Activities for Kids Under 10
Camping is a wonderful way to spend a family vacation with children and there are plenty of fun activities for kids under 10 to enjoy. Older kids and teenagers may have more options as far as activities go, but younger kids have so much they’ve yet to explore that it’s an especially exciting opportunity for them to benefit from new experiences.
This special time in a child’s life is a time of discovery, and what better way to spark their imagination than with a healthy dose of nature. Young kids will be able to stretch their little legs in a private camping ground that’s as boundless as you could ever wish for. They’ll be able to look up at a sparkling night sky that’s devoid of light pollution, seeing constellations and stars like never before. Each day, they’ll discover more of nature’s surprises happening all around them and learn about their role as citizens of planet Earth. Imagine a place where plastic toys and TV programs are not needed for entertainment. Sticks, mud, rocks, water, leaves, insects, animals, the open sky – these are the wonders in the natural playground.
Scavenger hunts, hide and seek, capture the flag, freeze tag – you name it! We allow children as young as eight years old to take part in guided horseback rides through the mountains of Bridger Teton.
Horseback riding is our most requested activity for people of all ages and for good reason. If your little one doesn’t have cowboy or cowgirl fantasies now, they may after riding a horse through the trails of Wyoming. Kids eight years and up can join on all of the rides they want to and the smaller kids who are seven or under can be led around camp on a pony.
Swimming is another favorite activity for kids, and there are some great places to go for a dip safely around the Glamping on the Greys campsite.
Wyoming has many safe areas that are great places for introducing your child to fishing. The many shallow, wide streams are easily accessible and come with very positive chances of getting a bite that is sure to thrill them.
Kids love taking wagon rides and our team is ready to hitch up for a stupendously western experience of a horse and wagon ride.
Painting is one of the best activities for kids under 10 that will keep them occupied around camp. They can use their fingers, paintbrushes or experiment with the natural materials they find around camp and create masterpieces.
Everyone loves cooking food at a campfire. You can make lots of different kid-friendly foods like hot dogs or kebabs and of course the obvious campfire food – s’mores!
No campfire is complete without music. Bring a portable speaker and/or some musical instruments to play together and get dancing! Wind down by regaling the group with scary stories or cowboy tales. Family games like charades, telephone, the name game or 20 questions are always fun campfire activities that bring out the silly in kids of all ages (including those now called “adults”).
Camping activities for students can be educational and enriching in ways that are far more interesting than a classroom textbook. Camping is the real deal, and you have the opportunity to teach lessons that pictures cannot do justice. A future scientist will be in heaven, armed with a microscope, some digging tools and perhaps a kid-friendly guidebook about plants, rocks, or animals. Have them closely examine the plants they find or count the veins on the leaves in order to share their discoveries with you or write in a journal the similarities and differences they notice between different plant species. Kid-friendly camping activities and ideas are everywhere around our campground – you just might not be used to looking in these types of places. Discovery of new ideas and fun activities is part of the appeal.
With nearly all of life evolving in various sequences and patterns, mathematics is everywhere in nature. From the phyllotactic spirals of leaves to the angles of a flower’s petals, encourage your young children to look for these sequences, make observations and theorize the meaning or purpose of these patterns. Do the leaves spiral closely together or far apart? Close examination of fern leaves and snowflakes provides a perfect example of fractals. Tree stumps make excellent tools for teaching radius and diameter. What better tool to teach about the Fibonacci sequence than a pinecone?
There is a whole world under their feet and around them, alive with biology, and the Grand Tetons make a fabulous place for a study in geology. Examine the rock formations and have your kids theorize their formation based on clues they find. Explain the basics of photosynthesis and show them how the plant designs itself to maximize its exposure to the sunlight and how its roots dig either deep or shallow to find water. Encourage them to make observations and explain the hows and whys about which plants grow where such as the forest floor versus an open meadow.
Lots of activities for kids under 10 involve investigating the world around them and the natural characteristics of Wyoming make it the perfect place to do so. Talk about how glaciers are formed and what they mean to the ecosystem. Explain to them how the fish migrate and spawn each year and about the various insects that they feed on. From the megafauna like bears, deer, fox, elk, wolf, and moose to the smaller animals like the elusive Pika and Grey owl, each plays an important role in maintaining the balance of the ecosystem.
The Jackson Hole area is rich with history and has been inhabited by humans for over 11,000 years. A number of native American tribes like the Crow, Blackfeet, Shonone, Nez Perce and Bannock have inhabited this area, which is rich with natural resources. It’s an opportunity to share some history of native American people and the colonists who came to America. Can you imagine what Lewis and Clark must have thought when they first came upon these sights on their expedition west? Franklin D. Roosevelt made great strides in the sake of conservation with the protection of Yellowstone, and Calvin Coolidge continued the legacy 57 years later by preserving Grand Tetons as a national park.
Preschoolers are not yet ready to comprehend the more complex lessons that their elementary school agers will eat up. But this does not mean that you can’t make it an educational experience. Plenty of activities for kids under 10 are fun and engaging for preschoolers, though perhaps in different ways.
Kids in preschool are still learning to master their gross motor skills and fine motor skills. You can use the things you find in nature to help them hone these skills. Things like hiking on the uneven terrain and climbing on the different rocks you see along the way will help test their balance and fitness. A family swim in Bailey Lake is a perfect opportunity to hone those swimming skills with lots of family supervision. Rocks and leaves can help them master counting. Sticks can be used to teach about length. Art is a wonderful way to help encourage creativity and nature provides a broad variety of different colors and textures for your toddler to incorporate into their creation.
Making cave paintings! Teach them to unleash their creativity through making art like cave paintings, mud sculptures and artwork out of leaves, twigs and pinecones.
Teach them sorting and counting by having the kids collect things according to specific groups like colors, shapes or sizes.
Plant and animal scavenger hunts will show them examples of various plants or animals and encourage them to go find the same one.
Teamwork can be learned when they help you with tasks such as collecting sticks for firewood.
Toddlers will have fun just hanging out with their favorite people and playing in the mud. Make a paste out of mud and have them paint rocks with it. Have them build a Teepee with sticks or play a game of stacking stones. Collect wildflowers and use them to dye fabric or make colorful paints. Make artistic crafts out of pinecones, leaves, flowers and berries. Have them collect specific items they find in a bucket and make nature soup! Scavenger hunts are a great way to get them engaged and foster a curiosity in their surroundings.
Kids in preschool are still learning to master their gross motor skills and fine motor skills. You can use the things you find in nature to help them hone these skills. Things like hiking on the uneven terrain and climbing on the different rocks you see along the way will help test their balance and fitness. A family swim in Bailey Lake is a perfect opportunity to hone those swimming skills with lots of family supervision. Rocks and leaves can help them master counting. Sticks can be used to teach about length. Art is a wonderful way to help encourage creativity and nature provides a broad variety of different colors and textures for your toddler to incorporate into their creation.
There are tons of things to do while camping, so much so that maintaining your own campsite may seem like a chore, keeping you from wandering through your surroundings or playing with your family. Finding activities for kids under 10 is as easy as finding adult camping activities and the beauty of glamping is you’ll have a lot more time to do them! Glamping on the Greys makes taking a camping trip as easy as checking into a hotel. And for families with kids, the convenience of all-inclusive glamping can mean the difference between a hair-raising ordeal or a trip that will bring fond memories for years to come. Sleep peacefully in luxury canvas tents, eat incredible food, and let us do the legwork, all while still experiencing the raw untouched wilderness of the Wyoming mountains. Contact us today to schedule your next family glamping adventure today.