Here are must-have backyard camping essentials for kids.
When your kids want to go camping, you don’t want to because tent camping is not your thing. Let them explore and get used to camping under the stars in their own backyard! Here are 12 Backyard Campout Essentials for Kids that you’ll want to have on hand.
Summer is upon us, and so is the heat, but that doesn’t stop the kids from wanting to have fun in their backyards. My 6 yr old son wants to have a backyard campout, but we think he’s too young, so I told him we could pretend. I prepared a list of backyard campout essentials so he could have a pretend backyard campout for us adults, who one day will go on a real tent campout!
I bought this new tent for my son because I know we will eventually use it for “real” camping one day. My husband put the tent up on the left side of the yard. I wanted to ensure I had all the essentials to make it fun for them, even though it was just pretending. I asked my son and his friend to help me develop a few things they would want at a campout. They both said popcorn, so that’s a must.
Related: Fall Camping Checklist & Tips
12 Backyard Camping Essentials for Kids
- A good reliable tent, of course, but get one big enough for a family.
- Sleeping bag/pillow (they can always sleep under the stars, right?)
- Bug spray
- An excellent reliable flashlight for each camper
- Extra batteries (just in case a camper comes with a nonworking flashlight)
- Kids’ Summer Camping Box
- Enough popcorn for each kid
- Water to drink
- Outdoor games
- Ask each camper to bring their favorite stuffed animal, blanket, or whatever they sleep with.
- A small brush & pail for clean up afterward, or just let the birds eat the crumbs!!
- Most importantly, get this kid’s parents’ phone numbers (if someone wants to go home); you never know!
I’m not sure what the right age is to let kids have a backyard campout, but if I know my son, I would also prepare a space for indoor sleeping just if he and his friend get scared. But these backyard camping essentials for Kids are perfect for pretend camping too.
Related: Camping Gear to Match Your Lifestyle
Batteries for Camping
There are two things I don’t ever want to run out of: batteries and toilet paper! So I make sure I stock up on both. Energizer batteries are a great brand to have on hand.
Energizer® Vision HD+ Focus LED Headlight is the highest performing of the Energizer vision headlights having a 250-lumen output and beam distance of 80M. It can also be customized to the desired width. It’s water and impact-resistant, and that’s a good thing if your kid is wearing it!! We also found that it can be switched to a red light, which my son thought was pretty cool.
My husband is all over the Energizer® Fusion LED Folding Lantern. I don’t always get products to review that he can use, but this time I did. With its 330-lumen output, he’ll take this on hunting and fishing trips. He already told me after this “pretend” campout he was hiding it from the little one! It’s a must backyard campout essential for anyone who wishes to set up a pretend backyard campout for their kiddos.
Happy backyard camping!
We would definitely use this prize pack for camping if I won! It would be super handy to have!
I will use the lights on a camping trip with the kids.
This would be great for night time walks on the beach at OBX.
I’d use this prize pack to have fun in the backyard at night with my nephew…we’re always trying to catch the deer out back.
I don’t think my kids have done a back yard campout before!! What a fun way for the kids to have fun at home, love these essentials.
If you ask my girls you’ll only get one answer. Their must-have is a reliable wi-fi connection!
That light is awesome! We camp out a few times a year and having something like this would be great. I love the ideas of taking along some games too.
This is indeed a great list of essentials for the backyard campout for kids. Some of my best memories in the summer as a kid was camping out in the backyard. Energizer Fusion LED Folding Lantern is something I am going to have to pick up for sure. Thanks for sharing the list.
I would use it for night time summer fun in the backyard and also to be prepared for the upcoming hurricane season.
We are going to enroll Connor in cub scouts so this will come in handy!
I would use this for camping.
I would use this battery prize pack around the house, we need batteries!
I would let my son use the headlight outside in the evenings in the yard.
I would us it for flashlights and little battery operated lanterns for backyard camping with the Grandkids.
If I were to win, we would have batteries and lights to light up our nighttime fun with bonfires, walks, playing cornhole, etc. Lots of fun memories it will create!
We would use it while camping. The kids like to chase fireflies, so We use a flashlight to walk toward The woods.
We would use this prize during camping trips at the river, if we win. Thanks for the chance!
This is a great giveaway! I love to go camping every so often, and this will make that much easier to do. Nice.
my daughters love to camp, however I do not so my husband takes them. those are good tips and def must needed items.
Love those high performance headlights! They are such a useful idea. You’ve provided a really comprehensive list here to help make backyard camping even more fun, and what a great giveaway too!
Having a first aid kit is really important. You never know what might happen!
My husband LOVES backyard camping with the kids. And the best thing about it is that there is a bathroom nearby at 3 AM when you have to pee 🙂
Now that is so true….and I WAS going to say something about that…but decided not to. Glad you did!!!
We camp in our yard with the kids. Even the baby last summer. He made it through the night outside in the tent at only 3 months old. This would be awesome for our night time adventures out here!
That would be okay if we were out there, but I was thinking as I wrote this post that we would be inside. Not sure I’m even brave enough to camp outside in this heat of Texas. 100 degrees sound awful to me.
It would be great for camping and late night walks!
These would be wonderful to use to take the dog out for a night walk on these hot summer days.