Too cold for camping with young kids?

[mammadee]

We are supposed to go camping with our 6 kids in a couple of days......we have a big tent that we all fit in.

But....the weather forecast has turned cold. The worst night is a low of 38...highs in the day are fine....65-70, but I worry about night time.

We all have decent sleeping bags, but not rated that low, probably.....maybe a couple are to 40 degrees. We do have extra blankets, robes, hats, mittens, thick socks, etc.

But I worry about the younger kids.....they are ages 16, 13, 10, 8, 6, and 4.

How cold is too cold at night?

Dee

[Mike]

Re: Too cold for camping with young kids?

For our kids, temperatures below about -5 degrees Fahrenheit is the lower limit to bring kids camping. When it gets cold, you have to have action activities for them like hiking or skiing or volleyball or soccer. You can't plan on having them sitting around a table playing board games or drawing with crayons.

My kids are grown now, so I am bringing our five year old grandson camping. His parents are fine with me bringing their boy camping in cold weather because they were both brought up that way.

Cold and hot are relative. My friends in Bangkok thinks the world is coming to an end if the temps drop below 90 degrees F.

[terasec]

Re: Too cold for camping with young kids?

As other poster mentioned, cold is relative.
To some 40 degrees is shorts and tshirt weather. Others, its the end of the world,
38 degrees should be fine in a protected shelter like a tent, and extra blankets.
Make sure it is ventilated as the moisture in the tent will be cold, and make things cold and damp by morning,
Will the kids have cotton pjs or synthetic?
I recomend synthetic base layer to keep them dry

[Mike]

Re: Too cold for camping with young kids?

If you want the kiddies to be really comfortable, then heat up a couple of rocks in hot water before they go to bed. I actually boil the rocks in a big pot as we sit around the campfire. You just want to be sure that the rocks aren't too hot as to hurt the kids when they touch it.

As each kid gets into their sleeping bag, slide the hot/warm rock into a clean sock and have the kids put them inside their sleeping bags. Oh, that is cozy and your kids will love it.

Be the first one up and make hot drinks for them in the morning. Have them all get up at the same time so you can get hot food in them and get them all moving with some activity.

[terasec]

Re: Too cold for camping with young kids?

A couple warming tips,
Make sure they pee before bed, holding it uses valueable body energy that could be used to warm the body instead,
Also give them a small snack before bed, digestion will also help keep them warm

[renodesertfox]

Re: Too cold for camping with young kids?

Always have plenty of warm extra wool socks, wool beanies & wool gloves. In cold weather cotton fabrics is the worse insulator. Also dressing in layers is good for adults as well as children! Campfires at night rarely give enough heat for everyone, although fun to do with making s'mores. But having a warm tent is more important. Take a Mr. Heater with you and tuck them in with a warm tent. Then before you retire, turn off the heater and climb in the sack! In the early morning, strike the heater to chase away the chill. And always fix a hot breakfast, the most important meal of the day!

[05Kingquad700]

Re: Too cold for camping with young kids?

we are going this weekend and it is gonna be in the low 40's to high 30's. Good bags, layered clothing, sleep mats and a Mr Buddy heater in my canvas tent and we will be fine. It is better to have extra stuff to add then to not have it, so error on the to much side. If you have it, and don't need it, then just leave it in the car. She has camped this cold before, as she has been camping all her life and she is 5. We zip our bags together and if she needs to, she will sleep with us, but her bag is 30 degree rated, and we will add extra blankets inside and on top of her. She will have insulated under wear (top and bottoms) and another layer of pajamas on as well. I have wool hats for the family as well.
Day time temps will not be an issue as it is supposed to be lowl 70's. After smores and hot chocolate it will be movie time in the tent as daylight is gone by 7pm and temps start to fall.

[bvanevery]

Re: Too cold for camping with young kids?

I sleep cold so maybe I'm like a kid in some ways. Two big issues for staying warm at night: 1) do you have a mummy bag? Something that closes up over your head, and has a baffle around the neck to prevent heat loss. Mummy bags are constricting but if there's less space in the bag, then your body is going to do a better job of heating it up. Some bags are not as tight as a traditional mummy. It's harder to heat up that additional space, but it's probably not a dealbreaker. The real problem is a rectangular bag that doesn't have any kind of hood you pull up over your head. All your body warmth goes out of the bag. When it's cold out, that just doesn't work. You can try to bundle up with extra clothing, polyester under layers, hats, etc. But in my experience, if it gets down to 25*F, and you don't have a proper closeable bag over your head, it just isn't gonna work.

