How to Build a Great Campfire for S’mores

Well its s’mores season and if you haven’t heard the news, well, I’m a s’mores addict.  I somehow have my entire family hooked on the s’mores goodness of marshmallow, graham cracker and chocolate and smashed together.  Well whether you’re roasting marshmallows or making s’mores on the campfire you’ll need to start with a good campfire so I have a short post here on the simple steps to building a good campfire. Adding s’mores afterwards is really up to you but highly recommended! ☺

Steps To Building A Fire

1) Make sure you have a fire ring to start (these limit the impact on the environment, & tend to keep the fire contained so everyone stays SAFE)

2) Have your all your supplies ready and close enough to you before starting. (matches, fire starter, wood)

3) Gather a nice supply of wood making sure it is all “dead” material (seasoned wood works best, green wood will be really hard to start, never burn treated wood)

Here’s how the wood is classified;

• Tinder (very skinny twigs of wood)
• Kindling (twigs about the size of your finger)
• Fuel Wood (these are the larger branches/wood that you can gather or purchase if you are staying in a park)

You can choose to bring newspapers, old lint or dead leaves to help in starting your fire (see my FREE household fire starter here)

There are 2 ways to place your wood for your fire;

 

This is an example of pyramid style campfire wood.

 

This is an example of layered style wood.

Both methods are fine for campfires.  You just need to make sure you get air under your pieces so the fire catches.

Now on to making the fire:

1.) Lay out your newspapers, lint or dried leaves and place your Tinder on top in 1 of 2 patterns and light

2.) As fire starts to go place your Kindling on top staggering the pieces of wood to allow air to move through (use either method listed above)

3.) Once this starts to take off fully, add your fuel wood, again stagger the pieces to allow air to move through

4.) ENJOY!…  Who has the S’mores!!! (check all of my s’mores recipes here)

Family Fire Safety Tips

1.) Always use a fire ring or make a ring with rocks on a flat surface away from all hanging limbs or branches
2.) NEVER leave a fire unattended or go to bed with a live fire burning
3.) Be Prepared for anything, have a shovel and a bucket of water nearby
4.) Keep the fire small, especially around young children.
5.) When leaving your camp site make sure the fire is extinguished, use your shovel, ample amount of water and dirt to move the embers while dumping water to soak everything fully. Last place dirt on top. If you can mix the dirt in with your hands then the fire is completley extinguishged

Check out my favorite campfire s’mores supplies below!

Here’s a link to campfire s’mores roasting sticks.  I like these best because its a double tip to hold the marshmallow on (sometimes they fall off a single tip)

These campfire s’mores makers really do work and give a good visual of how to do s’mores over a campfire!

And last but not least…. if you can’t get out to make your s’mores make them at home in your microwave! ☺Inside Microwaveable S’mores maker!  Just $7.19 each!