Whether you're going on a family camping holiday this summer or just setting up camp in the garden, we've rounded up a few easy and fun camping crafts your children will love!
There are so many fun camping activities you can plan with your little ones (check out our top 10 outdoor games and our top tips for stargazing) but as a parent, it’s best to be prepared and have some extra things to do up your sleeve. Our nature inspired camping crafts don’t require many resources and can be enjoyed anywhere. They will keep your little adventurers entertained while teaching them about the great outdoors.
1) Leaf threading
Perfect camping craft even for younger children, leaf threading is a fun way to teach your children handling small tools and describing patterns.
What will you need: a simple hole puncher, a couple of threads (from 30 cm to 1m) and a couple of sticks (around 1m in length).
How to play: a campsite is the perfect place for this type of activity as leaves and sticks are everywhere! Sit together with children and choose a few leaves to play with. Allow the children to punch holes in the leaves – they can even choose a pattern they like and punch holes in interesting shapes (e.g. heart, square). Offer them the colourful strings and allow them to thread the leaves together. Then, pick some sticks, push them in to the ground and allow the children to decorate the sticks. All done!
2) Stick art – Forest People
Stick art is a cool way to explore a variety of materials and textures and learn about colours and tools. Tell your children you’re going to create Forest People today – we’re sure they will love the idea!
What will you need: leaves, sticks, flowers and stones
How to play: Firstly, allow your little explorers to collect all the resources they need to make their Forest People. If you play with smaller children, show them what you’ll be doing by creating a model – make the outline of the body using a couple of sticks and fill in the body with flowers, leaves and stones. Next, create the face and hair adding more colour and using different textures. Let the young artists express themselves – ask them to create and decorate their own Forest People. Remember to take lots of pictures of their glorious artwork.
3) Cool clay faces
This is definitely one of our favourite camping crafts. Make cool and funny faces using nothing more than some mud and natural materials such as flowers, sticks and leaves and pat them on to the tree! Be careful – your creations might scare fellow campers!
What will you need: clay or mud that can be dug from the ground (or some sand and water), natural materials (sticks, twigs, seeds, flowers, leaves…)
How to play: take a handful of clay, pat it on to the tree and shape it however you like to create a “face”. Ask the children to do the same. This is a great opportunity to discuss facial expressions and create these together. Decorate the faces with natural materials – you can even create a family of faces with your little ones.
4) Egg Tower
Create a super tall egg tower to keep the eggs safe from wild creatures! We love this easy and fun camping craft.
What will you need: sticks, eggs
How to play: Ask the children to create the tallest, freestanding tower from sticks that can be found in the forest. Give them a couple of minutes to plan the structure and collect sticks. Tell them that you’re going to test their egg towers by putting an egg on the top of the structure – an egg needs to be supported for at least 10 seconds.
5) Make your own microscope
Your little scientists can build their own microscope in a few simple steps and start discovering a hidden world observing little creatures and plants.
What will you need: plastic cup, cling wrap, rubber band, water, nature items to look at
How to play: Ask your little scientists to place their items into the cup and stretch a piece of cling wrap over the top of the cup. Make sure it’s secured with a rubber band. Ask the children to poura little water on top of the cling wrap. Now the fun part begins – let them look at their items through the drop of water. It will work as a lens and make the items look bigger and more detailed. Happy camping!
