Grab your sleeping bags and flashlights and cozy up with some of these fun camping books for kids…. great reads for home or to bring along for a quiet activity at the campsite!
Our top 3 Favourite Books about Camping:
These are my 7 year old’s top 3 choices for campground books or books about camping!
We love our library and have borrowed all of these and read them with our kids. You’ll notice these camping and campground kid books are all linked to Amazon so you can easily find out more information about the books listed below.
Happy Reading!
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Camping Books for Toddlers
While I enjoy reading picture books to my kids at any age, the following might be enjoyed more by your younger preschool and toddler aged children when you’re out at the campground.
Curious George goes Camping
by Margaret and H.A. Reys
My little guy just loved this story when he was small. The illustrations are the same watercolor and charcoal ones we’ve come to expect with Curious George and as usual, George tries to be helpful but things go amiss and adventure ensues! We used to bring our own copy of Curious George goes Camping with us on all our camping trips to read together snuggled in our sleeping bags before bed.
Llama Llama Goes Camping
by Anna Dewdney
While I’ll say that my kids weren’t every big fans of Llama Llama, I do know that there are a lot of kid fans out there! So, I will include this one to the camping books list as well…. because well, what could be better for a Llama Llama fan than to read about his camping adventure while actually at a campground!
Camping Picture Books about Camping
A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee
by Chris Van Dusen
You can be assured that when Mr. Magee and his doggie friend Dee go out they’ll certainly find more adventure than they bargained for! This series always delights. The story is playful with a pleasant rhyming rhythm and the illustrations are bright and exciting. A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee is a pleasure for both adults and kids! This is perhaps one of my favourite camping books!
S is for S’mores, A Camping Alphabet
by Helen Foster James and Lita Judge
If you’re looking for a story book to bring along camping that will offer lots of reading and discussion, then this one’s it. Each letter of the alphabet has a corresponding picture and short verse. Then, there are a few paragraphs explaining out that letter’s theme. For example, Q is for Quiet and the page talks about birdwatching, birdsong, and nature song. S is for S’mores covers everything from Adventure to Zippers with everything nature, camping, and outdoors in between. This book is perfect for reading with children between the ages of 4 and 10.
Camp Rex
by Molly Idle
This is a cute camping adventure book for little dinosaur lovers. The story follows a group of young dinosaurs who set out to find the perfect camping spot with lessons about outdoor adventure along the way. Camp Rex is sure to get young adventurers in the mood for a camping trip whether it’s into the great outdoors or just the backyard.
Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping
by Melanie Watt
Oh my gosh! These Scaredy Squirrel books are some of my favourite books to read with my kids. I also particularly like this one for camping because there’s lots of different things in the book to talk about… and it takes a bit longer to read through than a simple kids picture story book. And, as with all books in this series, Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping has humour, bright illustrations, and a nice positive message at the end.
Just Me and My Dad
by Mercer Mayer
This is one of the Little Critter series that so many little kids love. In this story they go out for an adventuresome evening of camping and the little guy does all the ‘camping work’. It is a sweet and short story. My kids love to go through these books hunting for the little spider on each page. Just Me and My Dad would be appropriate for young preschool aged children.
When We Go Camping
by Margriet Ruurs and Andrew Kiss
In this story two kids share all about camping, hiking, and exploring the wilderness. The kids’ accounts are accompanied by beautifully detailed paintings. Kids will enjoy imagining themselves out camping, hiking, and fishing in the wild world on these pages. But, the truly delightful treat in When We Go Camping are the hidden animals in each painting you’ll have to search for. Kids from young preschooler to middle elementary ages will enjoy this story.
Do Princesses Make Happy Campers?
By Carmela LaVigna Coyle and Mike Gordon
This book came highly recommended to me, but to be honest, it wasn’t a big hit for either me or my daughter. Although, the sentiment is a positive one: that girls can enjoy the outdoors even if they fancy themselves a princess… and there’s a whole ‘Do Princesses…’ series that builds on this idea. The pictures in Do Princesses Make Happy Campers are lively, giving added detail to the story and allowing for conversation about the family’s outdoor adventures.
Into the Outdoors
by Susan Gal
While on the surface this picture book shares the story of a family going camping in the woods, Into the Woods is also a book that can help kids be aware of their location in the outside world. The author puts emphasis on prepositions (words like behind, up, in, between, and among) and can be a helpful homeschool or teaching tool.
It’s a good reminder that even when we’re out in the great outdoors, we are still in close relation to the world around us… and these are comforting thoughts. It’s also a good grammar lesson;)
Blackflies
by Robert Munch and Jay Odjick
In true Munch style this is a kid’s book full of adventure and silliness! Blackflies entertainingly tells the story of Helen and what it’s like to live up north with gazillions of blackflies and mosquitos!
If you’re willing to read this story with excitement and enthusiasm, your kids will absolutely love it. And, if you know firsthand what it’s like to live with gazillions of blackflies and mosquitos, then this story will be even better!
The Bear Scouts
by Stan and Jan Berenstain
This is an oldie, but it’s a goodie! In The Bear Scouts Papa Bear decides he knows better than the bear scouts guide book on the boy’s camping trip. The book is full of Papa’s silly mishaps and blunders as the hiking and camping trip continues. The writing is this book has a nice rhyming rhythm and is full of the colorful illustrations we’ve all come to love with all Berenstain Bear books.
Camper Cole and the Scavenger Hunt Hike
by Amy Mueller and Brigid Malloy
This is a fun little camping book that would be good to bring along on an actual camping trip. It encourages kids to go for an adventure and explore around while the kid in the book goes on their own scavenger hunt. There’s even some nature and safety learning woven into the story too, bonus!
Where we get books:
We are huge lovers of our local library! We also buy a lot of books at used stores, garage sales, and ‘leave a book, take a book’ boxes. But, if I really want to buy a book online, I always look at Bookoutlet.com first!
If you are new to Bookoutlet, click here and get $5 off your first order at bookoutlet.com.
A few other Favourite Camping Books for Kids
National Parks of the USA
by Kate Siber
This is a beautiful book! It’s less of a story book and more of a reference guide. But, it is absolutely the perfect book to bring along if you happen to be camping in the national parks of the United States. There’s so much to read and look at and learn in this book. I particularly like the vintage feel to the colours and illustrations. National Parks of the USA really should be part of your natural history book collection!
Gone Camping, A Novel in Verse
by Tamera Will Wissinger and Matthew Cordell
If you’re looking for a more involved reading book for older children, you’ll absolutely love this one! The entire book is a compilation of stand-alone poems, but when read cover to cover tells the story of two kids going on a camping trip with their grandfather. Such a neat idea! Another cool feature of Gone Camping, A Novel in Verse are the black and white illustrations which also very accurately tell the story without needing to read any of the words at all.
Parents trying to encourage a love of prose and camping lovers will all enjoy this book for different reasons. But, the big learning bonus for teachers and homeschooling families comes at the end of the book. Here the author describes numerous poetry forms and writing techniques. This really is an interesting book!
I do hope you’ve found a few camping book recommendations that you can read with your kids. Books are the perfect way to spark a child’s interest and introduce them to new activities and ideas. Happy reading and happy camping!
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