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Camping

Our UK Camping forum has all the information you need on finding the right equipment for your tent or caravan.

Original poster

Toys to take camping for boys 4 & 6. No WiFi

33 replies

angel24711 · 03/06/2019 08:18

Off camping in July to France, small site near on the Dordogne River. Can’t wait. There is WiFi but not in tents (just at the bar)

Looking for toy recommendations from experienced campers. There is a pool thankfully but would love your recommendations for the day time, & also those early mornings when we need to be quiet before everyone else wakes up.

Also are there any toys everyone will not appreciate? I know bubbles are a no no. But what about nerf guns for day time playing?

OP posts:
TheRedBarrows · 03/06/2019 08:21

For the mornings I would take a bag of Lego.

00100001 · 03/06/2019 08:24

Lego might get lost

Colouring and puzzle books for quiet time
Pack of cards
Reading book

For outdoors, a football
Maybe a frisbee

Have them do scavenger hunts and the sort

RandomlyChosenName · 03/06/2019 08:25

Micromachines are good and Lego as pp said. Anything you have that is vaguely interesting left over from party bags or happy meals too. Put in a small box or bag for them and it's instantly exciting.

00100001 · 03/06/2019 08:26

Also take a plain notebook for them and pencils for "note taking" and drawing. They can go and try and find an interesting plant/animal/tree/tent and draw it for you?

Or they can draw maps to places for you

Manclife1 · 03/06/2019 08:27

Laptop with a bag of DVDs or download them from Netflix.

Rainbowqueeen · 03/06/2019 08:28

Yes take some DVDs in case of bad weather.

New books

Is there room to play cricket?

ImportantWater · 03/06/2019 08:30

We used to take reams and reams of paper and colouring pens, as well as colouring books and activity books (stickers etc). Old fashioned transfer scenes where you have to run a pencil over pictures to transfer them to a scene. Where’s Wally type books. Card games like UNO and Whot, and pairs. A torch with add on bits that projects shadow pictures. I also used to buy them both a summer issue of a magazine which tended to come loaded with tat, which would keep them amused as well.

ElspethFlashman · 03/06/2019 08:32

Magnadoodles, they can erase them over and over again.

pipanchew2 · 03/06/2019 08:36

Badminton (less annoying when they hit people with a shuttlecock than a ball), swing ball (again less annoying for neighboring tents as the ball is tied to the stick), cards or board game for if you are stuck in a tent/ cafe in the rain. Scrap booking/ Activity/ colouring books for early morning, bug catching sets, maybe audio books on an iPod with headphones.

Enjoy your holiday,

CielBleuEtNuages · 03/06/2019 08:41

Wow, my boys would hardly like anything mentioned on this thread Blush

When we travel we take:
A few small cars/vehicules
Some small figurines (soldiers/star wars/ninjas etc.)
Some small dinosaurs
Bucket & spade
Small ball/blow-up ball
Child's petanque set

CielBleuEtNuages · 03/06/2019 08:42

Oh and top tip for the Dourdogne - if anyone is travel sick, make sure they have medication! I didn't realise how twisty turny all the roads are and my poor DS1 was sick over and over.

TheRedBarrows · 03/06/2019 09:04

Yes to a bag of dinosaurs, and whatever characters they are into.

Not sure about Nerf guns: with mine this would eventually involve running round other people’s tents, a fellow camper getting hit, misery over lost missiles in the grass....

Sooverthemill · 03/06/2019 09:14

Swingball. Always gets other kids to Join in. Football. For early mornings if they usually do stuff like Lego take that in a box but get them to out ur away ( painful to step on). Colouring stuff which we always took to any cafe we went to. Modelling stuff. We always got a kit to take eg from science museum. Robust books. Boules set. Sticky bag and ball. Bubble machine. Walkie talkies. Oh for the days when our kids were little! For long journeys we had audiobooks and also a portable DVD player but they were only allowed on dvd per stretch of journey. Came in useful one awful weekend when we each in turn got a bug and we all were in One bed watching 'parent trap.'

Sooverthemill · 03/06/2019 09:15

Just noticed bubbles are a no no. Didn't know that. Although one of our 3 is allergic the machines were good even for her.

Sooverthemill · 03/06/2019 09:17

UNO card game, banagrams. Travel games of all sorts eg monopoly express as no reading involved. I could go on. I have a giant plastic box filled with our camping games! And 3 20+ kids who no longer holiday....

TheRedBarrows · 03/06/2019 09:53

@sooverthemill please please keep your bubble machine away from campsites. All forms of detergent including bubble mix wreck tent waterproofing.

FusionChefGeoff · 03/06/2019 14:00

Mini paints (leftover from hobbycraft style kits) or chalk pens are brilliant for decorating rocks / pine cones etc

RottnestFerry · 03/06/2019 14:56

Just noticed bubbles are a no no. Didn't know that.

I didn't either. Luckily our tent is PVC, so immune.

Herocomplex · 03/06/2019 15:01

We took a pop up tunnel once, which was wildly popular.
They also used to love putting all the seats flat in the car and playing/reading in there.

TheRedBarrows · 03/06/2019 15:51

Wow A PVC tent Rottnest - is it a marquee?

Oblomov19 · 03/06/2019 15:56

Ludo
Chess
Boules
Badminton set
Football
Cards

PopcornZoo · 03/06/2019 16:01

Please don't let them watch dvds on your laptop in the morning, unless you turn the volume off!

RottnestFerry · 03/06/2019 16:01

Wow A PVC tent Rottnest - is it a marquee?

Ha ha! No, not quite. It's a Dandy trailer tent. The tent part is insulated PVC material.

Sooverthemill · 03/06/2019 16:28

theredbarrows we never took a bubble machine camping. And my kids are now 26, 24 and 20 so no more camping! Was just thinking it was good fun for kids.

Tfoot75 · 03/06/2019 16:37

We have a caravan, but our 5 and 3 year olds play outside on bikes and scooters with other children on the Campsite for hours. Inside we have pencils, paper and colouring books and card games like dobble and uno. We use tablets loaded with downloaded TV programmes in the early morning as they are both early risers, only an option if you have electricity in your tent to charge them.