Weather Survival Kit for Camping with Kids

Are you ready for a tent full of wet or unhappy campers? When you are camping with kids you have to be prepared. What do you do when your young campers can’t do the normal camping stuff that usually keeps them occupied, (and out of your hair)? – Camping Activities for Kids

This “Bad Weather” Survival kit, filled with camping activities and camp games for kids, will help save everyone’s sanity when bad weather forces kids, (and you), inside a tent or cabin for long periods of time.

Unless you are on a cross-country backpacking trip, (in which case you probably won’t have young campers with you), you have to be prepared for times when kids can’t, or just don’t want to do the stuff that most camping trips are made for.

There is a limit to the “fun” of educational camp activities, you have to plan for when kids just want to play, and that is when these items in your “survival kit” will really pay for themselves!

Save money where you can: Dollar stores usually have all of these items at very inexpensive prices, but my own Amazon links are included if you need them

The Basics:

Disposable Rain Ponchos – It’s a Bad Weather kit, – remember? You should have a few of those cheap plastic disposable ponchos. They are about the size of a deck of cards and should cost $1 – $2 each.
Playing Cards – Kids love to play cards, and they work great for evening downtime in camp. You should have at least two decks of regular playing cards, and a jumbo face if you can get them. Should cost $1 – $2 per deck.
UNO – This is also a card game, but it is easy to learn the camp game for kids of all ages. Cost: $2 – $3 per deck, but you only need one
Dominoes – Some kids may play with dominoes as a game, but most will use them as building blocks or to line up and knock down. Either way, they are great for keeping kids occupied for a while. Again, you should have at least 2 boxes in your kit. Cost” $1 – $2 per box
Crayons – dozens of in-tent uses; drawing, leaf rubbings, coloring pictures, and more that the kids will think of.
Spiral Notebook – normal notebook paper size, it can be used for drawings, rubbings, coloring, letters, and story-writing.
Magnifying Glasses – you will be surprised at how much fun young campers can have with an inexpensive plastic magnifying glass. Even when they are stuck in a tent or RV. You can get them as cheap as $1 or even multi-packs of 6 for $3 or $4. You should have at least a couple.

Of course, you can add more to your kit if you know of something that works particularly well with your young campers, but if you have just these basics you will be prepared for almost any situation.

The easiest storage solution is a small inexpensive day-pack, (small backpack), most parents with kids will probably have several old school backpacks around the house that would work fine.

Just make sure you use it exclusively as a Bad Weather Survival kit! If you don’t then it will end up just being another piece of utility camping gear and will lose its primary purpose. And will become more easily forgotten or ignored.

The Extras:
If you do use a day pack as suggested, then you will have room for a few extras if you wanted to include them:

Simple board games – keyword is simple, like checkers, or checkers. Unless it is a planned activity, don’t clutter your Bad Weather Survival kit with complicated board games, or ones with lots of little pieces that will get lost on the ground or in the leaves. You can usually pick up an inexpensive 5-in-1 game that also includes chess for under $5.
Coloring Books – A couple of nature related coloring books could be useful if you have really young campers
Simple Craft Supplies – like; white paste or school glue, construction paper, Popsicle sticks, and pipe cleaners. You will be surprised how creative kids can get just by gluing twigs and stuff to paper.

Give it some thought: The basics will save you, but if you know your campers have any special interests, add them too. But No Electronics!

** Here are those Amazon links I mentioned. Amazon is usually the most inexpensive and trustworthy online source, and my primary choice for all things camping.

CampingwithGus.com Rainy Day Camping with kids games and activities

Available as an all-in-one kit – Click image to see complete all-in-one Camping activities for Kids and camp games for kids Bad Weather Survival kit” – All you have to do is select the item quantities to match your number of kids!

Here are a few items and resources that may prove helpful:

Kids love to use a compass, and there are plenty of camping activities for kids that use a compass. There are even camp games for kids that use maps and orientation.
Camping and Hiking Compass

For emergencies, and your peace of mind, – every kid in camp, should have a camp whistle on a lanyard around their neck! It’s a handy way for them to summon help when they need it.
Camp Safety Whistles

Save your strength, – every kid needs their own camp flashlight, instead of arguing about who gets yours or who has had it the longest and whose turn it is now.
(ps. this is a great camp light for kids, but you can just pick some up at the Dollar store if you want)
Kid’s Camping Flashlights

Pie Irons for Campfire Cooking
If you go camping with kids, you should have at least one Pie Iron, (preferably one for each kid), in your camping cookware. They are versatile – you can make anything from grilled cheese sandwiches to instant fruit pies. And they are so safe and easy to use that you can let your young campers make their own fun camping recipes for kids.

Just pop in the ingredients, close, cook over the campfire, and out comes delicious sandwiches, biscuit-dough fruit tarts, or dozens of other camp food choices.

Check out these great examples of camping gear items and camp games for kids you can find on Amazon. Like the folding shovel and personal first aid kit, once you have these pieces of camp gear included in your list of camping equipment, you will wonder how you ever did without them, especially when you see how inexpensive they are when you buy them online at Amazon.

Tip: With young kids in camp, a portable camp toilet will make your life a lot easier. No interruptions for a long trip to the campsite bathrooms, and no “scary” after-dark trips to the latrine in the woods.
ps. You will be surprised by how convenient and inexpensive portable camp toilets are. Here are some cheap portable camp toilets on Amazon. Check them out.