20 camping games to keep the kids busy come rain or shine

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If you’re planning a family camping trip, it’s useful to have a few games on hand for downtime at the campsite.

Below, we’ve picked 20 of our favourite camping games for outdoor time, evenings by the campfire and those dreaded rainy days.

Bring along playing cards and other games ideas for a fun campsite evening (Alessandro Bogliari / Unsplash)

Games that need no equipment

Word and memory games are ideal camping activities as they don’t require any kit, they don’t need space to play them and they can be adapted for various age groups and situations such as car journeys or evenings in the tent.

I spy

‘I spy with my little eye… something beginning with C’. This classic game is a great one for encouraging children to engage with their new surroundings, especially when you’re out in the open air. For younger kids, you could use colours instead to make it easier.

Alphabet game

As a variation on I Spy for older kids, ask them to spot something starting with each letter of the alphabet. The first one to write down something for each letter wins the game – you may have to allow a little leeway for some of the more difficult letters like X and Z.

Scavenger hunt

For an active game that needs no equipment, set a scavenger hunt that requires children to find, say, 10 different items around the campsite (such as an acorn or a forked stick). To avoid interfering with nature, kids could use phones to take pictures rather than picking the items up.

If you have time, print off a prepared nature scavenger hunt sheet before leaving home.

Consequences 

You’ll need pens and paper for this game, but that’s all. The idea is that each person starts a story, then folds the paper over so it can’t be seen and passes it to the next person to continue – ideally with a linking phrase like ‘but then…’ or ‘unfortunately…’

You can also follow a set structure on each sheet and get each person to fill in one and fold it over before passing on. An example of this might start:

1: (Man’s name) met…

2: (Woman’s name)

3: In the (…)

4: He asked…

5: She replied…  etc.

Five in ten

Here’s one for the quick thinkers: each player has to name five things in a given category (anything from ‘farm animals’ to ‘British prime ministers’ depending on the age group) in 10 seconds. For younger children, maybe extend the time to 20 seconds to make it easier.

Outdoor games

Although you don’t want to pack the car with lots of unnecessary equipment, it’s worth having a few small items on hand so that kids can play outdoor games and have a bit of a run about.

Frisbee

Many campsites have plenty of open space, so take advantage of that for a game of frisbee. It could be as simple as just throwing it from person to person, or you could take turns throwing the frisbee to try to hit a target such as a blanket or bucket.

Ball games

If your campsite has space, set up for a mini game of football, cricket or rounders – perhaps asking if any of your neighbours’ children might like to join in. Alternatively, take a tennis ball or hacky sack and see how long you can keep throwing it between yourselves without dropping it. 

Camping ‘Olympics’

Stage your own mini Olympics with a series of challenges or contests – these could either run consecutively or over the course of a few days. Rounds might include longest ball throw, bin bag sack race, egg and spoon race, frisbee discus or obstacle course… it’s up to you.

A portable ring toss game is a great thing to take to a camping holiday (Pixabay)

Ring toss

Portable ring toss games are easy to transport and make great entertainment for both children and adults. You can either buy a target to throw your rings at or make your own from a collection of bottles. For an after-dark version, make rings out of bendy glow sticks and targets out of solid ones planted in the ground.

Giant Jenga

If you have space in the car, bring along a giant Jenga set and use some of your campsite’s outdoor space to set it up. This is a fun game for all the family, and you might be able to invite new friends to join in, too. It’s even possible to buy glow-in-the-dark versions so that the fun doesn’t have to stop at sunset.

Campfire games

A campfire evening is an essential camping activity – and these campfire games should get you going with some fireside conversations. Before you get started on the games, use our guides to learn how to build a campfire and use it to cook your dinner too.

Pass It On

A game of ‘pass it on’ should work really well while you’re sitting in a circle around the fire. It’s all very simple: one person whispers a phrase into the next person’s ear so the others can’t hear, then that person whispers it to the next person, and so on. The question is: what will the phrase be by the time it gets back to the original person?

I Went To Market

This memory game simply starts with one person saying ‘I went to market and I bought…’, finishing their sentence with a word of their choice. The next person in the circle then repeats that and adds another item. And so the game proceeds, with the list getting longer and longer as each person takes over. If you forget the list, you’re out.

To make this game a little easier, you could ask for the items to be in alphabetical order.

Numbers Game

This is a simple game but one that can lead to quite a lot of silliness. All you have to do, as a group, is to count from one to one hundred, taking turns randomly. Anyone can speak at any time, and count up to five numbers in a row. However, only one person can speak at any one time – if two people speak at the same time, the whole thing stops and you have to start again.

Two Truths and a Lie

This is a good game for getting to know other people in your party, whether they’re new friends or members of your own family. Each person presents three statements about themselves, only two of which are true. The game is to work out which of the three is a lie.

Most Likely

What do your friends and family really think about you? Find out by playing Most Likely, in which the group has to vote to decide the person that best fits certain descriptions or categories such as ‘most likely to fall over their own feet’ or ‘most likely to eat something they dropped on the floor’.

Rainy-day games

While we all hope for good weather during our break there are no guarantees, even in the height of summer. Having some ideas ready for games you can play in your tent means you can turn a disappointing damp day into a cosy family experience instead.

Card games

A pack of cards is a great addition to your luggage for a camping trip because it will only take up a small amount of space but give you an endless variety of games to play – learn to play Cheat, Rummy, Spit and Go Fish and you’ll have hours of entertainment on hand. Get hold of a pack of glow-in-the-dark cards and you won’t even have to worry about providing a light source.

Board games

Taking full-size board games like Scrabble or Monopoly might not be very practical for a camping trip, so look out for travel packs or pick games that come in small packages, such as Bananagrams or Pass the Pigs.

Dominoes

A set of dominoes is another compact option for your luggage, and the game will work well in a tent as long as you have a bit of flat space. On a fine day, kids could take them outside to a flat area and set up a domino run.

20 Questions

If you don’t have a lot of space, stick to speech-based games like 20 Questions. To play, one person needs to choose a famous person and the others in the group may ask up to 20 questions to find out who it is. These must be yes/no questions (such as ‘is it a singer?’) rather than open questions (such as ‘what do they do?’) Whoever guesses first gets to pick the next famous person.

Who Am I?

In a twist on traditional 20 Questions, each person in the group will be given the identity of a famous person by someone else in the group. That name will be written on a sticky note and attached to their forehead so that everyone else can see it. Each person asks questions of the others to work out their own new identity – the person who guesses theirs quickest is the winner.

In need of a place to play all of your camping games? Pitchup has a wide range of campsites, caravans, glamping options and more.

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