Living-room campout
You don't need a campsite to camp. Set up after dinner, play flashlight games, tell a story in the dark and wake up on the living-room floor together.
- Time
- Overnight
- Cost
- $0
- Ages
- 4 to 12
- Where
- Living room floor
What you need
- A small tent, or a blanket fort made from sheets and chairs
- Sleeping bags or blankets, plus pillows
- A flashlight for each camper
- A nightlight for the path to the bathroom
- A book, or a story you can tell from memory
- A picnic dinner or snack on a blanket
Campout safety: read this first
- No flames. No candles and nothing burning indoors. Flashlights and battery lanterns only.
- Heaters off at bedtime. Keep any space heater at least 3 feet from the tent and bedding, and turn it off before anyone sleeps.
- Watch for coin batteries. Mini LED lanterns and flameless candles can hold them. Use lights with a screwed-shut battery door. A swallowed coin battery means the ER, right away.
- Light the path. Leave a nightlight on between camp and the bathroom, and keep tent stakes and cords out of the walkway.
Steps
- Set up camp after dinner. Clear the floor, pitch a tent or fort, lay out bedding, and light the path to the bathroom.
- Eat at camp. Eat a picnic dinner or snack on a blanket at camp.
- Flashlight games. Lights off. Play flashlight tag on the ceiling, shadow puppets, and flashlight I Spy.
- Story in the dark. Read by flashlight or tell a story from when you were their age. Not scary for little ones.
- Last light out. Count down the last flashlight, ask about the best part of the day, then quiet.
- Breakfast and break camp. Eat breakfast at camp, then pack up together.
If it stalls
- If they can't fall asleep on the floor, lie quietly for 20 minutes before anyone moves. If someone ends up in a bed, camp still counts.
- If a younger camper gets scared in the dark, move the nightlight closer and keep your hand where they can reach it.
Campers who made it to morning on the floor
Signed off: can do this.Signed by Date