Camping is one of my favorite themes to do with my students. And in this blog post I’m sharing 10 camping activities for kids that I know you will love!
1. Play Dough Mats
My kids love play dough mats. And these camping ones have been a huge hit! There’s 10 different play dough mats included that challenge students in different ways. This vocabulary one is one of my favorites. Not only does it get my students working on identifying and learning new words.. But it also comes with images to just students how to create them out of play dough!
There’s also some challenges included like getting students to make a tent out of play dough. I love these types of challenges because I can really see my students start to get creative. You can download them here.
2. Counting Marshmallows
This task box is a fun way for students to be able to work on their counting, number recognition and instruction skill. It also requires a bunch of will power for students to avoid eating those marshmallows for just a little while! You can download it here.
3. Read a Book!
There are actually a couple of ways I like to read books when I’m doing a camping theme. First, I love to get outside with everyone and read a book together as a class. Students can take blankets outside with them and we sit down and enjoy being out in nature while reading.
Other times, I’ll provide students with some props to turn their chairs into a tent, along with a flash light and a book. Students then pretend that they are camping in the wild while reading their books.
4. Make S’Mores!
S’mores are the ultimate camping snack. And I’d be lying if I said it’s not something we look forward to in the classroom every time we do a camping theme! They’re super quick and easy to make.. as well as being an affordable treat to do together for the class too!
5. Wh- Question Scenes
Over the years, I think one of the most common skills that I work on with my students are wh- questions. I love to use these scene packs because I see firsthand every day just how much my students love them.. And how much they learn from them too. This camping pack is perfect to use alongside your camping theme. Download the pack here.
6. Sing Campfire Songs
If you have a school that will allow you to make a real campfire.. I know some schools have forest schools and educators who do these sort of things.. then great! But if not, I love to just find a campfire video on YouTube and put it up on our interactive whiteboard and switch off all the lights to give it a campfire feel.
Then, we go through different campfire songs, singing and dancing together. I love to incorporate little camping theme props in the area around us, including some soft toys of animals that you may come across when camping!
7. Write the Room
If you know me or have followed me for a while, you’ll know I’m a huge advocate for movement. And this is one of the reasons why I love to use activities like this write the room one with my students. I usually hide them in sensory bins or around the classroom. But for my camping theme, I take the cards outside and have students hunt around the outdoor area for the cards to mark off. Download a copy here.
8. Adapted Books
I LOVE adapted books. My students absolutely love using them, and they are perfect for working on so many skills. I love that they are easily adaptable to suit different ability levels.. And just overall how much of a benefit they have for my students with hands-on learning.
These are 3 of my favorite adapted books to use as part of our camping theme and you can download them here or click the images to be redirected to download.
9. Set Up a Tent and Camping Life Skills
I am a huge advocate for teaching students life skills. And this is one of my favorite activities to do with students each year. We have students work on following instructions and being able to put up their own tent. From there, we also work with students on how to set up their camping area.. What supplies they may need.. And just general life skills in relation to camping. We even have a guest come in and show us how to identify different plants, and how to cook food when camping.
10. Natural Self Portrait
Provide students with a large piece of card and tell them that they need to draw an outline of their face on it. Then, they hunt around outside with glue to find different items like sticks, grass etc. to put onto their face. This will be where they create their very own natural self-portrait.
You can find all of my favorite camping activities here.
I hope you found this 10 camping activities for kids blog post helpful. If so, please consider sharing it with your friends and colleagues on social media.
Nikki
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