3 Tips for Rocking National Camp at Home Day!

Did you know that March 27th is National Camp at Home Day? This is a holiday I can get behind! Our family loves camping, especially in the Spring and Fall. Here are 3 topics with all the tips to inspire you to have a great time camping at home!

Set up your space.

The first thing you need to do is decide if you'll be spending your camping day indoors, outdoors, or both! I'm in favor of doing it all.

For indoor camping options, here are a few ideas:

1. Set up your tent in your living room. Just don't use the stakes, plus no vestibule or rain-fly needed.  
2. Invite your children to make a fort and reinforce it for sleeping! My children love when they get to "camp" for the night in a fort that they made! Just be sure to give it a quick check over before lights out, to make sure it's secure. Even better - join them in the tent for the night.
3. Set up fairy lights or lanterns to give off some camp vibes. Or perhaps turn on a digital campfire for some cozy camping.
   

For outdoor camping options:

1. Invite your children to help you set up your tent! Have multiple tents? Maybe let your children try sleeping in their own tent while parents get a different tent. Or maybe divide and conquer, my son loves when he gets to have a special "date with Mom" camping in a tent with just me.  
2. Want to try something a little different? Level up your shelter building skills and see what you can create with supplies at home. We have a great climbing dome that also doubles as a fun shelter when covered with a tarp and set up to sleep. Bonus - the bars on the dome make great spots to hang lights.
3. Bring the layers. Blankets, sleeping bags, extra pillows, bring it all. Yes, you may end up way too hot but at least you're not shivering in your sleep.

Pro-tip - lay out a path of glow sticks to line the way back inside for those middle of the night bathroom trips.

Camp food.

Camp dinners are some of my favorite meals. Rivaled only by camp coffee and breakfast. You can make your camping at home experience ultra authentic by planning a meal that you cook outdoors. Here are a few ideas:

1. Cook out on your grill. This counts as camp food because you're cooking outside. Burgers, brats, steak, you choose. For us, we really love the Field Roast Apple Sage "hot dogs."
2. Cook on a camp stove - you can use your backpacking stove, or a camp stove, any type of stove. This is a great time to try out a new camping recipe that you've been worried to try away from home!
3. If you have a means to have a fire, whether a bonfire or in a backyard fire pit, cook dinner over the fire! It can be as simple as roasting hot dogs on a stick, or as fancy as you'd like. S'mores definitely count as dinner, because, camping!
4. Ready to level up your camp at home experience? Eat your meals outside too. I recommend: lunch, snack, dinner, s'mores, s'mores round two, and breakfast. It's ok to use regular dishes because weight and space is not an issue, so enjoy a few picnics outdoors if you can during National Camp at Home Day! If you can't enjoy your meal outdoors, enjoy it in your indoor camp shelter!
5. Pro-tip - you can eat in your tent. Unless you also have bears in your home or your backyard. Most likely, you won't need to hang your food in a tree during camp at home day, so enjoy a little treat while snuggled in with your family.

National Camp at Home Day Activities

What to do to keep everyone busy and happy? Here are a few fun ideas:

1. Color the Woosah art coloring pages - made just for National Camp at Home Day! Don't forget to share your art and tag Sawyer and Kammock! Download the coloring sheet.
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2. DIY Campfire craft - lay out art supplies for your little campers to make their own fire. My daughter loves using the sticks we have from a fort building set and construction paper. To really set it off, put a flashlight or twinkle lights into their craft construction at night.
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3. Try the National Camp at Home Day Bingo (story template by Coleyraeh)
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4. Go for an Indoor Scavenger Hunt (IG story template by Coleyraeh)
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5. Go for an Outdoor Scavenger Hunt (IG story template by Coleyraeh)
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6. Play cards in your shelter or tent.
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7. Try out your water filters! This is a great hands on learning opportunity to talk about drinking water safety. Find a puddle in your backyard and try out your filter. Our Sawyer squeeze water filter is perfect for on the go water filtration like this. No puddles? No problem. Set up a bowl of water and get it messy. Add food coloring, or bits of dirt, sand, and grit. Challenge your kids to make the water as gross as possible. Then, let them see what happens when they filter it out. This is a great opportunity to talk about why they should purify water before drinking it while out exploring.
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8. Try doing nature rubbings of items found around your home. Lay a sheet of white paper over an item or texture, then gently rub over it with an unwrapped wax crayon. Turn them into art and decorate the interior of your shelter with them!
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9. Enjoy a digital chat around a virtual campfire with friends or family! Set up a Zoom/online meeting while you all sit around your campfire craft and swap stories. (ghost stories optional).  
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10. Go bird watching or animal watching around your home. What birds do you see from your windows? Take a walk around your neighborhood and see what plants and animals are beginning to wake up from winter!
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11. Try stargazing. If you can see the stars at night from your outdoor camp at home space, brilliant! If you can't, set up a kitchen strainer over a flashlight and let the little lights cast about the room dazzle your children. Level up: give it a spin for a camp at home disco party.
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12. Build a camping scene out of legoes.
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13. For indoor camping, use art and craft supplies to create a nature backdrop.
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14. Have a camp style fashion show. Sleeping bags as a dress? Sure, why not? The latest in hiking pants and sandals style? You know I can rock that. Let your family get creative with a little camping style fashion show. Plus, it's a good way to air out all of your gear for the upcoming warmer weather.
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15. Set up an indoor (or outdoor!) obstacle course to "trek" to your campsite. Aka - a camping version of "the floor is lava."

In honor of National Camp at Home Day, Kammok and Sawyer are having sales and giveaways so follow along for all the great deals and fun!

I hope you and your family have a wonderful time celebrating National Camp at Home Day!

Be sure to tag me in your posts and stories, I'd love to see how your living camp life at home. ~Nichole