Explore the great “indoors” this summer with our indoor camping ideas that are designed to replicate the experience of camping outside. So, free up some space in the middle of your living room to set up your campgrounds and round up your campers for an evening of indoor camping games, songs, and stories.
1. Construct a living room tent
First things first: you have to set up a tent large enough to accommodate your entire brood. You can fashion a living room tent in several ways with varying materials.
You can use a portable clothing rack and tie two sheets (one on each side), or you can run some overhead rope like a clothing line and fold a large sheet over the taut rope.
Our favorite method is draping blankets on top of a tall, four-legged desk or table and adorning the perimeter with some string lights. To curb instances of banged heads, we recommend this setup for toddler-aged kiddos.
If materials limit the size of your tent, be sure to have some sleeping bags (or makeshift sleeping bags) for a slumber under the “stars”—i.e., glow-in-the-dark adhesive stars on your ceiling or a star-projector nightlight.
Of course, if “DIY” isn’t your thing, a store-bought tent will do—but remember to loop in your little campers to help prop it up! If your children have yet to experience outdoor camping, this indoor experience could serve as practice until you all embark on the “real thing” someday.
2. Be active!
We suggest fitting in some low-impact exercises earlier in the day to ensure your little campers naturally wind down by bedtime.
Remember to stretch first! In addition to reducing instances of muscle cramps and injuries, slow and deliberate stretching can be a soothing activity you can enjoy as a family. Help your kids ease into different positions by narrating every shift in movement, counting down while holding each pose for 10 seconds, and encouraging deep breaths.
Get your cardio on with some riveting indoor camping games, like “the lava game” wherein you can arrange your furniture in such a way that the kids can leap from one surface to another so as not to be burned by “lava” (a.k.a., the floor). For this game, we designate you as the safety supervisor.
Other indoor camping games include “sumo wrestling” (cushioning your kids’ torsos with pillows to let them roughhouse for a bit), a scavenger hunt, bowling with empty plastic bottles and a tennis ball, balloon badminton, and a bean bag toss game. In short, let your imagination run wild without sacrificing safety.
3. Go on an animal exploration
In the spirit of engaging little ones in fun games, we recommend this activity for preschool-aged kiddos.
A spinoff of the game hide-and-seek, this activity involves hiding stuffed animals around the house and staging a “campground exploration.” It doesn’t matter if your plush toys don’t resemble woodland creatures—stuffed elephants, sharks, and giraffes can join the fun, too!
As you guide your child from room-to-room, feel free to color the activity with playful voice-over, asking your child questions about the “wild critters” you find. “What animal is that?” “Where does this animal normally live?” “What kind of sound does this animal make?”
4. Sing campfire songs!
This indoor camping idea is a no-brainer. Keeping with an old campfire tradition, gather your loved ones, bring out an acoustic guitar, and belt your hearts out. Depending on your audience, you may choose to play some preschool-approved ditties, call-and-response songs, family-friendly pop hits, or beloved oldies.
Make it a family jam session with recorders, harmonica, maracas, hand-clapping, and foot-stomping!
And while you are all already sitting in a circle, engage in some good-old storytelling. Whether you conjure a story out of thin air, retell a folktale, or try out a storytelling improv game, make it a good one. Don’t be afraid to throw in some of your best impressions and to engage in theatrics to get laughs out of your little campers.
For the sake of your kiddos’ (and your carpet’s) welfare, consider “campfire songs” a misnomer—no flames are required here.
5. Whip up some s’mores
Speaking of fire safety, make sure you are closely monitoring the s’more-making station. Yes, of course we’re including s’mores in our list of indoor camping ideas! Living-room camping just wouldn’t be the same without this ooey-gooey delight.
You can hover some skewers over your fireplace or assemble your treat over your cooktop. The recipe is simple: toast a marshmallow or two with a skewer over an open flame, warm up some pieces of a Hershey’s milk chocolate bar, and sandwich both sweet ingredients between both pieces of a graham cracker you’ve cracked in half.
It’s so easy, your little ones can participate. We also think a platter with mugs of hot cocoa can’t hurt!
6. Get crafty!
While arts and crafts may not be found in a typical camping itinerary, we think this creative activity will stimulate nostalgia for people who grew up camping.
If you don’t live near a bayou, you’re in luck: you can still catch fireflies in a mason jar—you just need to crack a couple of glowsticks.
Grab a mason jar (or a repurposed glass container) and a bright green glowstick. Before you channel your inner Jackson Pollock, make sure you scatter some newspaper inserts to protect your table, and then flick the glowstick liquid into your jar with a small paintbrush. You may choose to paint some strategically placed dots for a cleaner look.
As a bonus: this craft doubles as a lantern that can illuminate your room for a few hours, providing comfort as you drift away to sleep.
7. Make it an immersive learning experience!
For our final indoor camping idea, we leave you with a message of encouragement: make it an educational experience.
Even if you’re camping inside, you’ll find that there are plenty of teachable moments when it comes to children. Whether your educational spiels revolve around astronomy, geography, cooking, family traditions, folklore, and zoology, there is nary a dearth in opportunities for learning.
Engage your campers in riveting discussions, read from an encyclopedia, improvise a song—whatever you do, make the enveloping experience fun and catered to their interests. Pursue your kiddos’ questions, and if you do not have answers, seek them out together.
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