Tent Camping Alternatives

August 4th, 2008

Sick of tent camping yet this summer? But still ready for an outdoor adventure

Here at Nature For Kids I thought I’d throw out some tent camping alternatives. Still have the joy of waking up surrounded by nature but with a little twist.

In a recent post here at Nature For Kids about planning a camping trip I mentioned the website recreation.gov. It’s a great resource for reserving camp sights of all kinds. What I didn’t mention is that this Includes fire lookouts, yurts and deep-forested cabins as well.

The rates are fairly inexpensive. The prices I saw range from $20 to $80. Sure it’s not a 5 star hotel, or even a 3 star for that matter, but it’s got a view that even the Hilton clan can’t compete with.

There usually isn’t any electricity or accessible water at these sites but it’s a great way to teach your kids about early settlers and allow them to appreciate what they have…like toilets!

To search for one of these fun sites go to recreation.gov and in the “looking for” section select “cabins and lookouts”. Then select a state. The search results will also give you yurts that are available to rent. There aren’t many options on the eastern portion of the country but the western states are full of places to stay.

I hope you enjoy these tent camping alternatives and take advantage of the rest of your summer!
summer, camping, campsite, kids, nature, outdoor adventure, outdoors, adventure

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Plan A Camping Trip

July 22nd, 2008

One of the main things that hold people back from camping is simply figuring out a place to go and guaranteeing you’ll have a nice campsite when you get there.

My friend mentioned a website to me that they used to plan a camping trip they went on in Nevada. It’s called recreation.gov. It’s a super informative website that can help you:

Find a campsite anywhere in the U.S.
Reserve a spot for specific dates
Look at pictures of the site itself
See if you can bring your dog along
Find out what type of outdoor recreation is near by (boating, biking etc.)
Specify if your site has RV hookups

It also has a search engine that allows you to search by activity. So say if you wanted to go wakeboarding near Salt Lake City and didn’t know where to go you could search for it. It doesn’t have every single campsite and area listed but it is pretty comprehensive.

I hope you find it helpful and plan a camping trip soon. Before we know it school will be starting and summer fun will be ending. So get out there and have some fun with your kids!

Don’t forget, Nature For Kids is giving away free logo stickers. Take a look at the Flower Child post for more information. Give away ends July 31st.

camping, campsite, outdoor recreation, RV, summer fun

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Fire Starter

July 11th, 2008

No I’m sorry, despite what the title says, this is not a post about rekindling your relationship with your significant other. This post is about how to make fire starters for a campfire.

One of my pet peeves is having my kids standing around the fire pit monitoring my fire starting abilities. After about five minutes of me scrounging, layering and situating I hear the little voices saying, “how come it’s not starting”, “Dad’s always starts the first time”, “You’re not very good at this huh Mom”. Then their dad comes in chuckling, moves a couple sticks around, blows a little at the bottom of the sticks and viola’ we have a heater of a fire! It’s so infuriating!

So I thought it would be good for me to share my new found secret here at Nature For Kids, which I got from my mom-in-law, Linda. A fire starter is something you simply put at the base of your fire and light. It stays lit longer allowing the wood and kindling to catch fire completely.

Here’s how you make them…

You Will Need: Egg carton, utility scissors, birthday candles or wicks, large soup can, *paraffin wax, newspaper, large pot of water

*don’t be intimidated. You usually can get paraffin wax from your local Wal-mart. Any craft store should have it too. It’s useful in making inexpensive emergency candles also.

Begin heating pot of water on the stove on high heat. Take the egg carton and cut into individual pods, as seen in the picture. Set the pods out on newspaper. Have birthday candles or precut 2.5-inch wicks nearby. Place a brick of the wax inside a large soup can. Put the can inside the pot of hot water. (it will work like a double boiler system) Be sure it’s not too hot. You want to melt the wax slowly. Once the wax is melted pour into egg pods, careful not to overflow. Place a birthday candle or wick in center of wax. Let cool.

And there you have it. Just put your newly made fire starter at the base of your fire pit and watch that baby burn. This is a foolproof way to never be the brunt end of your children’s fire jokes!

Here are some other great fire starter options.

Don’t forget about the Nature For Kids logo sticker give away that’s going on. Just send in a picture of your flower child and be entered in the drawing!
outdoors, campfire, camping