I've been wanting a new tent for a while and it got me thinking that it might be fun to go camping as a family this summer. For the price of a basic static/airbnb I could buy 2 shelters to take on multiple adventures. I'm an experienced camper and generally well organised but I'm hoping to gain insight from those who've camped with pre-schoolers. What are the classic mistakes?
I was thinking about buying a 2 and 3 person tent to keep the 4 of us cosy, we'll split the kids. I could use either on solo adventures.
Exciting...
Mine loved it, impossible to make mistakes. However, Madame is a little more demanding so a mistake is anywhere without a hot shower or a swimming pool for more than 48h.
If you are planning on using x2 tents you may run into trouble on larger family campsites. Some will want to charge you for both or won't let you share a pitch.
One big tent you can stand up in is much better for family camping. And a decent sized living area outside the bedrooms is very useful too for those wet days when you are trapped inside. Kids need space!
We did it last year for the first time. We all loved it.
I splashed out on an inflatable tent to make things a little less stressful, I could put it all up single handed
I have a 6 person, standing room plus bedrooms thing (really only good for 4 or 5 at a push) that was bought when the kids were small.
Far far better than the 4 person tunnel tent we started off with. Technically big enough, but only enough space to sleep (uncomfortably) for a couple of nights before either attempted murder or serious damage occurred. Preschoolers need a LOT of stuff, and space. And a box of toys, and fluffy
Had 4 *adults* in the same tent for a week of MTBing without any issues except the snoring, farting and early morning fug.
I would definitely recommend a family tent with big living area for rainy days and get a carpet for it (there are often specific carpets to go with a particular tent so that it fits in nicely). And a decent porch so you can sit outside in the rain, or just move some of your stuff out of the living area when you are inside. I think getting two smaller tents would be a mistake as if you're stuck inside either in the rain it'll be less comfortable and your kids will likley want to be in the same one as each other to play and will also want to keep going from one to the other which will make keeping both the kids and the tent dry infuriating. Plus for sleeping if you plan to put them to bed before you go they might be happier in together instead of alone.
We got a Kampa hayling 6, fairly inexpensive and bags of space inside. Two bedrooms at the back but we generally remove the seperator and have it as one big room for the four of us. A gazebo of some sort may also be useful for keeping chairs, cooking equipment in overnight.
Big family tents makes things much more comfortable, especially when it's wet. My big regret is not buying an inflatable one, as the biggest stress of going camping for me is faffing with the poles.
-Get a pitch with an electric hook-up. Having a cooler/fridge is great. And having a device charged up when the little one needs a bit of down time is essential.
-Tent carpets are fantastic, makes it much warmer and nicer inside the tent.
-Ground sheets - these are great at keeping the tent clean and dry when you pack up, and stops you having to dry the bottom off, or unpack later and dry out.
-We tend to go for 'family campsites' these days with more facilities, rather than the basic farmers field type campsites you can get.
-Have a plan for activities to keep you and the nippers entertained, but be flexible if you can due to weather.
It can be quite stressful especially with kids, but it's worth it once all set up and you have a cold beer in your hand and a BBQ on the go.
Don't underestimate the value of big living space for the inevitable wet days with family camping - ours is invaluable. With all the luxury we have with our big 6-person tent, I can barely call it camping:
Inflatable tent.
Tent carpet for comfort.
2 x 3-person bedrooms (which in reality only fit 2 x single airbeds in each).
Massive living area.
Passive coolbox.
240v freezer for ice-creams and refreezing our icepacks for the fridge).
Kitchen unit.
Dual induction hob (and a gas stove for off-grid).
Etc.
Once set up its no less comfortable than our touring caravan was yet more spacious. Kids are still young so hoping for many more years of use.
Don't get small tents. Buy a big tent.
They'll need good sleeping bags / extra warmth as they can get cold at night. Be prepared to abort if it's really miserable weather - no body wants grumpy kids
We went "off-grid".
Ice packs rotation (family sites have a freezer free to use). And a couple of Anker power banks for charging our phones, kids devices.
That was perfect. In the evening we went to a local pub anyway, so came back to tent later, and had a little campfire with the kids then all retired to bed - camping with kids is exhausting!
+1 for a big tent and family friendly campsites.
Top tip: portaloo for overnight use by the kids means you avoid the overnight traipse across the campsite to the toilet block 🙂
Despite the big tent / young family, we still prefer smaller campsites. Struggling to find them though, e.g. Glen Brittle on Skye is much more my thing than Eurocamp-syle sites.
