Would you like a day of adventure fun for homeschool? Or perhaps you could spend the week prepping for a weekend "camping trip"...
It's not a time for holidays and visiting friends, but perhaps instead camp-outs in the living room, den-building or just cosy film nights. Why not bring the adventure to your own home by setting up an indoor campsite - you could even work up to it with home school activities throughout the week?
We've put together a 'toolkit' of ideas and inspiration to help you create your own indoor-camping adventure. Download it HERE.
Things-to-do in preparation:
- Stars for the sky - glow in the dark stars for the ceiling, or black paper and white crayon/chalk
- Fire making - stick & stone collecting, tissue paper or painted flames
- Cooking campfire meals - mac & cheese
- Campsite name & sign - cardboard, paint & markers
- Bunting for the tents - string, coloured paper
- Tent/den building - blankets, sheets, washing line, chairs/tables etc
Making Camp!
Throw up a pop-up tent if you have one in the house. If not, makeshift "tents" using blankets draped over chairs and tables, or from a clothesline, work just as well. Or have you seen the new dens from Dinoski (picture below)... The colour in one adds some extra entertainment too! Fairy lights and bunting are optional, but highly encouraged!
Come up with a campsite name together and ask the kids to make a sign for the entrance. (It might give you 5 mins for a cuppa!)
What about popping a blanket outside the tent as a picnic rug? Or go the extra mile and get the camping chairs out...?
Getting Cosy
If you have Bundle Beds, then unroll them in your "tent". They make pretty handy, easy to unroll travel beds - and are a breeze to pack away too! If not, get the kids involved with getting comfy, setting up their mattresses, pillows and sleeping bags or blankets. Perhaps consider a family sleepover?! Or just get cosy, tell stories and watch a movie together.
Light a (make-believe) Fire
If you've ever visited Bundle Beds at an event, you may have noticed our pretend campfire on the ground... We use a pile of logs and red, orange and yellow tissue paper for the flames. Ask the kids to get creative: perhaps you could collect sticks or stones if you're out for your daily walk, or you can make logs from toilet rolls or cardboard. The Dinoski den also comes with it's own pop-up fire... LED candles can give an extra glow to your fire - then you're set up with a place to huddle and share stories, sing songs, and read books!
Food & Drinks
Is camping really camping without a hotdog cooked on an open fire?? Ok, so the cooking on an open fire bit might be tricky, but you could whack some sausages in the oven (we highly recommend HECK, who have an online shop with UK wide delivery at the moment) and then make up the hotdogs around your makeshift campfire...
Or perhaps mac 'n' cheese is more your thing? You could pre-make this with the kids and then eat it out of picnic bowls on the picnic rug.
Hot chocolate is an essential part of an evening camping, so try to find some enamel mugs or camping cups for an extra outdoor touch.
Marshmallow Roasting
What camping trip is complete without toasted marshmallows?
We're completely in love with The Naked Marshallow Co roasting set... You can choose two flavours of marshmallows, and it comes with a non-toxic gel burner, skewers and a guide on how to toast the perfect marshmallow.
Stargazing
To really embrace the theme, decorate the ceiling to create a starry-night for stargazing.
Pop fairy lights up on the ceiling for a twinkly sky. Or, with homeschooling in-full-swing now, why not make stars & space the theme of the day and create constellations with glow-in-the-dark plastic stars! Or keep it simple and ask the kids to draw and create their own constellations with white crayons on black, or dark blue, paper.
Other ideas...
Torches add extra fun. Anything from ghost stories around the campfire, to shadow puppets on the wall. My kids love a torch!
Why not go on a "family hike" up the stairs or around the house and make up different things that you see. Or plant some soft toy animals in each room for some "wildlife spotting".