Camping makes kids come alive

The Citizen

22-04-2025

Nature stimulates curiosity and creativity
There is something about camping that brings out the inner adventurer in everyone. It unwinds, destresses parents.
For kids, it's another story altogether. There's something about the great outdoors that calms kids, encourages real play and buries urban fears of bugs and thugs where they belong. Far, far away.
The beauty of camping for kids starts with the anticipation. It's real, just like any other holiday that a youngster might look forward to.
Except, they get to participate in the packing, the prepping, deciding menus, watching YouTube to learn how to fish. Because in my case, Dad has no idea which end of a rod goes where.
The excitement of packing the trailer, the prospect of roasting marshmallows on a word fire that junior lit by himself.
My kids start counting down the days well before we head off. Usually, when striking the tent setup on the last day of a trip, my two boys are already planning the next edition.
But never expect your kids to help set up the tent. When you park at your allocated site, the first items on the ground are the bicycles.
Picture: Kylie Kaiser
Then, they are usually off to explore the entire site and, importantly, to find the pools – the cold and heated – the super tube slides and whether there are takeout pizzas available.
Should they want to help hammer in tent pegs, beware that you'll be there all day waiting.
That's because the pegs become warships, the hammers turn into cannons and suddenly there's a battle sans tents, time and delaying the beer that makes the tentsweat so very much worth it.
When kids are not in the pool, sliding, making muddy puddles or smore-making, they're inventing games of their own.
Interestingly, they do not even ask for their devices until bedtime, because outdoor fun and imagination trumps games like Minecraft and Roblox.
It's only the boredom of going to bed, following a good scrub in the ablution block, that turns internet desire on.
Psychologist Dr Jonathan Redelinghuys said that outdoor play is a critical ingredient in childhood development.
'Children are wired to explore, to get their hands dirty, and to engage their senses fully. The outdoors provides an open-ended learning environment that no classroom or iPad can replicate.'
From school pressures to the overstimulating digital environment of modern childhood, stress is creeping into young lives earlier than before, he said.
'Nature and activities like camping,' he said, is a built-in antidote.
'Studies show that time outside lowers cortisol levels, the hormone linked to stress and creates a natural rhythm that resets the nervous system.
'Camping, with its lack of rigid schedules and screen time, allows children to move freely, breathe deeply and recalibrate in ways that artificial environments simply cannot.'
Kids who camp regularly, he said, often display better emotional regulation and reduced anxiety. And Redelinghuys is right. Because I see the change in my kids.
It's often instant, from the moment we arrive and the impact lasts for days, even weeks, after we've headed home. It also seems to boost their confidence.
There's nothing quite like a child learning how to pitch a tent, getting to climb trees, light a fire or just getting to wander around safely.
Redelinghuys said the outdoors, particularly camping, presents just enough challenge to push kids slightly outside their comfort zone.
'In a world that shelters children from discomfort, the outdoors provides a safe space to develop resilience,' Redelinghuys said.
'They gain confidence that translates into other areas of life. 'Nature stimulates curiosity and creativity in a way that structured toys and digital entertainment simply cannot,' Redelinghuys said.
'Children who engage in outdoor play show enhanced cognitive flexibility, which means they're better at adapting to new situations and thinking outside the box.'
Picture: Kylie Kaiser
It's when the giant rock at the pool becomes a military lookout, a dead tree a submarine or picking up beetles, learning about birds or even, as has happened more than once, seeing another camper or ranger catch and move a snake back to the bush from underneath a car or tent.
There have been so many instances – and my family are still novice campers – that my kids have astounded me. Not only are their appetites better, the want for junk food also fades a bit, albeit not entirely.
Finding pizzas is always a priority. What I always find fascinatingis that there are just no cultural barriers between kids.
If they want to make new friends, which always happens, they just do. Race is never an issue. And for some reason language seems not to be a barrier either.
It fascinates me that two kids, one English, another let's say, Afrikaans, can play together and communicate without each being able to do much more than count to 10 in a different tongue.
Camping is a kid's ideal playground for imagination, development and so much more.
I could wax lyrical about it across reams of paper. But this is where it stops, because we're about to head out to the bush – again.
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