Kids (and many adults are crap at discipline) - which means they walk around the tent in mucky shoes, and they leave their stuff everywhere which means you have to tidy it up and be responsible for finding it when they inevitably lose it - which means they walk around the field in mucky socks.
Apart from that it's a doddle.
I'm a right laugh me.
For us it was a necessity as funds were tight when my daughter was growing up.
In reality I hated pretty much every minute of it, just an utter ball-ache from start to finish. Either too wet, too hot and muggy in tent, sloping pitches or put next to the family from hell with 100m of windbreaks marking out 'their' bit and staying up drinking till the early hours while you tried to get your toddler to sleep.
Driving up to a nice cottage and carrying a few bags in is so much nicer! 🙂
Top tip: portaloo for overnight use by the kids means you avoid the overnight traipse across the campsite to the toilet block 🙂
Invaluable! Good for dad to use too 😉
We just use a bucket type from Go Outdoors. Doubles up as a storage bin in the car (good clean required mind!)
What's not to like? Somewhere in Denmark on one of their 9 days of Summer.
hat are the classic mistakes?
1. Thinking it will be easy
2. Thinking it will be fun
I jest; it is immensely fun but ultimately very hard work especially if you are naturally inclined to being tidy and clean! I've camped with my two a lot, including pre-school and post school. An inflatable tent is a godsend as it makes life so much easier.
We go most years with a group of friends who have similar aged kids to our own. I can def recommend that, as the kids all occupy each other while the grown ups get a bit of peace 🙂
Black out tent inflatable tent.
Huge gazebo thing.
The biggest cool box you can buy.
^everything else I can improvise but for anything more than one night those are essential for tolerable camping with kids.
dont do too much. the kids are just happy playing with sticks.
1 bigger tent.
When ours were little we had a tent with a shared living space and 3 pods. All the kids went in one, we went in one and we had one as a kitchen space keeping the group space free of clutter. A few blankets or old rugs in the group space keep things warm.
We always went with hookup when the kids were younger meaning you could just boil a little camping kettle for bottles etc. and have a powered coolbox.
Top tip - Guy lines seem to attract children like a van full of candy and puppies. Make sure you have spares and tie ribbon to them so the kids see them before they trip or grot themselves. (We had three kids so could afford to loose 1 or 2 :-))
ps - the ribbon won't help but it make you feel less bad when a child goes flying for the 4th time that day.
dont do too much. the kids are just happy playing with sticks.
You forgot the mud and water.
The dads from my eldest son's school class have gone every first weekend in September for the last nine years. It has always been a blast but can be some what trying of your patience.
The first year we went I remember arriving to see one of the little darlings walking back to his tent covered from head to toe in mud, and I mean like just a pair of white eyes peeking through the mud. I looked on in horror and then noticed his dad standing next to me. I turned to him with that look of horrow and we went
'Just don't, this isn't even the first time! We've been here two hours and he's already gone through four sets of clothes'.
1. Like everyone else said, a big tent you can stand up in. A six berth is about right for a family of four. Ideally you will be able to erect your tent single handed so your OH can mind the kids. Or vice versa.
2. If you go to a family friendly site, kids will probably make friends and your life will be immeasurably easier
3. As per others, a receptacle for night time wees.
4. If it's a new tent practice putting it up before you go on your holiday.
5. Hookup is nice but not essential, especially if the site has a freezer for your packs. I've managed a fortnight with a "two on, two off" rotation. Putting frozen food into your box will keep it cold for ages.
6. I have batteries and a solar panel for phones.
Our main family holiday has been camping in Britain since my daughter, the youngest, was 6. She is now 22
We camp on the Scillies on a basic site. But there are loads offering similar round the uk
We have on occasional been a bit cold and damp. Actually the cold and windy year was a bit trying. But overall it’s been brilliant. Utterly brilliant.
