Homeschool › Outdoor Skills › Camping OutA good camp is dry, snug, and leaves no mark once you've gone. Dan Beard's 1914 book Shelters, Shacks and Shanties shows dozens of shelters, from a lean-to against a fallen tree to a tree-top house. Kephart wrote, “In the school of the woods there is no graduation day.” Your backyard is a fine place to start.
For grown-ups: Camp out with a grown-up nearby. If your site is near water, a grown-up chooses a spot well back from the edge.
Things to try In any order, at your own pace. Tick what you've tried if you like keeping track; ticks stay on this device.
Pack for a night out Make a packing list for a backyard campout, including a sleeping bag and pad, warm layers, a flashlight, water, and a snack. Pack it all yourself. A good goal: a grown-up checks the bag and nothing's missing.Choose a good site Walk your yard or a campground and choose a tent spot. Look for flat, slightly raised ground where rain will drain away, with no dead branches overhead. In the wild, campers stay at least 200 feet from lakes and streams. A good goal: you can explain why you chose your spot.Pitch a tent Set up a tent, driving the stakes in at a slant and tightening the guy lines with a taut-line hitch. A good goal: you can pitch it with only a little help and it stays tight overnight.Rig a tarp shelter Tie a rope between two trees or posts and drape a tarp over it to make an A-frame, then stake out the corners. Next, try a lean-to with one side high and the other low. A good goal: your tarp would shed rain.Build a debris shelter Build a small debris hut from fallen sticks and leaves, starting with a model for a toy and then, with a grown-up, a sit-in version. Use only fallen material, and take it apart and scatter it when you're finished. A good goal: you've built it, tested it, and taken it down.Keep a tidy camp During your campout, keep gear in the tent or in bags, put food away so animals can't reach it, and keep trash bagged. A good goal: your camp passes a grown-up's inspection.Sleep out Spend a whole night outdoors in your tent or under your tarp in the backyard. A good goal: you wake up outside and can tell what you'd change next time.Strike camp Take everything down. Shake out and dry the tent, fold it, coil your ropes, and look over the ground for anything left behind. A good goal: the spot looks just as it did before.Lead the setup Lead your family in pitching the tent or tarp, giving the directions yourself. A good goal: the shelter is up and you didn't touch a stake.Read about it in the old books ← All outdoor skills Teddy Rook Book is not affiliated with or connected to any scouting or youth organization. These pages are free ideas to use however you like.