Our First Family Camping Trip

It was our first family camping trip this summer. There is something special about sleeping in a field under canvas. It was time to share the experience with the whole family.

A family camping trip

I grew up with caravanning holidays, then as soon as I was old enough I went camping with the guides. Following this, I took it a step further and did hiking and rough camping with the Scouts and Duke of Edinburgh awards. I was rather crazy at times…camping in Greenland and hiking and camping in snow knee deep in the Lake District. I have very fond memories of these times, mostly because you have to laugh at challenging/painful moments in your life.

Both hubby and I wanted to share camping with our children. Up until now we have been nervous of taking them. They wake so early and are very noisy, we were worried about their noise disturbing others. However, it was time to give it a try.

We bought a (very large) tent and off we went.

Our family camping experience…

Now one thing we hadn’t thought about was fitting everything in the car, including five people. Hence we ended up taking two cars. We might be investing in a trailer for future trips.

The tent was easy to put up, but it was so big, hubby actually had to do most of it. There were parts I couldn’t even reach.

The children enjoyed ‘helping’. They were so excited. As soon as we had their beds ready, they were in there playing, despite it being an incredibly hot day. It took about a day and a half before they started calming down!

It was wonderful though to just sit and play around the tent in the sunshine. The children played and were literally bursting with excitement. They helped us cook and collect water.

One of the best parts of camping was being able to sit out after dinner and play games together. We played a lot of piggy in the middle, frisbee and football. It was a fantastic way to spend time as a family. It forces you to interact, play and have fun together.

When it got dark, we sat outside the tent in pyjamas with a hot chocolate looking at the stars. The children had never properly looked at the stars before, they loved it. Even better, we actually saw some shooting stars too…very special!

Camping is a great place for making friends, which the children did and for flying kites.

Family camping was definitely hard work, but so worth it. The opportunity to get outside and spend such quality time as a family was priceless. Although I do admit, we had perfect weather for it. I wonder how we would have got on in the rain?

Do you camp with children?

11 thoughts on “Our First Family Camping Trip”

  1. We love camping with our boys, though I must admit there are times when I feel that I’m am too old to be sleeping on the ground! I’d love to here more about camping in Greenland even if it was pre kids!

  2. Sounds like a wonderful trip. I also used to do loads of camping when I was younger and would love to take my girls camping. Sadly husband isn’t so keen though – he worries about how we’d manage if/when it rained, which is a fair point..

    I asked my little one (2 years old) yesterday if she’d like to go camping one day and received a definite “no”. Turned out she was worried about sheep in the field… !?

    Will have to suggest it again when she’s a bit older.

  3. We love camping and have taken Finn since he was a baby.

    You’re so right though-it is hard work but definitely worth it! It was amazing this summer watching Finn run about and explore, just the perfect holiday for children 🙂

  4. We went camping for the first time as a family of five this summer plus the two dogs. So glad we did. It sounds like we had a similar time to you.

    Can’t help smiling at your reference to laughing at challenging/painful moments. Oh. I am completely with you on that one.

    Here’s to many more camping trips.

  5. I have to admit our tent is too big – in fact we have been and bought really tiny ones now for overnight stays. The kids love it and it something different for them to experience isn’t it.

  6. Thankfully we’ve been lucky with the weather for our 2 camping trips with only one day of rain each.

    I’m not sure I’d like to do rain if on my own with N, but we’re always camping with lots of friends so it’s a bit more fun than depressing.

    Our car’s always packed out and there’s only ever myself and N, so with 4+ I don’t know how people do it even with a roof box.

  7. Camping holidays dominate my childhood too. 66 weeks of the summer holidays was spent in a field in Cornwall.

    It was my dream to one day live there! I’m thrilled to have made my dream come true and while we don’t do camping now my kids have all enjoyed camping on the farm and with scouts.

    Good weather really does make a difference, I hope you keep the weather on our side for your next adventure.

  8. My partner and I love camping but have yet done it with the kids. Like you, we are very nervous to take them especially as my youngest is only 17 months and loves to run off.

    I cant wait to share the joy of camping with my little ones! Looks like you had a wonderful time and your tent looks amazing!

  9. We went camping for the first time as a family of 4 this summer. We loved it too!

    As you say, just the opportunity to spend time as a family with no distractions.

    My 5yo loved “helping” with the washing up instead of slinging everything into the dishwasher like at home, and she loved having to have a shower in the shower block instead of a bath.

    It’s such a change from normal life. Great fun!

  10. Ah it sounds so lovely Karen, especially seeing shooting stars, how incredible! We want to take the kids camping but have been too nervous to yet.

    I know lots of people do camp with little ones but we want them to be a bit older I think, so we can be ready for it haha!!

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