The best kid friendly campgrounds in Michigan share a short list of traits: a swimming spot kids can use all day, play areas within sight of the campsite, organized weekend activities, and rules that let parents relax. Walnut Hills Family Campground in Durand was built around exactly that list. It has a spring-fed swimming lake with a sand beach, a 14-piece Wibit floating water park, a new playground, a gaga ball pit, an arcade, a Kangaroo Jumper, a kids’ craft every Saturday morning and a license-plate gate that keeps the park to registered guests. Kids and bikes are back at the site by dusk, and quiet hours start at 11 PM.
Here is what each age group actually does at Walnut Hills, how the campground handles safety without a lifeguard, and how our sister park, The Oaks Campground near Jackson, compares for families with young children.
What makes a campground good for kids?
Parents who camp a lot tend to judge a kid-friendly campground on four things:
- Water they can use for hours. A beach or pool with a shallow edge for little ones and something bigger for the older kids.
- Play areas kids can reach on their own. Playgrounds, courts and open lawn where a seven-year-old can go ahead on a bike while you finish your coffee.
- Something scheduled. Crafts, games, a dance party. Kids don’t need it every hour, but a few anchors make a weekend.
- A safe layout. A gated park, a 5 mph limit, kids-back-by-dusk rules and neighbors who are also there with their families.
Our team’s shorthand for Walnut Hills is that “the campground itself is the destination.” Families come for what’s at the park, not for day trips, so the on-site list is long. The full rundown is on the amenities page.
Walnut Hills for kids, by age
| Age | What they’ll do | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Toddlers and preschoolers | Shallow edge of the sand beach, the playground, the Kangaroo Jumper, Saturday crafts, trick-or-treating on Halloween weekends | The Wibit is ages 7 and up, so plan on the beach and the lawn by the Wibit dock instead. Kids under 13 need an adult at the beach. |
| Ages 7 to 12 | The Wibit, the arcade, gaga ball, giant kickball, bike loops on the campground roads, fishing from the north end of the lake | Life jackets are provided and required on the Wibit; under-16s need a parent on site. Bikes go back to the campsite at dusk. |
| Teens | The Wibit’s bigger pieces (Action Tower XXL, slides, the jump-off platforms), sand volleyball, basketball, a float trip on the Shiawassee, DJ dance parties and karaoke at Pavilion 2 | Teens can use the Wibit without a parent at 16. E-bikes are adults only. |
The spring-fed lake and the Wibit
The lake at Walnut Hills is spring-fed, which means clear water and cool pockets where the spring comes up under you. The beach sits at the front of the park next to the store, with a landscaped planter border and a lawn with picnic tables, so parents set up once and see the whole swim area from a chair.
The Wibit is a 14-piece floating obstacle course: a climbing wall, a rope hill, two slides, monkey bars, a trampoline, balance ladders and the Action Tower XXL. Most campground water parks have one to four pieces, so this is a big one. It runs Tuesday through Sunday and is free for campers Tuesday through Thursday; weekend wristbands carry a fee. Kids check in at the store, sign a waiver, watch a short safety video and get a Wibit-designed life jacket (personal jackets aren’t allowed on it). There is no lifeguard. A Wibit monitor checks wristbands and jacket fit and enforces the rules, and parents stay responsible for their kids.
A detail parents enjoy: the campers on sites 1 to 15 face the Wibit and have been known to hold up 1-to-10 scorecards for belly flops off the tall pieces. It’s not unusual to see grandparents out there too.
Campsites with play areas: the entertainment zone
Everything that isn’t water sits together at the north end of the park around Pavilion 2: the new playground (installed a few years ago), the Kangaroo Jumper bounce pillow, the gaga ball pit, the ball field, the fenced dog park and the basketball and sand volleyball courts. Saturday evening music and dance parties happen in that same spot, so the kids are on the Jumper while the parents are at the band.
If you want a campsite with a play area in sight, book the full-hookup rows at sites 186 to 193 and 171 to 178. They sit directly across from the entertainment zone and next to the main bathhouse. The four electric tent sites are across the road from that block, so tent families get the same view. For more on where the play equipment is and what ages it suits, see our campgrounds with playgrounds guide, and pull the site map from the map and rules page (north is up).
