For a really exciting family adventure take a family camping vacation at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. Crater of Diamonds Park is the only diamond producing site in the world that allows the public to come in, camp, and go digging for diamonds. You even get to keep any diamonds that you might find. Visitors to the park have found many different types and sizes of diamonds but the diamonds that are most often found are white, brown and yellow diamond.
You can bring your own diamond hunting equipment with you if you want, but nothing that is motorized or has wheels. Making sifting screens at home is easy and cheap and a great art project for the kids. Also bring a few buckets and a few shovels or trowels, and definitely bring some gloves. If you don’t want the hassle of bringing your own equipment you can rent buckets, shovels, and sifting screens at the park for less than $10.
There are lots of other types of rocks to be found at Crater of Diamonds Park too. Visitors can find lamproite, amethyst, banded agate, jasper, peridot, garnet, quartz, calcite, barite and hematite, among others. Best of all, any precious stones or diamonds that you find on the site are yours to keep, even if they are large and valuable! The kids will love prospecting for diamonds and other stones, but there are also acres of land that are great for hiking and other activities.
Camping at the Crater of Diamonds Park is very inexpensive. Campsite fees are less than $20 and include bathroom facilities, showers and laundry facilities. The campground facility also has a nearly 15,000-ft water park and playground that the kids will love and admission is less than $6 per person, less than $4 per child. The water playground is also available for private rental with lifeguards on duty so if you want to rent the water park for a child’s birthday you can.
Want to check out the local wildlife while you’re there? The park has a specially built secluded blind where campers can go and sit and watch turkeys and other local wildlife in the wild. It’s a great way to let your kids get close to some real wildlife without them or the wildlife getting scared. Getting to see wild animals in their natural habitat from that close of a distance is a huge treat for little kids that love animals.
Crater of Diamonds Park is a fabulous place for an inexpensive but very fun family camping vacation. You can hike, swim, camp, and dig for diamonds so that the kids will never get bored. And who knows, you might find some great diamonds or other precious stones that you can have made into jewelry so that you’ll always have souvenirs from that family camping trip.
Make reservations early though, because the campground only has 59 camp sites and they fill up fast. You can make reservations online or over the phone with a credit card.
