My kids both took to camping right away. My daughter's first camping experience was in the snow at 18 months (just the 2 of us). I bought a battery lantern to light everything up immediately if she woke in the night, which she did. It definitely made her feel safer. My son is a heavy sleeper and never needed this. But really, other than their favorite blankets and the backpack carrier, we don't bring any extra equipment. We manage with the featherlight stove and do mostly one pot meals, or stacked pots. I bring a lot of meals frozen in ziplocks, which double as ice for the cooler, and tempeh and beans. The kids love collecting rocks, pine cones, etc, and we don't bring toys. They are 1 and 2, and we camp a couple of times a month.
Though I try to make coffee, I always have a back up of cold espresso for emergencies-learned this trick at music festivals.