Sleeping in a Sack: Camping Activities for Kids

A great book for pre-teens and their parents. It has ideas on how to involve your child in the planning of a camping trip. They tell you not to hesitate to make a trip first just to your own backyard, something that I always reccommend as a test run of your skills and your gear. And you can have repeat visits to the yard anytime you like, cause the kids just love it and it's easy on you. Naturally it has advice for longer trips into the real woods, from gear selection, to packing lists, how to pack it all in, how-to put it toghether, how will you cook, how to light a fire, and more. But it also has a great emphasis on what to do when you get there, how to plan fun for the kids, (or how to keep them busy) and includes nature activities, games, and songs. It also has some great but simple camping recipes. 64 pages with full-color illustrations. Try the other book from theses authors, "Cooking On A Stick", it is mostly recipes but a great book for any camping library.

My children and I were introduced to this book through a friend who'd heard the author speak. We've used several of the ideas in our latest camping trips and found it very useful.

I found this to be a great resource for kids new to camping. Checklists, ideas for low-impact camping, and activites abound in a very user-friendly format. Not necessarily great for more experienced campers, but perfect for my first-grade Girl Scout troop!