The Parks and Recreation department is dedicated to offering ways to educate you and provide ideas for recreation while at home during the Stay at Home order. And guess what, a family adventure is right in front of you! Just use our at-home camping guide to get started! Whether you’re setting a tent up in the backyard or building a pillow fort in the living room, we are here to guide you and your family on a mini at-home getaway for an outdoor adventure, complete with s’mores and games with these helpful hints.

Create Camp

If you have a tent: Treat your backyard like a campsite, find a flat surface to call home for the night. As a family, pitch your tent and make it cozy inside with sleeping bags, comforters, pillows and of course your favorite stuffed critter friends to keep you company.

If you don’t: No problem! Treat your living room like the great outdoors and circle the chairs, throw a blanket or comforter over the top and – BOOM, you’ve created a fort suitable for the family to experience camp. Make it as cozy as possible with pillows, blankets and sleeping bags.

Cook Camp Food

Eating around the fire or enjoying a fresh s’more are memories that can last a lifetime. If you have a fire pit, it’s easy to roast hot dogs and toast marshmallows, or even enjoy easy foil packet meals for the family.

Don’t have a fire pit? Check out these unique ways to make s’mores that don’t require a campfire.

For those of you who have gas fireplaces, please avoid cooking anything in a gas fireplace.

Camp Games and Activities

• Stargazing – The night sky is amazing! Here in the metropolitan areas, it is more difficult to identify stars in the night sky but to learn constellations most identifiable, click here.  Take a journey through the sky by pulling up this video on an iPad, big screen, or phone while camping at home with the family.
• Campfire Stories – Whether it’s spooky or silly, a good campfire story can consist of just about anything your imagination could dream up. Gather around the fire, or inside your fort and share stories of legends, a life lesson, or a funny story your kids never knew about you!

  

•  Camp Games – Play classic games like Telephone, Tag, Simon Says, or Charades that are fun for all ages.
• Light up the night – Flashlights aren’t just good for lighting your way in the dark, they can also be a means of entertainment. Use the light to create shadow puppets on the walls of the tent or of your living room. If you have older children, engage them with a game of flashlight tag!

 

 

When you are camping at home, post your photos on social media and tag us @GoGrapevine and be sure to use the #RECtheCurve hashtag.