Camping Trips With Young Kids

It’s that time again! With the nicer weather finally upon us, it means time to plan some camping trips! This summer will be our first trip with the 2 kids as I had just come back from maternity leave towards the end of spring. It just didn’t make sense to go last year.

I spent every summer as a child at different state parks around Michigan. It’s one of my favorite memories growing up. So to be able to pass that along to my kids is extremely special. Typically we stay with my parents in their travel trailer, but this year we’re doing something I’ve never done before. We actually rented a cabin at the campground. It may not sound shocking, but when I was younger I never understood why you would bother with a cabin at a campground.

We did this for a few reasons though. The main reason was that my son is obviously still young and needs to be in a pack ‘n play for sleeping. Space in the travel trailer for 4 adults, 2 kids, a pack n play, and 2 golden retrievers would have been an absolute zoo. The second reason is it always us to bring our dog with us for the very first time. While he tolerates my parent’s dogs, it’s just best for everyone that they are kept apart. We don’t always have someone to watch the dog so it’s one less thing to stress about.

We’ve camped a few times with my daughter, and while they weren’t fully successful trips, I learned what we deemed necessary for us to take them camping.

Our game changing item this year is a mattress for the pack n’ play. This is the mattress we purchased. My son is a finicky sleeper. He was a tough cookie to sleep train. Honestly I don’t even think I sleep trained him. I think he just outgrew issues. Knowing this, I wanted to make sure the pack n’ play was comfortable for a toddler and this is perfect. I opted against a mattress that folding up knowing we really only planned on camping trips with him while he was still in a crib.

One of my favorite items we bought for camping purposes was the Summer Pop ‘n Sit Portable Highchair. It’s literally a camping chair that’s a highchair and for some reason I think it’s the funniest thing. It’s extremely convenient though. We’ve used it while camping, trips to Traverse City at Rentals, and just bring over to friends or family’s at get togethers. Well worth the money if you’re always on the go.

I love setting up a beach tent on the camp site. It’s a great place to set up the kids toys, gives them shade, and I’ve even used to for privacy for diaper changes or bathing my daughter. This one is very similar to the one we have. At night we just close it up to gather any toys left out.

I always bring a bar of Fels Naptha or Zote in case I need to hand wash something. I highly recommend this with bring little ones just to somewhat save the stains. A new item I use daily in my house that I plan on bring with us is this collapsible laundry basket. On an everyday use, it’s fantastic to collapse it any store it away not in use. However I was thinking long term and multi-use. I opted for a collapsible basket that didn’t have holes so I could use it as a bath tub and/or laundry tub on camping trips. Since it takes up barely any space, I think it’ll be perfect!

The most important thing to remember while traveling with little kids is to change your expectations. My kids will not be able to hold their normal “schedule” they have while they’re at home. You’ll be disturbing meal times or nap times. Don’t expect them to go to bed at their normal time either. The first night when my daughter was 2, she was accidently up until midnight a complete mess. In the moment, I was just about to take the 4 hour drive home and call it a day. Looking back it was hilarious laying with her with she piled up stuffed animals to make an Eiffel Tower.

You’ll never know if the trip will go smoothly or not. So just take it and make the memories with your little ones. I promise it could be a big memory for them. I’ll just be happy to get a picture of both kids near the state park entrance sign.