When kids are young, it feels pretty easy to get both boys and girls to love camping. However, as kids get older, it seems to get harder and harder to get girls to enjoy camping. If you’ve got a tween or teenage girl, camping may feel a little bit daunting, but it doesn’t have to be overly difficult. Below are 10 great tips to help girls enjoy camping and set up your family camping trip in advance so that the girls have a great time.
Encourage Girls To Help Plan Your Camping Itinerary
If you want your girls to really be invested in your next camping trip, get them involved in the planning process. Let them help choose where you go, decide which campground to stay in (and which amenities they need), and involve them in planning your daily activities. If girls know that their opinion matters about your next family camping trip, they’ll feel more invested in the experience.
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If you need help with meal planning, check out our digital Zero to Camp Hero: Camp Meal Planner Kit.
Bring Along Their Favorite Games
By nature, most girls are pretty social people. They like to stay busy, be involved and interact with others all throughout the day. Camping charades is a fun one for all ages. Have your daughter bring along her favorite games on your next family camping trip.
Bring a mix of bigger board games and some smaller games/activities that can be thrown in a backpack for breaks on the trail. (Think Outside offers fun outdoor activity boxes for school-aged children) Bringing games on your next family camping trip is a great way to connect with your daughter and give her some opportunities to be more social.
Read next: Find fun outdoor games for teenagers here. (Many are suitable for younger children too)
Give Girls A Job At Camp
Do you have a daughter who loves to document her entire life on social media? Ask her to be in charge of the camera (or phone) and to put together a family movie or slideshow of your trip. Do you have a daughter who likes to bake? Plan ahead and let her be in charge of campfire desserts (she may really like this Campfire Banana Boats). When kids have a purpose at camp, they feel valued and also are less likely to complain.
Confront Fears Ahead Of Time
A lot of girls are uncomfortable camping because they have fears about being outdoors in general. To help with that, talk to them about any fears or concerns they have in advance. If they have a fear of animals, talk about wildlife safety and maybe give them some pepper spray.
If they are nervous about sleeping in a tent, see what you can do to calm them down, or consider renting an RV for your trip. If girls get a chance to talk through their fears about camping before they arrive, it can help them to be more comfortable with the idea.
Read Next: 10 Reasons You Should go RVing for Your Next Family Vacation
Help Girls Stay Clean While Camping
It’s not a surprise that girls usually like to stay clean, and are much less comfortable staying sweaty and dirty for days on end than boys are. Many girls don’t like to camp because they don’t like to be dirty. Don’t let this be a roadblock. Book a campground with access to a shower if you’re tent camping or buy large disposable shower wipes if showers aren’t an option. There are a lot of things that can make or break a camping trip for girls – staying clean is an easy problem to solve, so do your best to help your girls stay comfortable while camping.
Teach Girls How To Pee Outside Before Camping
Did you know that girls peeing outside is one of the biggest barriers to getting outside and active? Obviously, for boys peeing outside requires little thought at all, but for girls it’s a different story. We started teaching our daughter how to pee outside when she was a toddler, and now as a tween she’s an absolute pro. Sadly, none of her friends are comfortable peeing outside. To teach girls how to pee outside, do a bit of practice in the backyard (fully clothed). Remember, a good dose of humor will go a long way when teaching girls to pee outside!
Here are the steps for a successful outdoor pee squat for girls:
- Squat down and stand on the balls of your feet. While it’s a bit counterintuitive, the lower you can get the more comfortable and balanced you will be.
- Have your thighs resting on the back of your calves. Practice with your balance until you find a position where you can squat without holding onto something – that’s your sweet spot. Get comfortable in that position so you can squat there for a minute or so as you practice, so that when you actually do have to pee outside, you are familiar with the positioning.
- Another big tip for teaching girls to pee outside is to pull up your pants (at least to mid calf), and make sure that your feet are wide enough so that your pee doesn’t splatter on your pants or shoes.
If squatting to pee outside really isn’t working, consider buying a female urinal, and practice going to the bathroom with that.
