How to Plan an Indoor "Camp Out" for Your Family

Winter family fun is the perfect time to get creative and look at old ideas in new ways. Family fun activities can help to hold off the cabin fever and are a great way to bring the family together. Learn how to plan a family camp out that's sure to bring lots of laughs even as it brings your family closer together.

Any camp out needs to begin with a camp site. Before you can create your camp site, you need to choose a place in the house where you will be having the camp out. If you have a tent you will actually be sleeping in, then you'll need to have a space large enough to set up the tent for the camp out. Select the destination, then plan the camp out.

To make a room more like a camping area, you might want to have some sort of pine incense burning or even bring in some pine boughs for effect. Cover the furniture with some Earth tone colored blankets so that it looks more like the outside world than a living room. Since the room may be a bit darker than usual, all breakable objects should be removed from the room. Another great way to prepare the atmosphere is to use nature CDs. There are many different types available that offer natural sounds such as jungle sounds or thunderstorms.If you have things like stuffed animals in the way of turtles or snakes, you may want to place them around the room to help create the camping atmosphere.

As with any camp out, the family fun night will begin with packing for a camping trip. All family members will need to pack up their sleeping bags, flashlights and a change of clothing. Since this is a family event, you won't want to encourage anyone to pack solo activities such as crossword puzzles. Instead, the family should pack up activities that can be done as a group, such as a deck of cards and dice.

If you have preschoolers in your family, this might be a good time to teach them about fire and camping safety. Though you obviously can't put a camp fire in the middle of the living room, you might be using the fire place or a wood burner to keep warm and cook things. If this is the method you choose, be sure to instruct children on the safety measures that would be taken if you were actually outside.

To make the camp site more realistic, shut off all electrical devices in the room You won't be using the television or lamps as you embark on your camping journey. In fact, you might even create a fake fire using flash lights under empty paper towels rolls and crumpled tissue paper. This is a great way to create a camping atmosphere and provide light to the area.

When it comes time for dinner, you'll need to have something that doesn't require using the stove, unless you plan to use your wood burner or fire place. In that case, you might want to have hot dog sticks for roasting hot dogs and have the materials to make s'mores later in the evening. Make a rule that the kitchen is off limits so that your family fun night is more realistic than it would be if modern devices were used.

The idea is to create an area that closely resembles a camping area. The information above will be useful in creating sites, smells and sounds that are normally found in nature. Once you have set the tone for the evening, you can begin the winter family fun activity of camping out. Be sure to have the children get involved completely by having them help to set up the tent and the sleeping bags.