Kids’ activities every weekend
From Memorial Day through September, most Saturdays at Walnut Hills look like this:
- 11 AM kids’ craft at Pavilion 1: sun catchers, wind chimes, pinwheels, birdhouses, rock painting, and tie-dye on most Saturdays (shirts sold at the store).
- Afternoon lawn games by the dog park and ball field: kickball with a giant ball the staff bring out, three-legged races, potato sack races, tug of war, water balloon wars, cornhole.
- Food trucks every weekend, always on Saturday, often Friday dinner and Sunday breakfast. Regulars include The Filling Station, Un Poco Loco and a wood-fired pizza truck.
- Evening at Pavilion 2: a DJ dance party, karaoke, family trivia or a live band.
Themed weekends add more: a kids’ bike parade and golf cart parade on Memorial Day, “Family Olympics” over the Fourth of July (no fireworks at any of our parks), Christmas in July with Santa, a Beach Party weekend with hula hoop and limbo contests, and three Halloween weekends in late September and early October with pumpkin painting, a costume contest, a candy search in the hay, trick-or-treating on closed roads, and a haunted trail that stays mild while it’s light and gets scarier after dark. The current calendar is on the events page. For more ideas, see camping activities for kids.
Is Walnut Hills safe for young children?
Families tell us the thing they notice is that kids can roam. A few reasons:
- A license-plate gate limits the park to registered guests and their registered visitors, and there’s no check-in line, so arrival is calm.
- Speed is 5 mph everywhere, golf carts don’t drive after dark, and kids and bikes are back at the site by dusk.
- Quiet hours run 11 PM to 8 AM, so the kids actually sleep, and so do you.
- The bathhouse was rebuilt with new showers, private toilet stalls and good lighting; kids under 10 go in with an adult.
- The beach and the Wibit are not lifeguarded. Children under 13 need an adult at the beach, under-7s can’t use the Wibit, and under-16s need a parent on site.
Our campground safety measures article covers the rules in detail.
Where to stay with kids: RV, tent or cabin
Walnut Hills has 201 RV sites, 18 tent sites and 2 camping cabins. For young children, the beach-area sites (104 to 117 beachfront, and the cheaper circle at 118 to 131 across the road) put you a short walk from the water; they’re 30-amp water-and-electric with no sewer. The north-end rows near the entertainment zone are full hookup with 50 amp and sit by the main bathhouse. The two cabins (sites 43 and 46) have A/C, a double bed and a twin bunk, a fridge, microwave and coffee maker, sleep four, and need you to bring linens; no pets. Grandparents who don’t camp often take a cabin while the rest of the family takes sites nearby. Rates cover two adults and two kids; extra kids ages 3 to 17 are $9 a night.
The Oaks: a kid-friendly campground with more nature
Our sister park, The Oaks Campground in Munith, is the quieter, more rustic option for families with young children: 50 amp on short-term sites, no full hookups, but a sand beach on a spring-fed swim lake, an Aquaglide floating water park (also ages 7 and up), a free Kangaroo Jumper by the pavilion, a fishing lake with a dock where kids are almost guaranteed a bite, and 120 acres of trails where you’ll see deer and sandhill cranes. Holiday weekends bring a kids’ fishing contest, candy bar bingo and bike parades. It costs a bit less and sits next to Waterloo Recreation Area, about an hour south of Walnut Hills.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best campground for kids in Michigan?
It depends on your kids’ ages and what they want to do all day. For water, organized activities and a big entertainment zone, Walnut Hills is hard to beat in the lower part of the state. For a wooded, trail-heavy weekend with a beach and a fishing dock, The Oaks is the pick. Our family friendly campgrounds in Michigan guide compares both.
Can toddlers use the Wibit?
No. The Wibit is for ages 7 and up with a life jacket. Toddlers have the sand beach, the lawn by the Wibit dock, the playground and the Kangaroo Jumper.
Is there a lifeguard at Walnut Hills?
No. A Wibit monitor manages the water park’s wristbands, life jackets and rules, and parents supervise their own children at the beach.
Are kids’ activities free?
The Saturday crafts, lawn games, dance parties, trick-or-treating and the Kangaroo Jumper are included with your stay. Tie-dye shirts, weekend Wibit wristbands, the arcade games and food trucks cost extra.
When should we book?
Holiday weekends and the three Halloween weekends fill far in advance. Weekdays are quieter and cheaper, and the Wibit is free Tuesday through Thursday, so a Wednesday or Thursday arrival is the best deal for kids.
