Family Camping Checklist: What to Pack
Camping with kids is a completely different trip to backpacking solo — you're not counting grams, you're driving to a pitch and unloading the boot. That means you can afford to bring comfort items that make the difference between a trip everyone wants to repeat and one that puts them off camping for good. This checklist covers what actually matters for a UK family campsite trip, from shelter through to keeping everyone entertained on a wet afternoon.
Shelter: sizing your tent properly
The single biggest mistake families make is buying a tent rated for exactly the number of people going. A tent labelled "6 person" is usually sized for six adults lying shoulder to shoulder with kit outside — fine for a festival, miserable for a week with children, cool boxes, wellies and a travel cot. As a rule of thumb, go up at least one size band from your headcount, or look for a tent with a genuinely separate living area or porch where you can store bags, wet coats and boots away from the sleeping pods. A tent with two or more separate sleeping compartments is worth the extra cost if your budget stretches to it — it means an early-rising toddler doesn't wake everyone else, and older kids get a bit of their own space, which matters more than you'd think after a few days under canvas.
Sleeping: comfort matters more with kids
Foam mats are fine for adults who've backpacked before, but for a family trip camp beds or thicker self-inflating mats are worth the extra bulk in the car. Kids (and the adults sleeping next to them) sleep far better off the cold ground, and a raised camp bed also means less bending down for younger children getting in and out. Bring more bedding than you think you need — a proper duvet or a sleeping bag rated for a lower temperature than you expect, plus a spare blanket. Nights in the UK, even in summer, can drop several degrees colder than the daytime forecast, especially near water or on higher ground, and a cold, unhappy child at 3am is not a fun start to day two.
Kitchen: keep it simple and practical
You don't need a full camp kitchen, but a few basics make mealtimes far less stressful. A stable double-burner stove is easier to cook family portions on than a single burner, and a cool box (or two — one for the day's food, one you don't open often for backup supplies) keeps things fresh for longer than you'd expect if it's packed properly and kept in shade. Bring a large water container so you're not making constant trips to the tap, a windbreak if you're cooking outdoors, and enough plates, cups and cutlery that you're not washing up between every course — kids get hungry fast and don't wait patiently for a sink queue.
Comfort: chairs, a table and lighting
A proper table and enough chairs for everyone, including the kids, turns mealtimes from a balancing act into something relaxed. Cheap, packable camp chairs sized for children are widely available and worth having — adult chairs are usually too big and unstable for younger kids to use safely. For lighting, bring more than you think: a main lantern for the tent's living area, a couple of smaller torches or head torches for each child (they love having their own light, and it means fewer trips stumbling around after dark), and a torch by every sleeping bag for middle-of-the-night toilet trips.
Kids-specific essentials
A few categories are easy to overlook until you're on site without them:
- Entertainment for downtime. Pack a few small games, a pack of cards, colouring books or a favourite soft toy for wind-down time. You don't need much — the outdoors does most of the entertaining — but having something for a rainy hour in the tent avoids restlessness turning into meltdowns.
- Warm layers. Even in high summer, UK evenings cool quickly once the sun drops. Pack a proper fleece or warm jumper and a woolly hat for each child, not just a light jacket — you can always leave layers in the tent unused, but you can't conjure them up at 9pm if you didn't bring them.
- A basic first-aid kit tailored to kids. Plasters (lots of them — grazed knees are a certainty), antiseptic wipes or cream, tweezers for splinters, insect bite cream, a thermometer, children's pain relief, and any regular medication they take. A midge or insect repellent suitable for their age is worth packing too, particularly if you're camping near woodland or water.
Choosing a family-friendly UK campsite
Not all campsites suit families equally well. For a trip with young kids, look for a site with on-site showers and clean toilet blocks close to the pitches, a shop or at least a nearby village for forgotten essentials, and ideally a play area or open field where children can burn off energy safely without wandering near a road. Check the pitch size before booking — some sites have small pitches designed for a single small tent and won't comfortably fit a large family tent plus an awning or gazebo, so read the site's pitch dimensions rather than assuming. It's also worth checking how far the pitch is from the toilet block; a long walk across a dark field at night with a sleepy toddler gets old fast.
Weather contingency planning
UK weather can turn regardless of the forecast, so plan for it rather than hoping around it. Pack waterproofs for everyone, including waterproof trousers for kids who will inevitably sit in puddles, spare dry clothes in a waterproof bag, and a tarp or gazebo that can shelter your cooking and seating area if rain sets in for a stretch. Knowing there's a dry, sheltered spot to retreat to takes the pressure off when the weather doesn't cooperate, and it's usually the difference between a trip that continues happily and one that gets cut short.
Keeping kids entertained
You don't need to over-plan activities — some of the best camping memories come from simple, unstructured things. Den-building with sticks and a tarp can occupy kids for hours. A nature scavenger hunt (find a pinecone, a feather, three different leaves, something round) works well for a range of ages and needs nothing but a scrap of paper. Clear evenings are a good excuse for some basic star-gazing — you don't need any equipment, just a dark spot away from the tent lights and a bit of patience. Let some afternoons be genuinely unplanned; children are often happiest just pottering around a field or paddling in a stream while the adults relax nearby.
Your first family camping trip
If this is your first time camping with kids, keep expectations modest. Choose a campsite with good facilities rather than heading straight for wild camping — showers, toilets and a shop nearby remove a lot of the stress that can otherwise sour a first attempt. Keep the trip short, one or two nights is plenty to learn what works and what you'd do differently, without anyone getting overtired or fed up if something goes wrong. Pack slightly more than you think you need on your first outing; you'll get a much better sense of what to leave behind next time once you've actually done it. Most families find that after one successful short trip, the next one gets easier, lighter to pack for, and a lot more fun.