Also, please remember that if you are peeing outside, TP and poop need to be buried in a cathole at least 12 inches deep, or carried out in a baggie.
Discuss Your Media Policy In Advance
As girls get older they usually get more and more concerned about staying connected with their friends. Cell phones with access to social media and texting are a way of life for many girls. Decide in advance as a family what your media policy is on your family camping trip.
Lookup if you will have cellular service in advance and then put a strategy in place that everyone can agree on. Also remember that if you have rules about media use for kids, adults should abide by those rules as well.
Here are some good things to discuss with your family before you leave.
- Is phone use allowed? If so, when is it okay, and when isn’t it?
- How long can kids use devices on your camping trip?
- Are phones okay for taking pictures and video on the camping trip?
- Will you have a place to charge devices while you are camping? If not, will you need a solar charger?
By discussing your family media policy in advance, you can have a smoother camping trip with your kids.
Plan For Periods
If you are camping with girls who are on their period, make sure to take some extra steps to help make sure she’s comfortable. Getting your period can be hard enough for girls at home, but extra stressful while camping. Take the stigma out of talking about periods and start talking about it at home.
Girls will want to know how to use their feminine hygiene products while out on an adventure (how do I use them and where to put used products!), and also how to stay clean. Baby wipes and hygiene wipes are a MUST HAVE. Also, if you are camping with a girl who tends to have uncomfortable periods, make sure to bring along some ibuprofen and some instant heat packs for cramping.
Also, if they’re comfortable with them, silicone menstrual cups are some of the easiest feminine hygiene products to use while camping, and I can’t recommend them highly enough. There is a bit of a learning curve, so try it out before you leave, and when in doubt, watch some YouTube videos about menstrual cups for teens!
Have An Emergency Stash of Treats
Want to take the edge off of camping for your girls? Have an emergency stash of their favorite treats. We pack things like mint Oreos, fun-sized candy bars, and trail mix. There’s a special place in the car where we keep our “emergency stash” and we tell our daughter that if things are getting stressful or uncomfortable, she can go and grab something out of our stash. While we don’t encourage her to just drown her feelings in sugary treats, we also know that comfort food can help take the edge off stressful situations.
Get Camping Gear That Suits Her Personality
We all love to get new things, right? Make camping extra special for your girls by getting them some outdoor gear that suits their style. A good camping sleeping bag can not only match their favorite colors, but also can keep them warm and comfortable, a new hat can help them express their style, and a fun new backpack from REI or duffle bag from Moosejaw Mto carry all their gear in are great as well.
It’s amazing how much more excited girls can be about camping with a little something new. Our daughter has been complaining about hiking with her brothers a lot on our recent camping trips, so we decided to change things up and get her a little bit of new gear. Suddenly, with a new pair of Merrell hiking shoes, and a backpack that she picked out, she’s the one leading the charge when we go camping as a family.
Related: Be prepared for rain or inclement weather. Here are 25 Rainy day camping activities
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Invite Friends Along
Camping, like most things in life, is always better with friends. Especially if you’re a tween or teenage girl. Consider bringing a friend along on your family camping trip. It’s a great way to get your daughter and her friends to learn to love the outdoors together.
While we occasionally will bring just one friend along, we’ve found that the sweet spot is to invite another family with one of our daughter’s friends. Then everyone can spend a lot of time together, but still, get a little bit of space from each other. We also love inviting other families along on our camping trips because not only do the kids have a lot of fun together, but it’s so great to have other adults to enjoy the camping trip with as well.
Camping with girls doesn’t have to be hard, but it often does take a little bit more planning upfront as well as good communication. All of that is well worth the effort to help your girls love being outside and to feel comfortable in the outdoors.
About the Author – Jessica and her family live in the mountains of Utah where they love to explore and adventure together. She is the creator of Kids Camping Tips, a website dedicated to helping families get out and enjoy camping more together.
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“When kids have a purpose at camp, they feel valued and also are less likely to complain”,
Giving the kids some job to do at camp is a very practical tip. We tried many times, it seems children are easy to manipulate 😉