4 ways to ensure a great family camping trip

A camping trip can represent the peak of summer fun – provided you’re prepared. Here are four ways to ensure your whole family enjoys the camping trip of a lifetime.

First, understand how far camp gear has come.

• Tents these days are completely waterproof and sleeping pads can be as comfy as mattresses.
• Camp chairs sit beautifully and pack tight.
• There are endless gadgets and garments to keep you warm and amused out there.

Although you may have camped before, if it has been awhile it's worth checking out (and perhaps upgrading to) some of the latest comforts available – not only for your family but yourself.

There’s a simple key to planning a successful camping adventure: Think like a kid! Epic sight-seeing is fine for a while, but for kids, camping is about playing in new places and eating fun foods...period.

• Camping is where kids learn to tend a fire safely, catch a fish for the first time, or swim under the full moon.

Remember that although children love a beach, they like a pool just as much – which is why clever campsite operators often make them a centrepiece.

• Don’t forget the water toys! A rubber dinghy makes an instant pirate ship, an inflatable stand-up paddle board is a portable raft.
• Consider bocce, horseshoes, soccer and flying a kite when it's sunny. And when the rain inevitably falls, table games like cribbage, dominoes and tiddlywinks easily relocate the fun to the picnic table. Classic board games such as Monopoly, Life and Snakes & Ladders are also a great way to while away the hours.

To stay dry on rainy days make sure you have an artfully suspended tarp that is big enough to shelter your makeshift kitchen, table and has enough space to do a proper sun dance.

Another camping deterrent is running the domestic details of your mobile household. The trick is to enlist everyone in camp to do various chores, be it cleaning or gathering firewood.

• Cooking over an open fire can be a supremely fun kid task – like pioneers from the olden days! – so think about bringing cookware like a three-legged Dutch oven, grill racks, hot dog sticks and plenty of aluminum foil.
• Encourage everyone to come up with clever tricks to lighten the workload, like using cheap, burnable paper plates that nest inside a sturdy Frisbee.

Camping is also about satisfying wanderlust.

• Think twice before locking into a campsite that you don’t already know and love.
• Although you’ll probably need to make camping reservations during the peak season, finding a freshly vacated site is often no more than a thunderstorm away.

If you can't find a spot at your favourite place, ask for recommendations from friends. Pressing onward to explore new camp sites becomes part of the adventure.

If you got sidetracked from camping somewhere along the line then perhaps it’s time to get back into the groove, reconnect with the great outdoors and get your family out for a wonderful camping trip this summer. Your only wish? That you had done it sooner!