Hard to explain quite why. But every summer we go from camping to cottage and the camping is the highlight
Our tips are
The kids need friends!! These were supplied by the campsite and we just kept going back and meeting the same people
I recommend a tent that you can stand up in but at the smaller size. We have used a giant backpacking style tunnel. It’s only real benefit was that we once flew with it
Chairs are good. Cheap chairs are rubbish
Have some where weather proof to cook. Ideally of the ground
Cook really good meals
Everyone needs a good bag and mat. The bags don’t need to be posh but at least D of E standard
A tent with a bath tub round the living area is great
Take old towels to keep the floor dry
On bad weather days it’s the friends that keep the kid going through the day
Sorry can’t resist here are some photos
https://www.flickr.com/gp/john_clinch/S5Rv22
One of these shows a set up where a family used 2 large geodesic dome and a tarp. It worked but I didn’t think it was better. It also shows our family size tent which worked well
https://flickr.com/photos/7615885@N08/sets/72157683418429900
There are biased to the later years. The smaller tunnel was fine as we all slept in it. But I don’t think smaller was better
We need a new tent for this year. Does any one have a smaller air tent they would recommend
Our main family holiday has been camping in Britain since my daughter, the youngest, was 6. She is now 22
We camp on the Scillies on a basic site. But there are loads offering similar round the uk
We have on occasional been a bit cold and damp. Actually the cold and windy year was a bit trying. But overall it’s been brilliant. Utterly brilliant.
Hard to explain quite why. But every summer we go from camping to cottage and the camping is the highlight
Our tips are
The kids need friends!! These were supplied by the campsite and we just kept going back and meeting the same people
I recommend a tent that you can stand up in but at the smaller size. We have used a giant backpacking style tunnel. It’s only real benefit was that we once flew with it
Chairs are good. Cheap chairs are rubbish
Have some where weather proof to cook. Ideally of the ground
Cook really good meals
Everyone needs a good bag and mat. The bags don’t need to be posh but at least D of E standard
A tent with a bath tub round the living area is great
Take old towels to keep the floor dry
On bad weather days it’s the friends that keep the kid going through the day
Sorry can’t resist here are some photos
https://www.flickr.com/gp/john_clinch/Z558pQ
One of these shows a set up where a family used 2 large geodesic dome and a tarp. It worked but I didn’t think it was better. It also shows our family size tent which worked well
https://flickr.com/photos/7615885@N08/sets/72157683418429900
There are biased to the later years. The smaller tunnel was fine as we all slept in it. But I don’t think smaller was better
We need a new tent for this year. Does any one have a smaller air tent they would recommend
Pretty much been covered. We have a family tent all be it a small family tent but still much bigger than our old backpacking ones. 4 man two bedrooms, family of 4. Kids 5 and 1.
We go for basic campsites. Nearly Wild club is good if you like that sort of thing. We are still in the take less camp, no seats just mats to sit on so you don't have t g all in with the pack the house type affair. I would recommend a two ring stove though that can take a big pot and be stable. Something that can take a refillable gas bottle as cooking for 4 on disposal canisters gets expensive.
Jesus, I’ve never been camping. At least not in the lap of luxuries mentioned on here!
The ‘cook really good food’ is a good shout though. We (me, mum & dad) would drive to Thirlmere on a Friday afternoon, mum had cooked roast beef for Sunday dinner & she'd do all the veg on a Camping Gaz stove on the Sunday.
We had ex army sleeping bags & lord knows what we slept in, probably camp beds of some sort.
It doesn’t matter how you do it, kids love it anyway!
They don’t need Wi-Fi, they’ll find their own entertainment. Mine was usually sledging down the hill on the site on a flattened out crisp box, or fishing in the stream.
Camping is mainly for kids anyway, they love it!
Both my kids were camping before they were walking.
We do a lot of camping in Oz and tend to move around a fair bit. Until the kids were 8 and 6 we used a large high quality lightweight tent (Exped Carina). They used to have thin foam camping mattresses but now have thermarests and matching pillows to help keep weight and space down to a minimum.
Then over the top we put a large lightweight tarpaulin. The tent serves for sleeping only, the tarp provides a space to hang out.
The lightweight stuff is great for packing small, fast and getting the F out of D. This way we were able to do long trips with long drives and set up and pack down to move on quickly.
Now the kids are a bit older we have two 2person tents but still use the big tarp.
Done the big tarp thing as well. Works well as long as the weather is not too inclement. Always worth having a good trap or at least. Good umbrella for the cook!
Rain!
You know how to set up a wifi hotspot from your phone yeah?
Thanks folks, lots of sound advice. TBF we'll likely only camp if fine weather is guaranteed. Flexibility with work allows us to go last minute this year.
Main thing I took away was biggish tent not two small ones, thinking something like these:
I'll still be getting my little 2 man : )
https://www.sportpursuit.com/catalog/product/view/id/2220555
