On The Road - The Best Kids Books About Camping and the Outdoors
In case you missed my first installment of “On The Road,” here’s the recap: My husband and I decided to buy a small Meerkat trailer and hit the road instead of returning to preschool this fall. We’re lucky to work for ourselves and have a flexible schedule so we figured now was the right time for a little family adventure. Every other week until we leave I’ll be posting something related to our trip prep.
Today I’m talking about our favorite kids books about camping and the outdoors that we’re using to prep our three year-old for our journey. We’re big fans of bibliotherapy over here so of course that carried over to our trip planning. Here are some of our favorites:
Hurry Up!: A Book About Slowing Down by Kate Dopirak - This is a new addition to our library that I saw recommended on several kid bookstagram accounts (I can feel Christianne laughing at my intense love for all things literary, including my Instagram follows). This book is about slowing down and taking a break from our usual “Go, go, go” mentality which is a great mindset to have as we embark on this trip.
The Camping Trip by Jennifer K. Mann - This new-to-us book is the tale of a young girl who goes camping for the first time with her cousin and aunt. She doesn’t know what to expect and not everything turns out the way she had planned, but she has a great time nonetheless.
The Hike by Alison Farrell - A perfect book to prep your little one for outdoor exploration! The three little girls in this book set out on an adventure into the woods and we get to see everything they find and keep track of in their notebook.
Hike by Pete Oswald - The story of a father and son setting out to hike in the mountains My favorite part of this book is the lack of words which invites you to create a story with your kids while reading..
Llama Llama Loves Camping by Anna Dewdney - The Llama Llama series is popular for a reason! The characters are lovable and familiar and this one focuses on camping without any technology which is a solid reminder for us all.
A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen - We love this book! It’s about Mr. Magee and his dog Dee. They head out on a camping trip only to encounter a bear that confuses their trailer hitch for a marshmallow and of course chaos ensues. It’s a cute book with a great rhyme scheme that we read several times a week. I also just discovered there are more Mr. Magee books so I’ll definitely be checking those out.
I’m Not Very Afraid of The Dark by Anna Milbourne - We’ve had this book for a long time and only recently did I realize it’s a great reference for our trip. It’s about a little boy that is a little bit afraid of the dark, but when camping realizes maybe the dark isn’t so bad because he can see the stars and the dark is really just one big shadow which makes everything far less intimidating. Even though we’ll be sleeping in our trailer, I think this is a great way to introduce what it will be like to sleep out in nature.
Explorers of The Wild by Cale Atkinson - It seems fitting that I bought this book about a little boy exploring the woods when we took a recent day trip to Big Bear. Every page alternates between the little boy’s perspective and the bear’s and I think it’s a exactly the kind of book that gets littles stoked to explore.
Are there any other great books about camping or road tripping I should check out? Leave a note in the comments if you have any recs.
Happy camping!
- Callie AKA “MiLOWE Mom”
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