2) How big is your tent or shelter and how much heat does it hold in? A big airy tent doesn't hold much heat. It's good for summer, bad for winter. A really teeny weeny claustrophobic tent is much better for the winter, there's less to heat up. In my case that "tent" is my car. It does a really good job holding heat, for myself and my dog. At 35*F we're quite comfortable, no problems. At 25*F the car turns into an icebox. The furry cold loving dog had better come curl up with me, and I had better have used my mummy bag properly to stay warm. At that point it's not comfortable, it's more like mild survival. We can certainly do it but we wouldn't care to make a habit of it.

Ok also 3) are you sleeping on something that insulates you from the cold ground? If you aren't, then you aren't going to stay warm. My REI Camp Bed 3.5" XL has a R-Value of 7.0. It does a pretty good job. Can't say I've ever thought "my mat is cold."

[05Kingquad700]

Re: Too cold for camping with young kids?

Plan B is great tip. I had to bail once on a camping trip. The wind gusts were in the 80's. It was blowing tent trailers off the leveling jacks. I was laying there and all of a sudden I thought, how am I gonna wrestle a 12X14 outfitters tent by myself and calm a 4 year old girl????? I drove off praying that my camping equipment would still be there the next day. It was and my girl still loves to go camping. Who knows what would of happened if the canvas would of come off the frame.

[Timberline]

Re: Too cold for camping with young kids?


Hey Dee,

I naturally have a lower than average body temp so I'm a big ol' baby whenit comes to the cold, especially with my feet. Aside from having an awesomesleeping bag and an airbed, to work around the uncomfortable cold, I put handand feet warmers at the bottom of my sleeping bag about 5 minutes before bedtime. I mostly use them for snowboarding, but they last long, they're lowmaintenance and you can get them anywhere. Plus, the shaking and activatingaction can be fun for the little ones. Hope you have fun!

-Timberline

[05Kingquad700]

Re: Too cold for camping with young kids?

I will post up after this weekend if we find any tips.

[Mike]

Re: Too cold for camping with young kids?

Hey Dee,

I naturally have a lower than average body temp so I'm a big ol' baby whenit comes to the cold, especially with my feet. Aside from having an awesomesleeping bag and an airbed, to work around the uncomfortable cold, I put handand feet warmers at the bottom of my sleeping bag about 5 minutes before bedtime. I mostly use them for snowboarding, but they last long, they're lowmaintenance and you can get them anywhere. Plus, the shaking and activatingaction can be fun for the little ones. Hope you have fun!

-Timberline

Those shake'n'bake hand warmers work by oxydation. In some ways, they are oxygen eaters and can deplete oxygen in very confined small spaces (like inside gloves). This is why you may have noticed that the hand warmers are warmest right after you shake them, but after you put them inside your gloves or shoes, they seem to "extinguish"

So, to keep them alive longer, bring them out to open air and shake them - get some fresh oxygen into the hand warmers, then put them back into your gloves, shoes, sleeping bag, or whatever.

[soapboxpreacher]

Re: Too cold for camping with young kids?

Couple of things...sleeping bags rating take like a grain of salt. If a bag is rated for 20 it will be comfortable at 30 and cold at anything less. Do the 10 and in some cases 15 degree factor to all bags. Sleeping pads are key, air mattresses will be cold and they offer no r-value. Don't sleep on the ground. The ground being cold will take the heat right from your body. You will need a pad to sleep on. I like down in dry and backing for weight situations. But for car camping it can get pricy. My 4 year old seems to withstand the cold better then his 40 year old dad does. We did a summer camp out that dipped down in he high 40s I was on an air mattress with a slumberjack telluride 30 and I was cold however my son was in he same bag only on a Therma-a-rest polite plus and was fine in fact he needed to open the bag a bit. The pad made a difference. Pad is key but watch the bag rating too I only think they are as good as the pad you sleep on.