Camping and the Great Outdoors

Engage your child in outdoor play, nature outings, and environmental explorations. Chase and be chased in a game of capture the flag. Use the power of the sun to craft your own shadow prints. Explore the stars on a late night walk. Create a field guide to your neighborhood. Through 52 ideas—some classic and some new—Let's Go Outside! by Jennifer Ward offers a range of activities perfect for children ages 8 to 12. Whether you're in the country, the city, or anywhere in between, this book is sure to help you get outside—and run, dance, hike, or camp—with your preteen. Sections of the book include: 

• Back to Basics: Reconnecting with twists on traditional games and activities such as Capture the Flag
• Making the Ordinary Extraordinary: Picnics, doing homework outdoors, and socializing opportunities outdoors
• Outdoor Adventures: Canoeing, biking, and camping
• Environmental Experiments: Ways to explore how nature works (from Amazon.com)

Plan your family camping adventure with The Down and Dirty Guide to Camping With Kids by Helen Olsson! Whether you’re a first-time camper or a veteran backpacker befuddled by the challenges of carting a brood—and all the requisite gear—into the great outdoors, here you’ll find all the tips and tools you need to plan the perfect nature adventure with your family. Humorous and irreverent, yet always authoritative, this guide to camping with kids, from babies through pre-teens, is filled with checklists, smart tips, recipes, games, activities, and art projects.

Helen Olsson, a seasoned camper and mother of three, shares lessons learned over the years of nature outings with her own family. Learn the basics of family camping, from choosing a destination and packing gear to setting up a campsite and keeping little ones safe. Create the perfect camp menu with simple and tasty recipe ideas. Discover foolproof tips and tactics for keeping kids happy and entertained while hiking. Explore nature through clever and creative camp arts and craft projects. This guide is your game plan to unplugging from the digital world and connecting your kids to nature. Whether it’s roasting marshmallows around a crackling campfire or stretching out on a camp mat to gaze at the stars, the memories you’ll be making will last a lifetime. (from Amazon.com)

Want to save cash, your child's imagination and possibly even the planet? Then Born To Be Wild: Hundreds of Free Nature Activities for Families by Hattie Garlick is the book you need.

Packed with great photos of real families in the outdoors, Born to Be Wild contains easy-to-follow instructions for activities that require nothing more sophisticated than a small person's imagination and access to a little outdoor space.

Nature lays on magical materials for free each season, from fallen leaves and twigs, molted feathers, sand and shells, to mud, puddles and rain. Everything else you'll need for these activities is already hiding in your cupboards at home. No expensive art supplies of outward-bound kit required. All you need are the toolkit items at the front of the book - ordinary household essentials like scraps of paper, string, glue, recycled food containers and an empty jar or two.

Along the way Hattie talks to families, organizations and communities who have rebuilt their relationships with nature with extreme or inspiring results, and she introduces scientists, psychologists and other experts who explain why, as modern families, we should revive our waning relationships with nature, whatever age or stage we're at. (from Amazon.com)

If you think camping means big mosquitoes, big headaches, and big effort, this book is for you. Camping Made Easy by Michael Rutter presents a practical, informative approach to carefree camping. After putting to rest the myths concerning the hardships and frustrations of camping, Michael Rutter presents nuts-and-bolts information on every aspect of camping, relating advice garnered from his twenty-plus years of experience. You will learn how to select the right equipment, including tents, stoves, sleeping bags, lanterns, backpacks, and more; plan for a painless camping trip; pack efficiently; select a good campground; set up camp; take fun day hikes and more.

With more than 300 photographs and illustrations to help you get started, you will be setting up camp, stoking the campfire, and relaxing before you know it. Whether you are setting up a tent in a local campground or planning a cross-country camping odyssey, this comprehensive guide will answer all your camping questions. (from Amazon.com)