Indoor Camping Ideas

maybe no electronics? like keep the lights off and use candles or a lantern. glow sticks are fun.

what age??

I think card games might be fun. we love UNO.

definately have them pack up their pjs and tooth brushes.

fun!

What a cool idea! Do s'mores in the microwave - they taste almost as good. How about putting stuffed animals all over the room as the "wild animals"? Read some outdoor themed books. Play a wildlife or forest themed CD, one of those 'sounds of' ones you can probably get at the library. Can you do a cookout for dinner outside to start the evening? Maybe grill hot dogs?

Oh - and have your kids pack their backpacks and hike around the house to get to the tent.

(I am totally going to steal this idea!)

Camp activities? Look for materials in a dollar store.

popscicle stick building
sand art
clay pot making and painting
huge outdoor or animal puzzle
making props for ghost stories or play
writing letters
listening to the radio (no t.v. at all, for anyone, even adults)
flashlight hide and seek
fishing in the bathtub
sandcastles in the indoor sandbox
handprints in plaster
whole wall murals on huge poster paper
paintings (hung between fake trees/Christmas trees)
create a campfire and have them think of ways to make it glow
sings songs and make music around the campfire with instruments (borrow old guitar, pots and wooden spoons, new hair comb and strip of paper for harmonica, etc.)
read a chapter of a chapter book each night

Do you have a back yard? We used to "air out" our tent in the back yard, so we would stay out there at least 1 night every spring.. Sleeping bags, the radio, flashlights..

We would grill, make smores, make breakfast out there the next morning. have a cooler outside. The only reason we went inside was to use the bathroom..

Our cat thought we were crazy.. she would come into the house to sleep at night!

get sterno cans and have smores inside...thats not the same as a fire. its doable! roast HOT DOGS (oops put marshamllows two times=-) over the sterno cans too. go hiking outside in your nieghborhood. make scavenger hunts for outdoors.
pretend to search for dinosaur tracks or really search for animal tracks outside....we used to go hiking with friends whhen my daughter was 2-4 and we would pretend huge rocks were fossils.
go to a park with a stream and climb around it?

I just made smores in the oven last week (without top cracker). Low temp warms the marshmallow and melts the chocolate. Kids loved them! Love the idea of packing up a backpack...my son did this when we set up the air mattress in the beasment. Packed up everything he would need including clothes for the next day. You could even line up stuffed animals around the area. Do you have any of those glow in the dark stars you could place around?

What a phenomenal idea! Looks like you've got s'mores covered per the other responses, and I LOVE Lillym's suggestion of no electronics. That'll make a difference!

Maybe "pack" things in advance - clothes, toothbrush, flashlight, a couple books... whatever you would pack if you were actually going camping, and then limit yourselves to using just what you've packed during the whole experience rather than availing yourselves of the rest of your belongings around the house. Buy "camping food" (salami, crackers, trail mix, fruit, whatever you would buy if you were actually going camping), keep everything in an ice chest and only eat out of there the whole time.

Go on a hike around your neighborhood, or maybe a nearby neighborhood that you're less familiar with for the sake of "adventure". Bring snacks and water bottles in day packs. Try to identify as many "nature" things as you can - birds, bugs, animals - and take pictures or have the kids draw/journal about them... climb a few trees and eat a packed lunch sitting in grass.

What a cool mom you are! This is going to be so fun for your kids!

You can microwave s'mores. Also, if you have some tissue paper and toilet rolls, you can make a campfire.