Camp Out!: The Ultimate Kids' Guide from the Backyard to the Backwoods

Gathering around a campfire. Cooking food on a stick. Finding constellations. Telling ghost stories, then crawling into a sleeping bag and falling asleep to the amazing silence of the woods-- no wonder camping is the top outdoor recreation activity among all Americans ages six and up. A book that older kids can use on their own or that parents can share with younger children, "Camp Out " is a how-to, nature guide, crafts and activity center, cookbook, planner, and motivator. It covers all the basic skills but is also brimming with new ideas-- the endlessly inventive author is Lynn Brunelle. Here's how to set up a home away from home-- finding the ideal tenting site, making a fire pit, purifying water, going to the (environmentally sound) bathroom. Cook outdoors, with pantry tips and more than 20 recipes for fun foods from Chow Down Chili to Kick-the-Can Ice Cream to-- everyone's favorite-- S'mores. Tie knots and hitches, use a compass, read a map. There are lively, illustrated field guides to the major American ecosystems, from northeast woods to southwest canyons, prairie to beach, as well as guides to weather watching and star gazing. And dozens of activities, experiments, projects, crafts, and games, including the Stick-in-the-Mud Sun Clock, Campsite Pictographs, Fern Smash T-Shirt, Spore Print Placemats, Sand Candles at the Beach, Flashlight Fun, Shadow Animals, even favorite camp songs and the art of telling a great ghost story.