A Camping Themed Classroom Transformation

Classroom transformations have been the highlight of my school year this year.  My students always look forward to them.  I love planning for them and setting them up. Even though they can be a lot of work sometimes, it is always worth it.  This time around, I transformed the classroom into a campground, and we “camped out” all day.

To set up the classroom, I brought in a tent that we had at home.  This was a gift to my girls a couple of years ago, so it was something we already had.  You could definitely bring in a regular camping tent, but I was just using what we already had at home.  I also brought in my decorative trees that I set out at Christmas time.  These were the perfect addition to the “campsite.”  I purchased small camping chairs from Walmart for less than $10.  I also hung some white Christmas lights from the ceiling to add to the glow of the room and to look like stars in the night sky.  I made a fire using construction paper and rocks that I bought at Dollar Tree.

I brought in some mason jars that I had at home and put battery-powered tealight candles inside of them.  I bought the candles at Dollar Tree.  Then, I threw some red and white checkered table clothes, that I already had, on the tables.  I also bought a spray bottle at Dollar Tree and filled it with water.  I used the Bug Spray label from my friend, Stacy, at Simpson’s Superstars.  The kids loved being sprayed with “bug spray.”  Set up was super easy, and I really used mostly things I already had at home or in the classroom.

Before the students came in, I placed a campsite coloring page onto clipboards for each student.

Then, I turned off the lights and projected a crackling campfire onto the screen.  I used this one below.

 It really felt like we were camping.  It was so relaxing.  The students were able to sit anywhere around the room to do their work.  Throughout the day, we completed camping themed activities.  We read camping books including Arthur Goes to Camp, Berenstain Bears Go to Camp, and Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping.  I purchased little flashlights from Amazon for each of my students, so they could use them throughout the day.  They were really cheap, but also cheaply made.  I think I’ll just have them bring in their own next year.

The students had so much fun in the campground for the day.

You can find all of these activities and printables in my Camping Day packet HERE.

Want to save these ideas for later?  Feel free to pin the image below, or any other image from the post, to your Pinterest boards.  Be sure to check out my other Classroom Transformations below.

You can read more about our other classroom transformations in these blog posts.

A Bat Cave

An Arctic Adventure