Car Camping with a Toddler

I recently went car camping with just my toddler and me. We met up with some friends down in Escalante on some BLM land and had a great time. It was my first time camping without my husband and I had a great experience. I learned a lot and want to share some of my experience so you can get out camping with your little ones!

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Sleeping Arrangements

I opted to not bring our tent and just sleep in our car. Setting up a tent while trying to wrangle a toddler just seemed a bit overwhelming, so I skipped it. (If you want to read about our tent set up, check out this blog post. I have a Hyundai Santa Fe and when I lay the seats down, it fits our Exped Megamat Duo sleeping pad perfectly. It’s a tight squeeze which is great so there’s no rolling off.

We were down in the desert and the low was in the 50’s so I didn’t even bring my sleeping bag. I did bring my toddler’s Morrison Outdoor sleeping bag just in case it was colder than expected. But I ended up just using a big blanket and my little guy slept in merino wool jammies and a fleece bunting. In the middle of the night, I did end up throwing my blanket over him to make sure he was warm enough. (DISCLAIMER: This is not safe sleep practices for a baby/toddler. It is safest to have your child in their own space away from blankets, pillows, or anything that could cover their face.) I am a light sleeper especially when camping so I felt comfortable doing this.

You might be wondering what we did with everything that was in our car while we slept. I purposely packed light knowing there wouldn’t be much room when the seats were down and the pad was out. Almost everything was able to fit in the front seats and under the headrests of the seats laying down in the feet area. I did bring a mostly empty bin that I put loose items in and I just left that outside by my car.

Tips For…

Camping in the Desert

Bring plenty of water, more than you think you’ll need. I had that 6 gallon water jug and was so happy to have it. We didn’t use it all but not worrying about how much water I was using was really nice. I used it to refill our water bottles, wash our hands, wet our clothes before the hot hikes, and rinse of my toddler’s face after meals.

Stop and play in the shade. It was hot on our hikes so I went into town and we played in the shady grass for about 45 minutes. It honestly turned my day around. I had been hot and a little irritable so just getting out of the sun for a bit was amazing. I definitely recommend finding the shade.

Hike in the early morning or evening. We hiked to the slot canyon in the evening and it was so much fun being in the shade. The sand was also cool and felt great to play in.

Bring sand toys (yeah, like to ones you bring to the beach). A friend of mine brought her kids’ and it was so fun for them all to play with!

Car Camping Alone with a Toddler

Don’t stress too much about everything going perfectly. Research the area you’re going to and find toddler friendly hikes, parks, or other things to do. Then you have things to do but don’t have to necessarily do them all.

Let your kid get dirty and don’t stress about it. Everyone gets dirty when camping but a toddler takes it to another level. The dirt doesn’t hurt them (as long as they’re not playing somewhere dangerous) and it’s a great way for them to be entertained, test out their senses, and burn some energy.

Bring things that are easy to feed your child. It’s not a time to make sure every meal is a balanced meal. You are in survival mode (in the best way possible). Bring foods you know your kid likes and will eat. A few treats never hurt! We didn’t grow up eating sugary cereal, but my mom always brought it camping and it was something I always looked forward to and enjoyed. It honestly does make the experience a little bit more special.

Bring a seat that they can be contained in to eat. I love the Bumbo Multi seat. My little guy is way more likely to eat when he’s in that chair than running around. It’s also nice to have a place to put them.

Bring a soft carrier. It can be nice to wear them and not have to constantly watch them while you are trying to get things done around camp.

Bring something to make you feel safe. I like having my Garmin InReach Mini so I can contact my husband or Search and Rescue even if I don’t have service.

Sleeping in your Car with a Toddler

I hate being negative, but I have never slept great when camping with my kid. I want to be as real as possible, so I’m just telling you not to expect the best night’s sleep you’ve ever had. If your expectations are low, then you might be pleasantly surprised if things go better than expected!

Bring things that remind your baby of home. For us that’s his binky and a sound machine. I also throw a blanket over the back of my car and put of the sun reflectors in the windshield. It doesn’t totally black out the car, but helps keep light out. Just be sure to park so the rising sun doesn’t come in through one of the exposed windows.

Go with the flow. If toddler’s normal bedtime is at 7:30pm at home but it’s 7:25 and they’re not showing any signs of being tired, don’t force them to try and sleep. I find that with all the newness and excitement, bedtime is usually pushed at least an hour later. If you roll with a flexible schedule, things tend to go a lot smoother.

Do as much of your normal bedtime routine as you can. You’ll probably have to skip the bath, but if you always do lotion, read a book, and sing a song before bed, do that when you’re camping! It will help them wind down and know it’s bedtime.

When it’s time to sleep, go to sleep. Or at least act like you’re sleeping. My toddler was bouncing around in the car, crawling on me and I just laid there like I was asleep. After about 15 minutes, he eventually got bored from no reaction from me, laid down, and fell asleep.

Food

We left after breakfast for this trip and I planned on getting lunch on the road. So I needed to pack dinner for the first night and breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the second day, and of course snacks. You always have to have snacks when car camping with a toddler.

Day One

• Lunch: Stopped at a gas station and got a sandwich
• Dinner: Croissants and chicken salad that I made before we left.
• Snacks: Clif bars and fruit snacks

Day Two

• Breakfast: Instant oatmeal that comes in the cups so you can pour water directly into it.
• Lunch: I brought stuff to make pb&j sandwiches but we ended up eating at a local diner in town
• Dinner: Annie’s Mac n Cheese
• Snacks: Grapes I had cut up at home, granola bars, fruit snacks, freeze dried fruit

Gear to Bring

Here is everything I packed for car camping with my toddler. Like I mentioned, I packed light and we are only there for two full days. So I didn’t have a ton of gear, but here is what I brought and highly recommend.

Hiking Gear

• Ergobaby Omni Breeze– I used this carrier in the slot canyons when I knew the big pack wouldn’t fit and he would walk more of the hike
• Osprey Poco Plus
• Wide Mouth Nalgene
• Snacks

Toddler Gear

• Morrison Outdoors Little Mo 40° kids’ sleeping bag
• Columbia Baby Boys’ Tiny Bear fleece bunting
• Iksplor merino wool base layers (he slept in this and then wore the shirt the next day on our hike for added sun protection)
• Iksplor merino wool beanie
• Bibs Pacifier
• T-shirt and shorts
• Lightweight Sun Hat(I actually didn’t bring this but really regretted it)
• Early Walker shoes
• Diapers/Wipes
• Pinxav diaper rash cream
• Badger Baby Sunscreen (I used this on myself as well. You can use the code HAILEY15 at checkout to save 15%)
• Baby Play Yard (My friend brought this and it was so nice to contain our little ones!!)

Sleeping Gear

• Exped Megamat Duo
• Large Quilt
• Pillow
• Kari Traa Baselayers
• Morrison Outdoors Little Mo 40° sleeping bag
• Portable Sound Machine

Kitchen

• Jetboil Flash
• Spoons
• Bumbo Multi-seat
• Cooler
• 6 Gallon Water Dispenser

Other

• Aimtom 500 Battery Charger (used this to charge my phone and plug in the sound machine)
• Garmin InReach Mini
• Blanket to lay on outside

Car camping with a toddler can seem a lot of work, but it is so much fun. You can let them run wild and don’t have to worry about them breaking anything or having to keep the noise down. Try it out and it may be your new favorite summer activity!