How to create an Army-style Day Camp in the Woods
Posted by Gav Grayston.First Published Oct 2017; updated May 2023.
Do you have kids that like to 'play army'? Use your camping skills and take them on a day camp.
So our youngest and his friends love 'playing soldiers'. They all have little camo uniforms, Nerf guns, and lots of energy!
They also love playing outside.
But what if you can't camp overnight, either as you don't have time, or you aren't allowed to camp in the woods?
What if you're not allowed to camp?
There's a really simple solution: make a day camp!
A day camp can be great fun, and you don't need to take as much stuff.
The kids can still enjoy some of the experience if you make a den and cook lunch.
Creating our day camp den
For this, we took some of the gear that we got from Military 1st and made a simple den in the woods using a tarp. The camo netting added to the whole army feel, and the boys absolutely loved it.
Not surprisingly, campfires were prohibited in this wood, but we took a little camping gas stove instead, and simply cooked hot dogs.
Again, the boys really loved this, especially our lad's friends, who aren't used to doing this sort of thing.
Games
Once you've set up your camp for the day, you have a base from which to play plenty of games.
If the weather turns bad, or they get too tired, you now have somewhere dry and clean to take shelter.
We played a number of games. Capture the flag went down really well!
Things we took
You might already have a lot of items in your family's camping gear to make a quick day camp. If you want to make it 'Army Themed' then here's some of the gear we took.