I grew up in a camping family. Not so much your ordinary campsite camping, but the backpack in a few miles in and stay a few days kind of camping. Every summer, usually around mid-August, we would pack up and go.
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| My dad was there too, but he is taking the picture! |
There was usually some of this...
sometimes some of this...
and we certainly did this...
After I got married, we went with my family a couple of times, but then life got busy, and we had kids.
Last week we went camping for the first time since we have had kids; in actuality, it has been about 7 years. We were excited to let the kids experience it (even though it was your standard campsite kind of camping) and let them play with rocks and sticks and dirt, but we were also a little concerned about how to keep them warm at night (with temperatures in the low 40s) since our kids don't stay in sleeping bags or keep their blankets on well.
What ended up working for us was to layer as much as we could. So, each of my boys had on an undershirt or onesie and socks, pajamas I made for them out of my husband's old thermals (pictured above), and zippered footie pajamas on top. Each of the boys had their own little sleeping bag (made by me) and their usual blankets they sleep with on top.
I made this sleeping bag a few years ago for my oldest son. I used 4 matching quilted pillow shams- I just sewed them together, leaving one side partially open and adding velcro for functionality.
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| Fully extended sleeping bag |
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| Velcro closures |
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| The end of the sleeping bag folded up for more warmth |
I also made this sleeping bag for my younger son in preparation for our camping trip. It is made from a hodgepodge of different fabrics I had laying around. I figured if I had to go buy fabric I might as well just buy a sleeping bag, so I made it work with what I already had and busted some of my stash in the process... win! (I used two different kinds of batting, two different kinds of fleece, and two different jersey knit fabrics, and and old 24" zipper- a real mish-mash).
Well, the kids didn't keep their sleeping bags on too well, but that might partly be due to the fact that they were so excited to be sleeping in a tent that they could barely hold still. Once they fell asleep we had readjust the sleeping bags/ blankets a couple times but they stayed warmer than me! (I checked, and while I had ice cold ears and nose, they felt nice and toasty warm. I obviously should have implemented the same layering strategy for myself.)
I forgot the camera on this camping trip (shame on me) but we have a couple more camping trips planned, including a backpacking trip with my family later this summer! Woot!
Has anyone camped or backpacked with toddlers? What advice do you have?
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