--- title: "A first campout in the backyard" published: "2026-10-15" updated: "2026-10-15" author: "Dad Field Manual editors (drafted with AI help)" time: "Overnight" cost: "$0" ages: "4 to 12" where: "A flat patch of your own yard, or a friend's, with no dead branches overhead and a clear path to the back door." topics: ["classic-skills","outdoors"] print: "https://dadfieldmanual.com/print?p=backyard-campout" url: "https://dadfieldmanual.com/plans/backyard-campout/" --- # A first campout in the backyard > The backyard is the best first campsite there is: real dark, real night sounds, and the house twenty steps away. Pitch the shelter before dark, eat at camp, and sleep out, knowing anyone can go inside at any time. ## What you need - A tent, or a tarp about 7 to 9 feet square with rope and stakes (have / $40) - Sleeping bags or blankets, a pad or folded blanket under each, and pillows (have) - A flashlight or headlamp for each camper (have / $5) - A camp dinner and breakfast you can eat on a blanket (have) ## Backyard camp: read this first - **Nothing that burns in the tent.** No candles, heaters, fuel lanterns or stoves. Battery lights only. Keep any grill well away from the tent. - **Check the forecast.** If you hear thunder, everyone goes inside the house. A tent is not safe in a thunderstorm. Wait 30 minutes after the last rumble. - **Leave the back door unlocked** and a porch light on, so the path to the bathroom is clear. - **Pick a spot with no dead branches overhead,** away from the grill, pool and garden tools. ## Steps 1. **Check the sky and pick the spot** (Together) In the afternoon, check the National Weather Service forecast for tonight. Then walk the yard and pick flat ground, a little high so rain won't pool, with no dead branches above. Clear sticks and pinecones. Don't dig a trench. 2. **Pitch the shelter before dark** (Together) Lay the ground tarp, folded so no edge sticks out past the tent. Set up the tent together: kids push in stakes and clip poles. No tent? Do it the 1911 way: tie one corner of a square tarp up to a tree or pole and stake the other corners down. A 7-foot square fits one camper, 9 feet fits two. 3. **Rig a porch for camp dinner** (Dad shows, Kid copies) The 1911 baker tent is a lean-to of cloth, open in front. Tie a rope between two trees or posts, hang the front edge of a tarp from it, and stake the back edge down. Lay the dinner blanket under it. 4. **Eat at camp** (Together) Eat dinner on the blanket at camp: sandwiches, or hot dogs from the grill well away from the tent. Ask, “What do you think we'll hear tonight?” Then everyone brushes teeth and uses the bathroom inside. 5. **Flashlight games** (Together) Once it's dark, shadow puppets on the tent wall, then flashlight tag on the fence or a tree trunk. Then lights off for two minutes: everyone lies still and counts the night sounds they hear. 6. **Lights out, with a bail-out plan** (Dad) In the sleeping bags, say the plan out loud: “If you want to go inside, any time, tell me and we'll go in together. It still counts as camping.” Keep one flashlight by each head. 7. **Breakfast and strike camp** (Together) Eat breakfast on the blanket. Shake out the tent, let it dry in the sun, then pack it. Ask, “What should we do differently next time?” ## If it stalls - If it rains or storms, move camp indoors and finish with the [living-room campout](/plans/living-room-campout/). - If a kid wants to go in at midnight, go in together, without a sigh. Next time they'll stay longer. - If they're too excited to sleep, read one more chapter by flashlight, then lights out for good. - If you want a fire, follow the [small campfire plan](/plans/build-a-safe-campfire/) where fires are allowed, and put it out before bed. ## Variations - **Ages 4–6:** Camp until bedtime, then decide together whether to sleep out or go in. Either way is a win. Skip the tarp porch and keep the tent. - **Ages 7–9:** The full plan. Let them be in charge of the flashlights and the night-sounds count. - **Ages 10–12:** Fold a paper model of the square and baker tents first, like the 1911 book suggests, then pitch the tarp shelter for real and sleep in it on a dry night. - **Rain:** Move inside and do the living-room campout. A tarp shelter on a dry night is enough adventure. - **Thunder:** Everyone into the house right away. Wait 30 minutes after the last rumble before going back out. - **Cool:** Put a pad or folded blanket under each sleeping bag; the cold comes up from the ground. Hats on at night. ## Sources - **1911 scouting handbook, pp. 164–166.** The 1911 book's tent pages show shelters made from one piece of canvas without cutting it: a square hung by one corner from any support makes a one-person shelter (7 by 7 feet for one, 9 by 9 for two), and a rectangle hung from a rope or pole by its front edge, with the back pegged down, makes a baker or lean-to tent with an open front. It suggests making paper models first. (checked 2026-10-15) - **A tent is not safe in lightning.** The National Weather Service says a tent and an open picnic shelter are not safe places when you hear thunder, to get to a vehicle or building, and to wait 30 minutes after the last rumble of thunder before going back to the campsite. (checked 2026-10-15) - **No fuel-burning heaters or lanterns in tents.** CPSC says never to use fuel-burning portable heaters or lanterns while sleeping in enclosed areas such as tents, campers and vehicles, because of carbon monoxide poisoning. (checked 2026-10-15) - **Don't dig trenches.** The National Park Service's Leave No Trace page says good campsites are found, not made, that altering a site is not necessary, and not to build structures or dig trenches. (checked 2026-10-15)