Fun Camping Games?

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A.W. answers from Kalamazoo on July 21, 2011

A good sub for hide and seek is Hide "Happy". For us, 'happy' is a yellow ball with a happy face on it that I drew with sharpie marker. You can throw in hot and cold hints too.
Instead of lugging along horseshoes - you can just dig 2 small holes in the ground and find a bunch of acorns or small stones to try to toss or roll into the other hole.
Sometimes we like to paint to - find a few rocks to paint.
and a magnifying glass!

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B.S. answers from Lansing on July 21, 2011

One I didn't see mentioned was

We always played telephone where someone would start a sentence and secretly pass it to the other person. We've done it a variety of ways where its just that one sentence passed and you try to get it to the end but it always gets messed up. (As you can only say it once in someones ear) Or you can play that you start a sentence and each person adds onto it. The last person has to say it out loud.

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A.W. answers from Kalamazoo on July 21, 2011

A good sub for hide and seek is Hide "Happy". For us, 'happy' is a yellow ball with a happy face on it that I drew with sharpie marker. You can throw in hot and cold hints too.
Instead of lugging along horseshoes - you can just dig 2 small holes in the ground and find a bunch of acorns or small stones to try to toss or roll into the other hole.
Sometimes we like to paint to - find a few rocks to paint.
and a magnifying glass!

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J.B. answers from Philadelphia on July 21, 2011

We always love to take along board games and coloring books to play. Also if you go to Walmart or any of those stores they have a section of games like washers, horseshoes, ring toss games, etc. that are really fun for both kids and adults!! If you are camping in a campground you should check because a lot of them have different activities planned for kids such as crafts, stories, hayrides etc.

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C.O. answers from Washington DC on July 21, 2011

ooohhhh when we went camping when I was a kid....

we would play hide and go seek...

Now? we bring Mancala with us - it's a simple board game - and it's a BLAST!!! My boys have been playing this since they were 4!

Finding the right sticks for the S'mores....
the biggest worm for the fish!!!

we usually let our imaginations run wild!!!

HAVE A BLAST!!!

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K.L. answers from Savannah on July 21, 2011

dominoes, cards, and other classic games are always great.

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S.B. answers from Dallas on July 21, 2011

We camp a lot. Horse Shoes are always fun. Dominoes and a deck of cards are fun too. A ball is a must. A bucket and shovel...they can dig and play in the dirt and collect "treasures". We have a "no electronics" rule...cell phones for emergencies only, but no games or tvs. We also bring story books to read at bed time...elaborate fairy tales with no pictures, so the kids just listen to the story and get sleepy.

We avoid hide and seek. Our kids are 2 and 5, I am afraid of losing one of them. ;)

Make sure the kids have their own flash lights...it's a minor detail that will be a very big deal to them. Bring baby wipes for easy clean ups. Don't forget the s'mores fixings. Glow sticks are fun when you go camping, the dollar tree has a lot of fun options. And we love bringing the walkie talkies. Helps us keep in contact when the boys go fishing in their kayak, and the kids just think it's fun. Have a great time!

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B.R. answers from Naples on July 21, 2011

Make marshmallow shooters out of PVC pipe. We made them on a girl scout camping trip......I am sure the instructions can be found online. What our troop leader did was have everything pre-cut, everything was tossed in a box together and the girls were given rulers. Next she called out what they needed....on elbow joint, two t joints, one 4" section of pipe etc....the girls had a blast building, decorating and using their shooters. They shoot the mini marshmallows and one thing I would recommend is not to shoot them all around your tent if possible...bugs and animals would be attracted so find a more remote area for that fun!

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B.S. answers from Lansing on July 21, 2011

One I didn't see mentioned was

We always played telephone where someone would start a sentence and secretly pass it to the other person. We've done it a variety of ways where its just that one sentence passed and you try to get it to the end but it always gets messed up. (As you can only say it once in someones ear) Or you can play that you start a sentence and each person adds onto it. The last person has to say it out loud.

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L.K. answers from Wausau on July 21, 2011

scavenger hunts! :-)

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C.J. answers from Dallas on July 21, 2011

trouble bubble - so fun! (ok just Trouble, but that is what we call it)

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T.L. answers from St. Louis on July 21, 2011

Are you going tent camping or do you have a camper? With a tent it is a hassle to drag tons of games, but with a camper you can pick a cabinet and keep them stored neatly. Twister is a good one that we always take. Anything that gets you moving. Another game we like is we made a deck of cards with different pictures. We draw a card from the deck and whatever picture is on the card we use that to start our story then the next card tells us where our story is going. This is a great thing to do around the camp fire.

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L.A. answers from New York on July 21, 2011

bug jars, badmitton, drawing stuff for a daily picture, later compile a journal.

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K.K. answers from Los Angeles on July 21, 2011

card games - go fish, old maid...

Target and Wal-Mart both have those great outdoor games - like the other posters suggested!!

HAVE A BLAST!!!

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S.Y. answers from Chicago on July 21, 2011

I had a similar post a few weeks ago check out my responses...there were a lot of good ones!!!

http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/448994076751167489

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R.D. answers from Richmond on July 21, 2011

MY kids think these are fun (hee hee hee!):

-find the kindling for the fire
-find a stick for your marshmellows
-find some rocks for the camp fire ring
-sweep out the tent
-fill the dogs water bowl
-dig a hole

Okay, they're not games, but they keep the kids busy ;)

They also play nature games. What's this leave? Look at this mushroom! What kind of bug is this? We bring nature books so they can try to identify what they find before they ask. (Mine are 6 and 7 as well).

Glow sticks and flashlights are always fun. We camp on the river, so at night, all the little critters come out. We send the girls off with flashlights and tell them to find frogs. They wear whistles in case they lose their way (we camp on an island surrounded by super shallow water, they can't go THAT far and we'd hear them if they fell in, which is next to impossible).

Get a star chart, get the kids to find constellations.

Tell ghost stories around the fire.

Bring sparklers :)

HAVE FUN!!

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A.M. answers from San Francisco on July 21, 2011

Hiking. Scary stories or any stories around the campfire. The best. And Telephone, mentioned by BrownEyedGirls, is super fun. It works best with more than 5 people.

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E.B. answers from Beaumont on July 21, 2011

You know, we camp all the time and my best tip is to just bring a large plastic box with a frisbee, dart game, metal detector, magnet, ball, bug box, etc. It was great during those "off" times when we were otherwise engaged and they needed entertainment.