A cool breeze glides through the trees and leaves gently fall to the ground. Sounds like a perfect night for a bonfire, doesn’t it? You can take that plan one step further by camping out in the backyard with the family.

Backyard camping can be a great staycation option. And it can involve more than just roasting hot dogs over an open fire; it’s an opportunity for the whole family to learn survival skills. Tactical Intelligence shares the following tips for camping out in your own backyard.

Survival Skill 1: Pick Your Position

First, choose the area of your yard that will serve as your campsite. You can then set up your shelter. You can pitch a tent or use something as simple as a tarp for an overhead shelter. Explain to your children that during an actual camping trip, they should choose their shelter based on the environment. Factors such as the weather and presence of animals would help them make this decision. Although being in the wild is far different from camping at home, this is a great opportunity to ease first-time campers out of their comfort zones.

Survival Skill 2: Light a Campfire

A campfire allows you to cook food and stay warm. Building a backyard fire can also serve as a learning opportunity, as you figure out how to start and maintain (and later extinguish) it. But before doing so, you should check first to make sure it’s legal to do this in your area.

Survival Skill 3: A Good Meal and Water

After you create the fire, it is time to prepare your meal. You can use this as an opportunity to teach your family how to tell when various foods are fully cooked. To further use your fire, take the opportunity to show your children how to purify your water to make it acceptable for drinking. High heat allows for the water to be disinfected, which is especially important if you have collected water from a river, steam or the rain. Although heating your collected water at high temperatures may not disinfect your water completely, it may help make it more suitable for drinking.

Learning survival skills may take time to perfect. Your backyard is both a great place to practice those skills and to teach others how to prepare theirs.

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