Keeping the kids occupied

[familyman]

We have started to get all our camping gear organised for the first trip away camping...duh and we are all loking forward to it.Not a long trip ,just 4 or 5 days on Myall lakes,on a powered site that is right on the water.See the avatar for a water view.
The thing that worries me is keeping the kids occupied without all the mod cons such as p/c ,ps2 etc.I'm going to take the boat and bikes ,space permitting.Just wondering how all you campers keep the young'uns busy so you can relax ,after all it is a holiday for us too.There will only be 2 kids and 2 adults at this point but we have asked some friends along with another boat and more kids so this will help.
Any tips on family camping would be great as this is a first.I used to camp alone out of my rodeo ute but I was easy to please as far as creature comforts go.Thanks in advance
cheers jon

[Gorilla_in_Manila]

G,Day Jon,

Not sure how old your kids are what their interests may be but:

Good Wheather:
1. Ball - soccer, footy whatever they are in to.
2. cricket bat and tennis ball (and a couple spare for when they lose the first one in 5 minutes)
3. totem tennis - (stops the ball from annoying the neighbours)
4. boogy boards

and you are already chucking the bikes in, so that lot shouldn't be too bulky and should keep them going for a few days.

Bad Wheather
1. cards
2. board games
3. sketch pad and pencils
4. lego or toy cars

Then tell them thay can take one other toy each of their own choosing as long as its practical.

Besides that,
fishing line and couple of sticks makes a bow and arrows
stack your beer cans up and they can play skittles with the tennis ball
or take a magnifying glass or lend them your glasses so they can burn ants
etc etc

Shouldn't be too much of a drama for just 4 or 5 days as long as it isn't raining the whole time. #Wouldn't take too much, whatever you decide on; they'll probably spend the first 3 days exploring.

Cheers
Jeff
PS don't forget a camp chair for everyone.

[Scalem]

Hi Familyman,

When all else doesn't work, don't be afraid of making anything up. You don't need to be structured. Use the environment that you are in to make up games or entertainment however silly they may appear. Kids love spontanaeity (spelling??)

Here's an example we spent ages doing with my two girls, 10 and 13YO. We were at Hervey Bay and it was bucketing rain, they had watched all the DVD's we brought on their portable player and were bored. At different locations of the tarp we were sitting under, rain water formed pools around the edges. I armed them each (and me) with a cup each, and then had a race to see who could fill their cups with water the fastest. We all had fun for ages!

Try beetle races....
A treasure hunt using different objects .. Brown leaf, forked twig, bottle cap, seed from tree, feather, softdrink can - you need to plan before the trip a little and write it out.
Scatagories....paper and pen is all you need. Draw rows and columns (gives you boxes). Column headings are things like animal, girls name, boys neme, country, sport etc etc. Rows down the side have a letter like D, G, M etc. You say go, and the first to finish all boxes says STOP. So you might have Dog, Genna, Michael etc etc. Score 5 points for each answer you get and 10 points if no one else got the same answer as you. Do one row or letter at a time. Adults and kids can play but we only let the kids say STOP or they never get a chance to finish :-)
Spot lighting for possums in the bush
We bought a $5.00 kite and took that down the beach for about 2 hours of fun.

Your holiday destination may not have a jetty close by, but I bought a few live bait jigs and used them off the Urangan pier. Kids had a ball catching live bait!!

My advice is to try keep you imagination live, and make games up, using the environment you are in. Once they have played all the structured games, an imagination will come to the rescue!!

All the best

Scalem

[familyman]

Thanks for the advice guys ,with a bit of luck the friends will come too and make it more the merrier!Regardless of what happens it will be good to be away from mobile phone coverage with like minded people .The site is not an absolute bush camp but for the first trip cant go too extreme.We just bought a coleman chalet 9 ,3 room dome tent.Its got good headroom and floor space for 4 people and we've got a large 5m x 3m silver tarp for outside with all the tables and chairs etc .Anyway it will be fun
cheers jon

[griz066]

Go grab a tube and a couple of ski vests a rope and you will never get out of the boat, My kids love it just look at the smiles

[Scalem]

It's challenging keeping them entertained. I certainly don't pretend to have all the answers that's for sure. Have a look at this sourpuss!! For goodness sake, don't take them fishing, that's too boring!! I thought this might be a contrast to griz066 happy faces...

Scalem

[Smailesy]

some good tips in there guys i might need a few 4 next time i go away

[Lucky_Phill]

I embraced modern technology and bought a portable DVD player for the trip to where I am going. no more " are we there yet ? " Just a suprized look at, " we're here " !!!!!!!!

Other than that, the rest of you have some great ideas.

Cheers Phill

[PinHead]

a couple of rolls of duct tape strategically placed can keep them quiet and still for hours...hehe
seriously...just do the nature bit..check out the animals, birds..do some fishing..kids will usually do things to amuse themselves when out of their normal environment.

[manchild]

If they anything like my kids they go and discover the surrondings.i usually just let them go and they amuse themself all day .Maybe im just lucky or thats because they grown up in the bush Also i believe kids tell you what they wanna do ,sometimes too firmly.
cheers
George