If you’re looking for creative and awesome ideas on How to Camp Out In Your Backyard this article is for you. I will provide an ultimate guide for fun backyard camping for both adults and children.
Camping in the backyard will keep you, the kids, and the guests entertained. It offers amazing opportunities to engage in different activities for an unforgettable camping experience.
So, How to Camp Out in Your Backyard
To camp in your backyard, you’ll need to pitch a tent, build a fire pit, Cook Some delicious Camp food, add some fun activities and backyard games, and remember to include a bug spray. I will discuss all these ideas in more detail below.
What Is Backyard Camping?
let’s first understand the meaning of backyard camping. Backyard camping is a simple and fun way to spend time outdoors in the comfort of your yard. You don’t need to plan, pack, or buy camping gear as you’ll normally do while going camping somewhere else.
Backyard camping is a safe, fun, and inexpensive outdoor activity that ensures both adults and children remain entertained. Another bonus is that you’ll have access to clean bathrooms.
How to Camp Out In Your Backyard
Recreate a great fun family memory with these 10 backyard camping ideas.
1. Pitch a Tent
Before you pitch the tent, determine the number of people you would be hosting. You can request your guests to come with their tents to make things easier on your side.
Ensure that the tent is of good quality to provide protection against bugs, rain, and the wind.
If you’ve never assembled a tent before checking out this article on how to assemble a tent will provide crucial and helpful information.
However, if you don’t have a tent you can build a makeshift shelter. Tie a rope between two trees and hang a large canvas, tarp, or blanket at the top.
You can use a waterproof tarp at the bottom and include blankets or other comfortable additions.
a) Set Up the Tent Floor
To ensure comfort and complete relaxation, you may want to include soft materials on the floor. You can put yoga mats, a thick comforter, couch cushions, or camping cots. Consider including anything that you feel will add to your comfort.
If your area gets cold at night or you feel you can do with more warmth include sleeping bags and add warm blankets.
b) Add Fun Gadgets in the Tent
You can fill the tent with soft toys for kids. You can also include flashlights or lanterns to provide enough lighting inside the tent.
c) Come Up With a Seating Area
Arrange the seating area according to the number of people you’ll be hosting. A patio set or a picnic table will be great options to consider. You can put up a table for placing the food and drinks. Spread out a blanket on the ground so people can just relax, chat, and eat. Alternatively, you can arrange backyard chairs. Checkout this article on best soccer mom chairs
Use the bug spray to keep the mosquitoes and other bugs away.
d) Prepare Food and Drinks
You can opt to prepare some food ahead of time or you can decide to order out. Some good food options worth considering include pizza, chips, hot dogs, popcorn, and cookies among many other foods.
2. Build a Fire Pit
Camping calls for a warm fire. You’ll need to keep all safety precautions at hand. Ensure a fire extinguisher is nearby. All children must have adult supervision, and the fire pit should have close supervision.
a) Use the Bonfire to Prepare Food like S’mores
To have a true camping experience, you can use the fire to roast s’mores and other barbecue delicacies.
You can roast hot dogs and marshmallows on the campfire. If you’re not up to the roasting, you can just relax and have fun as you look at the flames.
To add to the fun, you may choose to sing with a guitar or other music instrument. You can also tell stories or engage the children in activities to expand their imagination.
3. Plan on Games and Activities
Backyard camping will be more fun with thrilling games and activities. You can choose games or activities that both adults and children can participate. Alternatively, you can separate the children from the adults and each group can engage in their games separately.
In this section, I will cover some classic backyard games for adults and children or those without age limit. This will allow everyone have an adventurous outdoor experience.
a) Play a Backyard Game
Both adults and children can play many backyard games for a fun filled outdoor experience. Examples of such games include playing tetherball, corn hole, badminton, giant Jenga, and many more.
Charades is another outdoor game that both children and adults can play. Other games include twister board, interactive questions, a ring toss, and many others.
4. Scavenger Hunt
If you’re looking for Backyard Camping Ideas for Toddlers you can consider the Scavenger Hunt. Kids will definitely love the backyard scavenger hunt. To make the game fun, you can write the names of different things in the backyard. For example, insects, trees, flowers, and many others.
Instruct them to collect these items on paper bags. The kids can work individually or put them in groups. The group or individual that finds the most items becomes the winner. You can reward the winners with candies or glow sticks.
5. Make Memories
For the ultimate backyard, camping ensures that you create long-lasting memories. You can take photos or videos during group activities. Ensure that everyone is captured properly.
Hence, ensure you have a camera and take silly snapshots of everyone present. Take a video during various group activities.
Lastly take a group shot with everyone included. Ensure everyone is smiling and laughing to make the photo more memorable
6. Watch a Movie
You’ll need a video projector, a canvas, or a white bed sheet that will act as the screen. Watch your favorite movie. You can also choose to watch camp-themed movies.
7. Do Stargazing
Stargazing is about looking at the sky and the stars. Spread out a big blanket on the ground. Lie down and gaze at the stars. You can use Sky Map to identify stars, Orion, planets, and more
Backyard Camping Activities
Come up with a plan of activities that will help keep both the adults and kids entertained during the backyard camping. Check out some of these awesome backyard camping activities.
- Music in tents and at the fire pit. This can be more fun if you have musical instruments like guitar
- Learning in tents – kids have an opportunity to learn and explore their creativity during the camping
- Movies will ensure everyone remains entertained
- Another awesome activity is Catching fireflies
Backyard Camping For Adults
You can also include a backyard camping party for adults to keep adults entertained. I have previously written about the 10 best BBQ Party Games Ideas for Adults. You can check out this article for ideas on how to keep adults engaged and entertained.
Backyard Camping Covid
With the covid 19 pandemic, it’s wise to limit outings and interactions with large crowds. The idea of backyard camping during the covid time is a welcomed thing that will help people stay indoors but still have fun.
There are so many games and activities that everyone can engage in and still have fun. Some examples include Campfire stories, singing, video games, and many others.
Conclusion
By now, you have many ideas on how to camp out in your backyard. To make the camping more enjoyable and exciting you can plan the games or activities ahead of time. You can also encourage everyone to participate and have fun.
