Camping Skill Lessons: Outdoor Skills To Teach Your Kids

Our last article focused on camping with kids, its benefits, and the life skills that they could adopt from being exposed to camping. The focus of this article would be on the necessary skills you must equip them with before they go camping outdoors and how it would shape them to be better humans. 

Every camping trip you engage in as a family is unlike every other day. It is an opportunity to create memories and learn life and survival skills that would make a difference in the interim and over a long time.

The training gathered is not limited to the variations in the child's age or children you are going along with to the camp. There is always something to learn, and if you are uncertain of its benefits to the kids in the future, it won't hurt to equip them as nothing is ever a waste, and it would only be a matter that the skills instilled would surface ways that you cannot imagine.

Let's delve into some skills that children must possess before arriving at the campsite. Trust us when we say this act is a necessary spice for fun during your camping.

What do you need to teach?

• 1. Planning:

This is the first and the most critical skill your child must possess in doing anything meaningful, camping inclusive. Draw out plans with the children and give their opinions on what should be done on the camp trip, i.e., the options of campsites available and the meal plan. Afterwards, you can compare notes and see the feasibility of their plans, what is attainable and what isn't. Including them in the planning process would enhance your child's ability to work together with a team going forward.

• 2. Preparation:

After you, all have come up with a plan, it is time to hatch the plan; let them gather the necessary items on the list needed for your outdoor camping. Have some pre-camp fun by going shopping together. Build a sense of responsibility as you engage them in every part of the process. You would get their involvement, fun, and reduced stress. You certainly want that don't you?

• 3. Setting Up:

Upon arrival at the campsite, whether in an RV, Cabin, or a forest reserve, unpacking, building tents is for everyone. As you work together to set up, discuss the efficacy of having many people do a specific task and its effect on time management. Intentionally teach them the division of labor by delegating duties amongst them if you have many kids. If you have just one kid, sharing responsibilities between yourselves isn't a bad idea. During setup at the campsite, the positioning of the lights, either battery generated or solar-generated, is very important acevolt campower solar generator is a brand built for such decisions as this. 

• 4. Safety and Survival skills:

Going out into the wild when camping can be unsafe sometimes, especially if you are not particular about the safety precautions surrounding the campsite of your choice. Therefore you want to train your kids on the precautions to take when encountering wildlife or stray persons. Not preparing them ahead would cause them to panic, not knowing what to do in such situations. 

How to Read a Map:

Learning to read maps is essential camping basics that everyone must know, adult and young. Children are highly inquisitive, and these can see them wandering off independently. So, as a means of safety precaution, show them the route around the camp on an actual paper map. Explain to them what the symbols and colors on the map mean. You could also use compasses and a GPS tracker in place of a paper map. Whatever you choose to settle for, ensure that they are taken around at all times. For an easy and fast adaptation, please find a way to teach them using fun methods. 

Making a campfire:

Depending on the choice of campsite, the importance of a campfire ranges between its use for cooking, keeping warm, scaring off wild animals, and serving as a source of light, especially at night. It then becomes essential to make a campfire with the available raw materials such as dry woods and stones. Although there are quicker means of getting the fire started, the use of rocks and other natural means adds a feel of camping and helps the kids add to their skill sets. 

Game hunting/ cooking: 

Food is an essential aspect of any camping experience; although many campers go along with food items, this doesn't stop the kids from being exposed to gaming in the wild, especially in areas where such activities are allowed. This skill helps them to learn alertness and sharpen their tracking skills. 

• 5. Clearing up:

Keeping the camp area clean might be a challenge because it gives a different feel compared to the structured urban environment that the kids are familiar with, hence making it easy to dispose of waste without thoroughly thinking of it. One way to avoid this is to discuss the essence of picking up trash and how it is a collective responsibility irrespective of who dumped the garbage on the ground. This helps the world from depletion and the camp area attracting stray animals. 

What they would learn

A sense of belonging: family bonds are strengthened when you go camping. Being away from work, mobile technology, gadgets, and other forms of distractions make room for everyone to be more attentive to the needs of others and appreciate the company of the other. Kids raised in love tend to be more innovative and understand how vital their roles are within the family context. 

Team Work: a necessary life skill that children pick up while camping. By delegating responsibilities and working together in bringing to life your camping plan, the kids learn how to work on a team effectively to achieve a common goal.

Time Management: When many people focus on doing a particular task, it requires less time than when you have just an individual performing that task. 

Responsibility: Teaching kids activities such as clearing up after eating, looking out for their younger ones if they are older in age, taking out the trash, and the many other activities you might come about would inculcate a sense of responsibility and duty. It would also help them better appreciate the world around them.

Alternative means from technology: it's easy to get things done with technology. However, exposure to camping would expose them to alternative means of surviving and encourage them to trust and partner with others in the wild. 

Sharing: a camping experience would help the kids learn how to think of the welfare of others instead of themselves only, as most of the activities and processes of survival on a camping site involve partnering and sharing limited resources for the period spent at the campsite. 

Experiencing the beauty of nature: the campsite is always surrounded by natural elements such as trees, a large expanse of land and sometimes undulating terrains that gives a mixed feeling about nature, all this mixed with the colorful birds and creeping animals reveal a whole new world to the kids, one could ask what the relevance of nature is to have an adventurous feel, or what can nature teach about life, the answer to this is in the experience, and exposure to the wildlife and other natural elements help to build a mentality of possibility and also suggests that there are no limitations to growth and development. 

In conclusion: 

Teaching camping skills to kids helps them tackle life challenges, whatever is learned on the campgrounds, stay with them all through life, and inform their actions and inactions. Therefore, you want to deliberate on what they are exposed to as they grow.