Why Camping is a Great Educational Activity + Free Camping Printable

Camping as a family can offer wonderful educational opportunities for your kids – and you! Take a look at a few of the ways camping can be a great educational activity, and don’t miss the free camping printable we have for you! 

Camping as an Educational Activity

There are so many educational benefits to camping that you can teach and learn with your children! Not only will they learn some really great life skills, they will be creating lots of memories with your family.

How Camping Can Build Survival Skills

The first and most obvious thing camping teaches us is survival skills. Kids need to learn how to enjoy the great outdoors while recognizing the hazards. What snakes are common in your area? What poisonous plants could your kids encounter?

This is not only important to learn for survival, but it’s also a great way to work in some animal and plant identification, too! 

Make sure everyone knows how to administer first aid. This is not only a key survival skill, it’s also a critical skill to have in daily living.

Practice Organizational Skills 

They also need to learn how to plan ahead for safety. What food will they need? What clothes are needed for the weather conditions you may encounter? What can they do to prepare for changes in the weather? What natural hazards must be avoided? 

Build Problem Solving Skills

As you are planning your family camping trip, suggest problems that may arise and help your kids think through them and find safe solutions. This will help them better respond if a problem or true emergency does occur. 

Physical Activity While Camping

Packing for a family camping trip as well as setting up camp and doing all the chores necessary to operate the camp are great ways to make sure kids are getting important physical activity. 

Work On Map Reading Skills

Another reason camping is a great educational activity is because to be safe and successful, you have to be able to read and understand maps. Make sure your kids have a solid understanding of how to read maps of the area you are camping in.

You can even have little ones get involved by drawing maps of your house or neighborhood. This free printable will help your kids learn how to read a map.

Build Relationships Between Siblings

Camping as a family means spending a lot of time close together without all the comforts – and possibly space – you have at home. Take advantage of this time to build patience with each other and reliance on each other. Enjoy time away from screens and electronic devices to listen to each other and really hear what is being said. 

Outdoor Fun While Camping

No matter how much your kids are learning, make sure to plan plenty of time for fun! There are all sorts of outdoor games that you can adapt to play on camping trips. Or you could turn your hikes into outdoor scavenger hunts. 

Whatever you do, make sure you don’t miss the opportunity to grow together as a family, be amazed by God’s creation, and build terrific memories that will last a lifetime! 

Free Happy Campers Activity Bundle

Grab our Free Happy Campers activity bundle below! It has seven fun activities you can do on your camping trip including: 

• making a camping comic
• recording camping memories
• playing tic tac toe
• playing four-in-a-row
• learning how to draw a bear
• playing camping bingo
• going on a camping scavenger hunt