Camping in the corridor, and further out

Some of our best adventures started just outside our front door. One night we pitched our tent in the corridor outside our flat and slept there: a camp day out in our own concrete jungle. It cost nothing. It showed the children that stepping out of the gate can already be an experience.

These photos are from our early years, when Hilwaa and Qoyis were toddlers and babies. Camping and the outdoors were part of our extended time with the children, away from the table.

Hammocks and tents

We hung hammocks wherever we could: under a shelter next to the tent, and on the grass by the sea, where most of the family squeezed into one hammock at once. On a rainy day we had our picnic under a hut instead. One Hari Raya, still in our baju, Daddy stood at the edge of a lake with a toddler, an egret on the water in front of them.

Always on the move

We were always getting ready to go somewhere. Bags were packed by the door more often than not.

Noticing small things

Nature is a big part of it, and so is looking closely. Observing every small thing we find in nature is part of our tadabbur Quran habit. A tiny water creature held in a palm. A caterpillar on a potted plant. A baby crawling on the grass with a dry leaf almost as big as the baby. Two girls peering into a drain.

At a deer farm the children collected saga seeds. Another day they picked leaves from cassava and sweet potato plants and visited a chicken coop.

At the beach we pitched the tent, wrote in the sand and kept shells in a box. The beach also had plastic litter and a dead fish washed up. Those are worth a conversation too, about looking after the earth we have been given.

Try it

If you have a tent, try it. You do not need to go far. A corridor, a void deck or a park near home is enough to start, and the small things you find on the way are worth stopping for.