Disclosure: These fun camping activities for toddlers have been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PoweringAdventure #CollectiveBias

Summer is around the corner and I’m getting excited! Because summer = camping season. The crackling fire, the fresh air, the family time. I love escaping “real life” for a bit and spending some solid, quality time together as a family and with mother nature. Our two-and-a-half-year-old toddler has already been camping a handful of times and he’s hooked! It is so fun watching his excitement and joy over our camping traditions. We’ve learned a few things from our various camping experiences with him, so by now we know what helps our toddler have a blast. If you’re looking for fun camping activities for toddlers, you’ve come to the right place!

Fun Camping Activities for Toddlers

Below are ten ideas of fun camping activities for toddlers. Each is toddler-appropriate and toddler-approved. You don’t have to use all of these ideas to have fun, but pick a few that sound like a good fit for your toddler, and try them out next camping trip.

1- Read books by flashlight

To kick off our list of fun camping activities for toddlers, I highly recommend reading books by flashlight after it gets dark. One of my favorite moments camping with our toddler was when our family was sitting around the campfire, our son was sitting on daddy’s lap, and daddy was reading our son books with a flashlight. I watched the fire light flicker across their faces as a steady beam of light from the flashlight lit up the book’s pages. It is a memory from last summer that I cherish.

Hopefully you’re also down for leaving the tv screens and phone screens behind and enjoying basic book-reading-entertainment with the family. Grab some of your toddler’s favorite books and a flashlight, and you’re set for some magic moments together. Make sure your flashlight is loaded up with Energizer® Ultimate Lithium™ batteries so the light doesn’t run out. It’s the #1 longest lasting AA battery. Better yet, give your toddler their own light source–a flashlight or mini lantern. (We all know toddlers love independence.) The AA and AAA Energizer® Ultimate Lithium™ batteries are lightweight (like 33% lighter than alkaline batteries), so they’re a good choice for your toddler’s flashlight. For more info about them you can visit their website or check out their Facebook page.

I grabbed some AA Energizer® Ultimate Lithium™ batteries from our local Fred Meyer. (They had a big display at the front of the store.) But they’re available at a bunch of other stores including Kroger, Albertsons, Safeway, Ralph’s, Fred Meyer, and Vons.

2- Use a mystery snack bag

Our next tip for fun camping activities for toddlers is to pack a mystery snack bag. If you’re a parent, then you know that snack time is an activity. Am I right, or am I right? To keep things fun and exciting on your camping trip, pack a bag full of some fun snacks. Then, when your toddler becomes hungry (which happens without fail), let them reach into the bag without looking and grab one out. Even normal snacks can becoming exciting that way. Also, be sure to pack extra snacks then you normally would because you’ll be away from your pantry and your toddler will likely be running around and may get extra hungry.

3- Play with glow sticks in the tent before bed

This is another one of our toddler’s favorite camping activities! When everything is dark and you’re trying to transition into the tent, crack some glow sticks and let them play around with the colored lights for a bit. It’s awesome seeing my boy get excited about bedtime because he knows this tradition is coming. When we’re all ready for bed, we pile into the cozy tent and wave the glow sticks around until we’re ready to hit the hay. This is another magical memory of mine.

4- Play with a Bubble Machine

You’re camping! Outside and in the sunshine is the perfect time to pull out a bubble machine and let your toddler have a blast. For previous camping trips, we used a little bubble wand. It was fine, but having a bubble machine means way less work for us parents. So we got a battery-powered bubble machine that we could take camping. With our Energizer® Ultimate Lithium™ AA batteries, we would definitely run out of bubbles before we would run out of power, and those batteries maintain peak performance. This has definitely stepped up our bubble game. And playing with this bubble machine has also taken our toddler camping experience up a notch.

5- Go on a nature scavenger hunt

You can print off this printable for a fun, toddler-approved nature scavenger hunt. (It’s technically an I-Spy Nature Hunt. Because we like leaving things in nature where we found them.) If your toddler is constantly picking up rocks and sticks anyway, you might as well make a game out of it. Your little one can find a leaf, a cool rock, a big stick, and other outdoor finds.

Nature Scavenger Hunt Printable: Click Here

6- Sing campfire songs

If your toddler is obedient enough to not get too close to the fire, then this idea on our fun camping activities for toddlers list is a must. Cuddling up around a campfire and singing songs will make for such a fun memory! It’s probably not often that your whole family sits down and sings a bunch of your toddler’s favorite songs. You can come up with a fun list beforehand, and then while you’re all seated around the campfire you can sing your way through the list.

7- Go on a hike

Take advantage of your proximity to nature and get out some of that toddler energy by going on an easy hike. Make sure they’re wearing shoes they can walk easily in, and no open-toed shoes.

8- Make dessert dirt cups

This is secretly a favorite on the fun camping activities for toddlers. Pack some chocolate pudding cups, chocolate sandwich cookies, gummy worms, a big plastic bag, and spoons. Then have your toddler help you smash the cookies in the bag (we stepped on them), pour the “dirt” over their pudding, and stick gummy worms inside.

9- Do bark and leaf rubbings

If your toddler likes crafts then they’ll probably like bark and leaf rubbings. Pack white paper, and some crayons (large crayons are best, but regular ones will do fine). Take the paper off of the crayons. Help your toddler find different barks and leaves with varying textures and shapes. Hold the paper over them, and rub the side of the crayon over it. Your toddler can collect some cool rubbings! Just be sure to stay away from poisoned ivy and other harmful plants.

10- Play nature charades

The last idea on our list of fun camping activities for toddlers is playing nature charades. Basically, take turns with your toddler naming different things in nature (tree, bear, rock, bird, worm, cloud, etc.), and have the other person/people act it out. This will certainly get some giggles and is good for getting your toddler’s wiggles out both inside and outside of the tent.

There you have it. Our top ten list of fun camping activities for toddlers. Do you have some other fun, toddler-appropriate camping ideas? Please share in the comments sections below!