Family Campground Amenities: What Kids Actually Use at Walnut Hills

The family campground amenities that matter are the ones kids use for hours: a swim beach with something to climb on, a playground next to where the grown-ups sit, open space for a ball game, a store that sells ice cream, and a weekend schedule that gives kids something to do without you inventing it. Add clean restrooms and rules that let children ride bikes around the loop safely, and most of a family’s weekend takes care of itself.

Walnut Hills Family Campground in Durand, Michigan is built around that list, so this guide uses it as the working example. Below: the amenities to look for, how each works at Walnut Hills, what suits young children, and how our sister park, The Oaks Campground next to Waterloo Recreation Area, offers a quieter version.

What family campground amenities matter most?

No single amenity makes a campground good for families. What works is several within a short walk of each other, so a six-year-old and a thirteen-year-old can both find something to do from the same picnic table. Full details are on the Walnut Hills amenities page.

Water amenities: the spring-fed lake and the Wibit

Walnut Hills has what our team calls a natural dual water feature: a spring-fed swimming lake and the Shiawassee River, both on the property. The lake is the family hub. The water is naturally clear and stays cool on hot days (you can feel cold pockets where the spring comes up), and the beach sits next to the store at the front of the park, so a parent on a towel can see the kids on the water and the store at the same time.

The Wibit is the floating water park on the lake. It has 14 pieces, which is large for a campground: an Action Tower XXL, two slides, a trampoline, monkey bars, a climbing wall and high jump-off pieces. The details parents ask about:

• Ages 7 and up. Kids under 16 need a parent present.
• Life jackets are provided and required. They’re Wibit-designed so they don’t snag, so personal jackets aren’t used.
• There’s a monitor, not a lifeguard. The Wibit monitor checks wristbands and jacket fit and keeps the rules friendly and consistent, so parents can relax on the beach while staying in charge of their own swimmers.
• Check in at the store for a wristband, a waiver and a short safety video.
• Open Tuesday through Sunday, free for campers Tuesday through Thursday. Weekend wristbands carry a fee that covers the cost of running it. Current prices are on the rates page.

A campground employee’s tip: the water park is tiring, so families alternate an hour on the Wibit with an hour on the beach, with the arcade room in the store for the in-between stretch. It isn’t only for kids, either. Grandparents go out on it, and the campers on sites 1 through 15 have been known to hold up scorecards for belly flops off the big pieces.

Older kids can add a river trip. Cheff’s Canoe Rental, an independent business working out of the Walnut Hills launch, runs canoe, kayak and tube floats with life jackets included; parents with small children usually take a canoe so the kids ride with them, and there’s a 30-to-45-minute float inside the campground for short attention spans. See tubing and floating at Walnut Hills. There is no pool at Walnut Hills; the lake is the swimming.

Land amenities: the entertainment zone by Pavilion 2

The best family amenities at Walnut Hills are clustered in one area at the north end of the park, which is what makes them work. Around Pavilion 2 you’ll find the playground installed a few years ago, the Kangaroo Jumper (a big inflatable bounce pillow, free to use), the gaga ball pit, the fenced dog park and the ball field. Saturday evenings the pavilion hosts the DJ dance party, karaoke or a band, and staff often bring out a giant kickball for a parents-versus-kids game on the field. One family can sit at the pavilion and have every child in sight.

Elsewhere: a basketball court, sand volleyball, horseshoe pits, the arcade room in the camp store, and a nature trail along the Shiawassee for a short morning walk. The store counts as a kid amenity too, with hand-scooped and novelty ice cream, bait and fishing supplies, and the things you forgot. It also rents golf carts; the park is 42 acres and spread out, and a cart ride is most kids’ favorite way to reach the beach.

Weekend events that keep kids busy

Every weekend from Memorial Day through September has a food truck (always Saturday, often Friday dinner and Sunday breakfast) and a schedule of free activities. A typical Saturday at Walnut Hills in 2026 looked like this:

• 11 AM kids’ craft at Pavilion 1: sun catchers, wind chimes, birdhouses, rock painting, pinwheels.
• Tie-dye at Pavilion 1 most Saturdays (shirts sold at the store).
• Afternoon lawn games by the dog park and ball field: kickball, three-legged race, potato sack race, tug of war, water balloon wars, cornhole.
• Evening at Pavilion 2: a DJ dance party, karaoke, trivia or a live band.

