The Best Camping Games & Activities for Families
Camping can be a lot of fun for the whole family when you plan the right games and activities to keep everyone entertained. Between getting outdoors and enjoying nature, and the quality family time spent together by the fire, camping is an awesome way to spend time with your loved ones. To make the most of my camping trips, I plan and pack for several “must-do” family camping activities that make our trip a blast! Plus, these camping games and activities have become a tradition, so our kids really look forward to alot of these games and activities each time we are camping. Here is my list of the best camping games and activities for families!
Rock Painting
Rock painting is one of my family’s favorite camping activities; the whole family enjoys painting together. Usually we look for rocks at the campground while we are out playing during the day and then paint them back at the campsite. I put together a rock painting kit that is easy to take camping, with everything you need to paint awesome rocks. In this kit you need brushes and acrylic paints, I like to have nature inspired colors in my kit so we can paint outdoor scenes on the rocks. We use paper plates to put the paint on, as well as to paint on.
Nature Scavenger Hunt
Nature scavenger hunts are also a very fun camping activity, especially for kids. I enjoy the walk/hike, and it gives my kids something to do while we are on the walk to keep them entertained. The goal is to find each object in the scavenger hunt while on the walk. You can make your own by simply using paper bags with a list written on them, but I like to use pictures for the younger kids who cannot read yet. While on the scavenger hunt, kids love to explore the wilderness – I encourage mine to play while we are on the walk. My youngest loves to climb in holes in trees.
Night Flashlight Walk
When it gets dark kids love to use their flashlights and lanterns. My kids love to go for a short flashlight walk after dark and hunt for mythical creatures. Sometimes its dragons, sometimes its fairies, and sometimes its even bigfoot! Be sure to add some little scary sounds throughout your walk to help your kids “hear” the creatures they are looking for!
Cornhole
Cornhole is hands down one of the adults favorite games when we go camping. It is super easy to play, and lots of fun! We like to bring a full size board, but there are tons of smaller, portable options as well. You can even step it up and make it a drinking game for those 21+ – just have the opposite team take a drink every time you make a point and a shot when you get it in the hole!
Campfire & S’mores
Building a campfire is definitely a must-do while camping. Be sure to follow all fire laws and regulations. If permitted, having a campfire is a great way to stay up late and pass time. You can add music, tell stories, or make some s’mores while you listen to the sounds of nature.
Card & Board Games
My family really enjoys card and board games, so when we are camping we try to make time to play several when we have down time at the campsite. There is a wide variety of games available, some specifically made for camping, but no matter what you bring card and board games are a great family activity while camping. Some of our favorites are linked at the bottom of this post.
Water Activities
If you are camping near water, having water activities is a must for camping. Some favorites include floaties and sand toys, but our families favorite water activity is kayaking. It’s really easy to do, you can haul them on top of most cars and SUVs with the right racks, and it allows our whole family to explore beyond just the swim area at the campground. You can rent kayaks at some campgrounds, but if you decide to buy them I highly recommend the wheelies that you use to walk them around. We load up all our beach gear on top of the kayak (and sometimes even a kid) and can easily wheel them from the campsite to the water and back.
If you plan the right camping games and activities your family is sure to have an amazing camping trip! Happy Camping!
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15 Comments
Kathy Kenny Ngo
I would plan something like this but I can’t partake. The thought of camping scares me hahaha.
Jasmine Martin
Rock painting and a nature scavenger hunt looks like it’d be a lot of fun along with the classic of making s’mores. Those are delicious!
Kiwi
I want to go glamping with my friends. I did last fall and we had a ball making adult smores.
Everything Enchanting
My niece and I love nature scavenger hunt and board games ☺ Love these ideas, thanks for sharing 💕
Kristy Bullard
We have an RV and we love to go camping. We’ve done card games and s’mores but there are a few ideas we haven’t tried. Next camping trip we’ll have to paint rocks and go on a nature scavenger hunt.
Dana Thurston
This looks like a ball of fun. I definitely wouldn’t mind doing this with my family.
Ally Anne
I love the activites you have listed out here! I guess the short night walk with sounds of creatures seems the best! I think it’s scary but when the kids grow up they would realise how much more they know as compared to other kids!
Christina
These are such cute ideas! Adding rock painting and scavenger hunts to our camping bucket list 🙂
Brandy G.
These camping activities sound really enjoyable! My family loves to camp, we try to go at least twice a year. I never thought about rock painting (sounds silly now) so I am going to get a kit ready for our kids before the next trip. Thanks for the easy ideas!
Sacha
I am so glad I found this article! I am getting ready for our first family camping trip and needed some easy kid friendly ideas, and love these!
Jena Brown
Such cute ideas!!! Do you have any suggestions on what to paint on the rocks?
Bree
I really enjoy painting nature scenes, lakes, trees, moons, mountains, flowers. Sometimes its fun if you find a rock shaped like something to paint it as that thing. Cracked rocks make cool mouth shapes for dinosaurs or sharks. If I have a perfect circle shaped rock I like to paint sunsets or the galaxy.
Stephanie
These are great ideas! We are trying to work out some activities that don’t require a lot of closeness for the cub scout campouts this season. I like the nature hunt idea because we can split the den into small groups with their parents. And rock painting is always fun!
Lydia
I love all these ideas and it really makes camping so much more fun when you have things lined up to do for the kids. We always have cards but I should add some board games too.
Krysten
I’m teaching my nephew how to make s’mores this weekend! I can’t wait to see how much he likes them!