Taking the whole family out for 3 nights at a state park. Got a big tent and planning to keep it pretty chill, mostly just hiking and cooking over fire. Any tips for keeping a 3yo entertained without screens? Also what's your go-to camping meal that doesn't take forever to cook?
Big tent is smart. Gives you room to actually move around and gives the toddler space to burn energy. Bring extra layers even though it's summer because it gets cold at night.
Three nights with a toddler is ambitious but doable. The key is keeping routines as normal as possible even in the tent. We did our first camping trip with our youngest at that age and honestly it was way better than we expected.
Do yourself a favor and pack a backup tent or at least a pop-up shelter. When a toddler has a meltdown at 2am in the rain, you'll thank me. Also bring activities for downtime because boredom + toddler = long nights.
State parks are perfect for this. My daughter was about toddler age when we first camped and she loved it. Just have a backup plan if the tent situation gets overwhelming because sometimes it does and that's okay.
That's awesome man. The tent setup is key. We learned the hard way that you need way more space than you think when you've got little ones. Are you doing any activities planned or just hanging out in nature?
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Three nights is solid for a first camping trip. We did two nights with our toddler last year and honestly the second night was when she finally settled down. Pro tip: bring way more wipes than you think you need. Everything gets dirty.