Making camping fun for kids.

[gravityman]

The kids will have a great time if you let them be kids.

Keep them dry, warm and feed.

Don't yell at them. Don't get upset with them. Be firm and clear on the safety rules.

If you don't get stressed and don't fight or yell at others on the trip, the kids will have an amazing trip!

Make sure to keep the days very, very short. Be flexible, and change itineraries if you have adversity.

Good luck! We've had a lot of amazing trips with my kids, now 15 and 12. Just finished 5 days on the Yampa river, as we work up to harder and harder water.

Gravity

[Coffee]

I don't have a ton of experience hiking with kids other than short hikes with my niece and nephew when they were younger (around 8-10 years old). The main problem I encountered was what I call "electronics detox". The constant stimulation of electronics that most children these days are subjected to makes them crave immediate and exciting feedback. The natural environment doesn't always provide such immediate dopamine hits. It takes time to detox from electronics before there's any hope of appreciating the outdoors. Of course, this is also true for adults, but especially true for children who have never experienced the outdoors. Adults who've had that exposure in the past know that the rewards of being outside will flow soon enough. Children have no way of knowing that until they get over the electronics and start to enjoy themselves which could take a few hours depending on how addicted they are.

Once accepting of being outdoors, the usual kid activities that we all enjoyed before the plague of screens everywhere should work. Campfires, s'mores, observing wildlife, waterfalls, great views, ice cream at the SNP waysides, etc etc etc...

[Alligator]

Are you going overnight canoe camping or camping with daily canoe trip(s)?

[Leo L.]

To my limited experience, I can tell what Kids dislike or actually hate: Doing anything monotonous for longer time.

Whenever we were outdoors with our kids (including the neighbour's too) we invented any number of games to keep them excited.
Most games started like, "find 10 vegetables you could eat" or "find 10 things that are poisonous".
Then I cheated them pointig at a non-edible plant in fake excitement pretending it was good to eat - they were proud to point out my error.
All those games were made up in a way that they had a good chance to win, and they loved it every time.

Whenever the task on hand was just hiking up a certain longer distance, they hated it.

Another rule:
The weakest member of the group dictates the pace.

[Leo L.]

Forgot to add:
Kids normally break down just bang and down at the spot.
When the energy is gone, there is nothing to be done other than stop for a break (and a snack) or carry the kid.
The good point is, usually kids recover very quick.

[cmoulder]

For older/smarter kids it might be fun to introduce them to GPS navigation, or at least finding out where they are on a map.

If you have a GPS unit, you could set it for USNG and then print a Caltopo map with 1km grids and make or buy a grid overlay.

Printing a map with USNG is preferred because there are fewer confusing numbers in the margin, and a scale of 1:24,000 or 1:25,000 is easier to read.

Since the USNG coordinate numbers are straight 1:1 metric, the kids could compete to see who's closest when estimating the next trail junction or camping area, and figuring out how far it is just by simple addition/subtraction.

This skill might be useful — and IMHO it is essential — for adults as well. If you're a member of hammockforums there's some related stuff HERE.

Map with homemade grid overlay, printed on clear inkjet material and covered with clear packing tape...

20220609_153103.jpg