Holiday weekends add bike and golf cart parades and a family olympics, and three Halloween weekends in late September and early October bring a site-decorating contest, costume judging, trick-or-treating on closed roads and a haunted trail that stays mild while it’s light out. The calendar is on the events page. Our team’s advice: arrive Wednesday or Thursday for the free Wibit days, float the river Friday, and save Saturday for the events.

Amenities for young children (toddlers to age 6)

The Wibit starts at age 7, so families with little ones ask what’s left. Quite a lot:

• The beach. The sand runs out into the water, so toddlers are standing on sand, not muck. Bring an umbrella and a bucket.
• The Kangaroo Jumper and playground by Pavilion 2, free and in view of the pavilion tables.
• Crafts at 11 AM on Saturdays, pitched at young kids.
• Golf cart rides around the loops, which small children treat as an event in itself.
• The in-park float with a parent in a canoe, or a walk on the river nature trail.
• Trick-or-treating on closed roads during the Halloween weekends, which is a safe first Halloween for a preschooler.

Two practical notes. The renovated bathhouse has private toilet stalls and new showers, which matters more with a toddler than any slide does. And if you’re not ready for a tent with a baby, Walnut Hills has two air-conditioned camping cabins (sites 43 and 46) that sleep four, with a fridge, microwave and coffee maker; bring your own linens. See Michigan campgrounds with cabins.

Where to camp with small kids: the sunny circle of sites 118 to 131 sits across from the beach, and because it has no sewer hookups, groups can park in a ring with a shared fire pit in the middle. Families who want shade and full hookups pick the north end near sites 171 to 193, next to the main bathhouse and across from the entertainment zone. The map and rules page shows both; north is up.

Michigan campground amenities for families: the quieter version at The Oaks

Our sister park, The Oaks Campground in Munith (about an hour south of Walnut Hills, next to Waterloo Recreation Area), has a similar list in a more natural setting. A sand beach was rebuilt on the spring-fed swim lake in 2026 with an Aquaglide floating water park (ages 7 and up, wristbands from the store), a free Kangaroo Jumper arrived near the store and pavilion in fall 2026, and the main playground, basketball court, sand volleyball and ball field sit beside it. Kids fish from the dock on the fishing lake (keeping your catch is allowed; the store sells bait and gear). Then there are 120 acres of forest and grassland trails for golf carts and bikes, where families spot deer and sandhill cranes from the Haehnle bird sanctuary next door.

The Oaks is water-and-electric camping (50 amp on short-term sites; no full hookups, no cabins), and the sites are the biggest in either park, from 35 by 65 feet up to 55 by 120. For families from Ann Arbor, Jackson or Lansing it’s an easy kid-friendly weekend getaway in Michigan: beach in the morning, ice cream and the Jumper in the afternoon, a golf cart trail ride before dinner, a food truck and the pavilion dance party at night. As one campground employee put it, all of that sounds like it’s for the kids, but the quiet hour at the campfire after they’re in bed “makes the parents the real winners.” Start with The Oaks Campground.

How to judge the best campgrounds in Michigan for families

When you compare family campgrounds, check these before you look at anything else:

1. Is there a water feature kids can use all day, and what are the age rules?
2. What’s free and what’s a wristband? A big water park usually costs extra; a playground, bounce pillow and beach should not.
3. Is there a real events calendar with dates, or just a line about “activities”?
4. What are the rules? Quiet hours mean everyone actually sleeps, kids back at the site by dusk and a gate limited to registered guests are what let parents feel good about sending kids to the playground on their own.
5. Where are the family sites relative to the beach, playground and bathhouse? The map answers this faster than reviews do.

For our picks across the state, see family-friendly campgrounds in Michigan and kid-friendly campgrounds in Michigan.

Family amenity questions we get asked

Is the Wibit free at Walnut Hills?

Free for registered campers Tuesday through Thursday. Friday through Sunday there’s a wristband fee that covers the cost of running it. It’s open Tuesday through Sunday.

Is there a lifeguard?

No. The Wibit has a monitor who checks wristbands and life jackets and keeps everyone on the rules, and the beach has posted swim guidelines. Kids under 16 need a parent present to use the Wibit.

Can we bring the dog?

Yes. Walnut Hills has a fenced quarter-acre dog park with tunnels, a fire hydrant and picnic tables, and dogs can swim in the river at the boat launch. Everywhere else in the campground dogs stay leashed; they aren’t allowed on the beach, in the swim lake or in the cabins.