Printable Camping Journal for Kids This Summer! [+DIY Binding Instructions!]

If you’re looking for a great way for your kids to create even more special memories at the next family camp trip, then you’ll love this awesome kids camping journal! While I have designed many styles of kids camp journal, this one is for *one* big long trip (up to 7 days!) – so it’s perfect for the yearly camp vacation or family get together! You could also just print one out for each trip too so they stay organized.

For a bit more fun, I intertwined elements of a camping activity book – some scavenger hunts, fun questionairres, and of course loads of space for pictures and doodling. There are entry spots for seven days, and each has space for the important details of their camping adventures (activities, notes) as well as a page for any drawings or pictures taken during the day.

So whether you’re camping in your own backyard or at somewhere fun and new, this printable kids camping journal will prove to be so much fun (especially if you’re like my kids and love colorful things!) and an excellent way to keep track of your camping memories!

photo of bound summer camp journal with photos and entries plus the printable packet of the journal

What’s Inside the Journal

Besides entries for each day at camp, here are some other things to keep kids busy camping with this journal

  • Camp Highlights – Washi tape some tickets, paste in some pictures or whatever else your kiddo deems a highlight
  • About Me – Personalize the journal with some fun facts about themselves and a spot to draw or paste a picture of themselves.
  • Camp Trip Packing List – Some of the essentials and some blanks
  • Camp Notes + Misc – Extra spot for more prep notes such as cooking needs or just to write down an especially cool camping experience
  • Camp Notes for Day ___ – Includes spots to write about activities of the day as well as sketch (or paste a pic) of other fun things such as animal tracks or interesting nature finds
  • Camp Nature Hunt – A fun way to promote a love of nature by exploring and finding cool stuff in it!
  • Camp Items Hunt – Camp specific things (most can be find around the campground)
  • Camp Senses Hunt – More fun ways to enjoy the great outdoors

With pages of prompts, this camping trip journal is well worth the time to put it together the next time you plan on camping with the kids! There’s plenty of extra space throughout the journal so that your kids can really personalize how they use it. 

For some extra fun, I also included a mini “camp experiences” scavenger hunt – my kids love whole punching as they go (but crossing them out is fine too!)

P.S. While I do have a paid version, as always (because I hate clicking on an article and leaving with nothing!) there is also a free camping journal you can download at the end of the article.

kids camping journal

How to Spiral Bind Your Kids Camping Journal

While most of my journals are designed to be printed back and front for a 3 whole bunch, I really wanted to make a flat lay design so that it’s easier to write in… and that took a surprising larger amount of planning than I thought. I wanted it to be vey easy to print, bind and go – no fiddling with getting the order right.

Now, with that being said, you *MUST* print it in the order given or else it won’t make sense all put together. It’s not hard if you’re looking at the directions (which will be included in the PDF).

 If you don’t have a spiral binder, you could do it the old fashioned way and just hole punch some holes on the side of the papers and tie them all together with some twine. My kids especially love this method because they can be more involved!

Make a Kids Camping Journal With a Binding

kids camping journal laid open

Make summer camp memories even more special with this cute and colorful "Camping Adventures" Journal for Kids! Created to be small and easy to write in, this will extend the fun and memories for even longer next camp trip!

Prep Time 5 minutes
Active Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes

Materials

  • - PDF Template of the Camping Journal (8 Pages back and front)
  • - Binding of Choice (spiral bind, hole punch + string bind, staples if nothing else)
  • - Optional

Tools

  • Scissors
  • Binding Machine

Instructions

  1. Print Out the Template According to THESE Instructions: (A) Print Page One 1st on the thicker paper. Set it Aside. (B) Print Pages 2-7. DO NOT change the order. Set Aside. (C) Put the Page One that you printed earlier back into the pile before page two. (D) Print the Otherside - Place the entire pile (pages one through seven) back into the printer to get ready to print on the other side. Page one should be at the top so that it's printed on first. (E) Now print pages 8-14. If you set up your papers correctly (it's hard to figure out at first!), then you should now have a stack of papers with both sides printed on, and all facing the same direction.printing instructions for journal
  2. Cut in Half and Ensure Correct Order - Your stack should look like the picture below (once cut in half). Again, do not change the order of anything at all! This is simply the stack cut in half, exactly how it was printed.journal pages
  3. Flip the Left Pile - This is it's own step b/c it's VERY important. You need to *flip* the left hand pile over then put it onto the right stack - do not just set the left stack on top of the right hand stack without flipping it over first. I wish I had left the cover on in these pics so that you could more easily tell what's going on. Either the cover itself or the "About Me" should be what's showing for you at the top of your now single pile. (I had my cover set aside at the time as I hole punch it seperately.) how to set up journal pages correctly flipping them
  4. Trim + Bind - If you like, you can trim off the excess white borders around the journal. If you used thick paper for your page 1/8 (the cover) then I recommend hole punching that one sepeately. Otherwise, simply line them all up and hole punch!
  5. Enjoy! - You don't have to wait till camp to fill things out (there's a personalization section too). Kids can also write their name on the front.camping adventures printable for kids

Notes

  • You may have to go into your printer settings for the best quality - I have a Brother Printer, and have to manually select "Fine" for print quality and "Vivid" for color.
  • You can staple this!! It will still work, it just won't be as easy to write in as it would with a round binding like in this tutorial. As I mentioned earlier, you can also "sew" it closed by simply hole punching the left edge and weaving some string through it.

How We Use Our Journal

We love our little HP Sprocket (I’d forget to print pictures every time if I couldn’t print them on the spot as the journals are being filled out!) and filling them out together at the end of the day to wind down. We like writing down cool facts about the campground we’re at (the best camping spots, any exciting activities that the campground hosted, favorite things about it etc) then doing one picture and one drawing. 

how to use instant printer to fill out the journal

This is also a great activity for continued summer reading/writing – keeping a written record of our trips is both fun and a “secret” way to get in tons of practical practice! The simple prompts really lets kids get creative and have fun!

 We like using the blank pages to tape in anything special such as tickets for things we went to or photo booth prints. Since we often camp to vacation, these also serve as a vacation journal and we tend to do lots of activities on vacation! We save the “highlights” page for them to pick some pictures of the highlights of their camping adventures at the end of the trip (and it’s very hard to narrow it down to 1-2!!!)

Purchase the Journal Now

Excited to make your kids their own too? Then head to Etsy and get the whole thing! There are printable instructions so that you don’t have to keep reference this article too.

Purchase Kids Camping Journal PDF (14 Pages) on Etsy

P.S. If you’re looking for more of a camping log book for kids (with many spots for many /different/ camping trips) you may enjoy the one I sell on Amazon here! Not to toot my own horn, but many people find it quite useful, so maybe you will too!

Download the Free Packet

Like I said earlier, while I think the colorful one is super cute, I understand still preferring something free. I got ya! This version is much like the color one, except that it’s full size (8 1/2″ by 11″) so that it can be arranged any way you like.

It’s also helpful as that allows some of the fun pages, such as the scavenger hunts, to be used as stand alones!

Please only keep this for personal or classroom/camp use – DO NOT resell it, redistribute it, or slightly modify then resell it. Thank you! =D

Download the Free Camp Journal

Here are Some Other Kids Camping Articles To Check Out!

Leave a Comment

Skip to Instructions