CONTEST POST: 7 Survival Tools for Camping with Kids by T.L.

Camping-Kids
Image Source – dparks.com

The tools I pack for a camping trip may seem unorthodox or a too extensive, but I believe you need the proper preparation to handle any drastic situation in the wilderness, especially with children.

I was always the younger brother that older siblings took to baseball games, waterparks, and other events. I never got the chance to be the older brother until I started taking my nieces and nephews on camping trips.

Perhaps my survival kit for camping with kids will inspire your preparation. This list doesn’t include the basic items such as first aid kits, utility knives, waterproof matches and lighters since they remain as essentials when packing a camping survival kit.

1. The Tent

The tent establishes the base camp of your trip. Don’t choose any old thing when considering purchasing a tent. You need to conduct the research behind camping tent features. These benefits will either make or break the camping experience.

A lightweight and easily compactable camping tent makes hiking and travel purposes less burdensome. Who wants to lug around a huge heavy tent, especially when carrying other gear and supervising young children?

Also, camping tents that are capable of quick set up and break down create a more efficient camper. You never know what unforeseen weather, accidents, or wildlife will force you to breakdown the camp site quickly and move. It’s a tougher task when managing children who move slowly, get distracted, and don’t understand emergency situations.

2. Baby Wipes

There are no babies on my camping trips or children in need of diaper changes, but baby wipes, small and big, reserve a spot on the survival list for good reasons. You can pack hand sanitation wipes as well, but either product gets the job done.

Whatever mess you encounter, baby wipes clean it up. They maintain a sanitary camping environment. Keeping children clean, especially in the summer season, is very important to prevent diseases and illnesses that plague campers.

Children, as clumsy and careless as they are, tend to make messes that usually end up all over themselves. Every kid loves to play in the mud, but do parents like to clean them afterwards?

You don’t want them tracking dirt and funky smells from whatever they discovered into the tent. Consider a camping tent with breathability features to reduce this issue if it arises.

3. Hand Sanitizer

This survival tool reinforces the concept of cleanliness while camping. You’re constantly touching things outside with germs. Handling food in a sanitary manner maintains healthy bodies.

Hand sanitizer limits the transfer of germs and illness among you and other campers. It’s also convenient to carry and pack.

4. Two Way Radios

Kids love walkie talkies. They prove to be one of the best communication survival tools while camping. In the unfortunate occurrence a child or you gets lost or separated for any reason, the two way radio maintains contact.

This tool lessens the anxiety you might experience if you lose a niece, nephew or your own child. It lets you keep your cool in a scary situation.

Teaching children about constant forms of communications shapes them into excellent survivalists and campers.

5. Bright Reflective Tape

This tool fortifies communication between you and the little campers. Sometimes technology fails. I usually pack extra batteries for the walkie talkies, but they could break or disappear at the worst moments.

For that reason I either supply the kids with a roll of reflective tape or wrap a strip around each of their limbs. It really depends on their age because some older children don’t want to look like a walking bike reflector.

Brightly colored reflective tape allows for a form of visual contact between campers. When people get lost they might pass out or fall asleep. It’s possible to see reflective tape from greater distance, specifically when lights scan areas.

Reflective tape made me choose a camping tent with bright colors as well.

6. Water Purification Bottles

Children need to know the importance of hydration and drinking plenty of fluid. This not only applies to camping survival, but life in general. Hydration keys a healthier, more active, and energized individual. Drinking plenty of water ensures this.

When camping you must pack fresh water in bottles or coolers. Large water containers tend to slow you down often due to their weight and awkward shapes.

Water purification bottles established themselves as my new favorite survival tool. If you get lost or run out of available clean water, these bottles allow you to have access to clean water.

If you don’t stay hydrated when camping, then you’re more susceptible to heat exhaustion, stroke, and other related illnesses. Providing each young camper with a water purification bottle provides a foundation for practicing hydration.

7. Duct Tape

I can’t write a post about survival tools without including duct tape. From an early age my father taught me, “If you can’t duct it…,” well you know the rest.

What if you have a cut and no access to bandages? Clean it out with hand sanitizer, hydrogen peroxide, or vodka. Then wrap it with duct tape. It seals the wound temporarily with its adhesive powers.

Maybe you discover a hole in the camping tent during a rain storm. Apply a little or a lot of duct tape to stop or prevent leakage.

Author Bio

Ted Levin is a natural outdoorsman, camping enthusiast, and proud uncle who enjoys sharing any helpful survival tips. You can connect with him on Twitter and Google+.

Image Source – dparks.com

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To enter your own article please email me at rethinksurvival (at) gmail (dot) com with your submission and review the rules here.

Please visit these fine sponsors and learn more about the prizes below…

Fortunately, we have some very gracious sponsors who are willing to sponsor this fun contest. Please visit their sites and review the products being donating as they are certainly good people doing good things for our community. Here’s the prizes…

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ozark-mountain-gift-cert OzarkMountainPreparedness.com is donating $100 Gift Certificate to any of their wonderful survival courses.”Our mission is to provide the highest quality instructional courses to people who desire to pursue a self-reliant lifestyle; whether in the wilds or right at home. By blending both modern and primitive methods into our curriculum, we offer a comprehensive and practical view of survival and preparedness. Our course topics include wilderness and urban survival, fur trapping, bushcraft, primitive skills, long-term wilderness living, land navigation, home disaster preparation, outdoor cooking, food procurement and storage, foraging, wild edibles, and others.”
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I figured my sponsors shouldn’t do all the work, so I’m throwing in a McNett Tactical Aquamira Frontier Pro Ultralight Water Filter:
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My latest book, The Survival Blueprint: How to Prepare Your Family for Disaster, can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJ49Y5X4

Comments

3 responses to “CONTEST POST: 7 Survival Tools for Camping with Kids by T.L.”

  1. Jessica Meyers

    All of these tips are wonderful. We’re really looking to getting our son interested in camping right now. Modern times are against us, but it’s time for parents to pull their kids away from all the electronics and enjoy nature again.

    1. If there’s one thing that drives me the MOST crazy, it’s my kids’ ipods. They were a gift from my parents for Christmas… hated them ever since.

  2. gr

    Nice post, I have two gran-babies, 2-3yrs old, and never thought to teach them to use one of the many two ways we have, the 3yr old will especially love this one,they don’t trek far but every little bit we can expose these tikes to becomes a learning lesson for life, mine are into picking whether the tamato is green or red they want to show it to pop pop, so educating them took a turn to the sour, I bit into a red tomato to show them they can eat right from the garden, the 2 yr old bit into the green one he had, lol, object lessons are good, ahem, ok, so pop pop had a time out for that one !!!! Seriously, the young can learn, want to learn and also helps one to discover the fun the outdoor’s contains for all ages, so yeahhhh, good post, two thumb’s up, I’d give four but that would involve toes, and then I’d have to have another time out !!!!!

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