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Camping with kids makes wonderful memories. It can also be a lot of work if the kids ever get tired of playing in the dirt! Crafts are great, but packing a bunch of craft supplies along with the sleeping bags, food, and other camp gear just makes more work. Instead, keep the kids busy with minimal effort by trying a few of these easy, no-fuss camping crafts made with natural elements.
Take advantage of the colorful wildflowers in and around your campsite by using a “pounding” technique to transfer the color to watercolor paper. You won’t even need to bring a hammer for this pretty nature craft – you’re sure to find some good pounding rocks around camp!
Summer thunderstorms can spring up at any time, but rather than letting a drizzle ruin your camping experience, take advantage of it instead! Tote a few bottles of food coloring and some thick paper (watercolor paper is great but cardstock works too!) along when you camp and let the fun begin with these splatter paintings! And hey – if the rain doesn’t happen, why not spend an afternoon letting the kids sprinkle water over the project themselves?
Send the kids on a rock hunt and watch their imaginations come to life when you provide a bit of paint and some googly eyes. Everyone will love seeing these little rock monsters around the campsite!
Clean up your camping area and make a craft at the same time? There’s nothing better! Small twigs or sturdy pine needles can be transformed into these decorative stars with just a bit of wire or string to hold them together. Allow children to add flowers, leaves, or berries they find to make each star unique and hang them from nearby trees for a festive camp experience.
This fun project is one of the simplest on the list! All you need to bring for this craft is a roll of yarn or string. Help children select a sturdy stick for the base, then let them go wild tying on whatever else they can find to make this clever mobile.
There are sure to be plenty of leaves around your campsite, and that makes this craft perfect for fun in the great outdoors. Paper and glue are all you really need, but you can add fun details to your leaf creatures with googly eyes and markers too!
A perfect craft for little collectors, this nature bracelet is sure to keep kids busy creating. Kids can stick flowers, twigs, leaves, and other found items to the sticky side of a piece of duct tape and wear it on their wrist to show off their collection. To protect the items and keep other things from sticking to the bracelet, a strip of clear packing tape can be placed on top.
This project is one that your whole camping group can have fun with! Help kids create “frames” with sticks and a bit of yarn or string, then wrap the string around the frame in intervals to create the weaving base. For the rest of your time in camp, kids and adults alike can add interesting flowers, plants, and branches they find in order to create a one-of-a-kind piece of natural art.
9. Bug catcher
No matter where you camp, there are two things you can always count on having around – bugs and garbage! But instead of tossing empty plastic bottles in the trash, consider this fun craft and let the kids rid your campsite of a few of those bugs. The bug catcher in this tutorial uses craft foam and hot glue to keep the required bit of mesh (or tulle!) in place, but we think a few strips of duct tape would do the job just fine.
10. Walking stick
Kids will love creating their own walking stick to use on hikes around camp! Send them on a search for their perfect stick, and then supply colored duct tape or paints for decorating. If you’re up for it, you can bring string, beads, and other decorative items for added creativity.
Don’t miss these 7 helpful tips to make your camping trip even easier!
Featured image via Craftiments.
Kayla Lilly is a photographer, writer, wife, and mama making a house a home in eastern Idaho. She met her mister while working at an amusement park and married him a year later after deciding there was no way to live without him. The amusement has continued as they’ve added three kids and a passel of pets to their lives while finishing college and starting a photography business. Drawing inspiration from the whirlwinds of marriage, parenthood, and the media, Kayla blogs at www.utterlyinexperienced.blogspot.com, and spends the rest of her time chasing chickens, organizing junk drawers, diapering toddlers, and photographing everyone willing to step in front of her lens.
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