Looking for things to do on your next camping trip? You’ll never have a dull moment with these family friendly camping games. Enjoy family bonding and plenty of fun during your journey, whilst on-site and when you’re out exploring.
We’ve included a range of games for all ages but you can tweak any of these to make them age-appropriate. Finally, always be aware of your surroundings, try not to disturb fellow campers and most of all, have fun!
Camping Games for Kids
1. Ring Toss
Preoccupy kids time with this classic family camping game. Set this up near your unit so you can keep an eye on what’s going on. You can also use glow sticks to make glow in the dark rings once the sun goes down for a new twist on the classic.
2. Sardines
Sardines is played just like hide and seek – except in reverse. Its name comes from the way all players end up crammed together like sardines. The rules are:
- One player is chosen to hide.
- The rest of the group then splits up to look for the hider.
- If a seeker finds the hider, the seeker then quietly joins them in the hiding place.
- This continues until the whole group is in the hiding spot and only one seeker is left looking.
- Once the last seeker finds the group, the game is over.
- The last seeker then becomes the hider for the next round.
To step up the game, play once the sun goes down. This becomes Sardines in the dark
3. What’s the time Mr Wolf
This is a great game for campsites with a playing area or for the beach. To play:
- One player is chosen to be Mr Wolf and stands at one end of the playing area.
- The other players stand in a line at the other end.
- Mr Wolf faces away from the other players to commence play.
- The players call out “What’s the time, Mr Wolf?” to which Mr Wolf turns around and answers with a time (i.e. 1 o’clock).
- Mr Wolf then turns around and the players walk forwards, again chanting “What’s the time, Mr Wolf?”
- Once the players get close to Mr Wolf the player can respond with “its dinner time” at which point Mr Wolf chases the other players back to the start line with the aim to catch one of them. If you get caught, it’s your turn to be Mr Wolf.
4. I Spy
I Spy is great for long car journeys or waiting in queues. Everyone can play and it’s always different depending on where you are. To play:
- The first player picks an object they can see and using the first letter of the word says “I spy with my little eye something beginning with C”.
- The other players then call out objects beginning with the letter “C” until someone guesses correctly. Whoever guesses correctly gets to go next.
5. Scavenger hunt
Devise a scavenger hunt of your own, using items you’re likely to find nearby. If young kids want to join in we recommend pairing them up with an older kid. The winners are the first to find all of the items on the list. You could ask each team to take photos of the objects or to collect them depending on what’s on the list. Some items you could include:
- Stick
- Leaf
- Pine cone
- Bird
- Flower
- Animal footprints
Top tip: Help protect our environment by not picking flowers and leaving insects and other wildlife where they are.
6. Swing ball
Set up swing ball a safe distance away from other campers and it’ll provide hours of entertainment. Kids can do this one alone, giving you time to relax.
7. Stuck in the mud
On the beach or in a playing field, stuck in the mud is a great way to get rid of any excess energy. There’s a lot of running around so this one needs supervising. To play:
- Pick one or two people to be “it”. The people that are “it” have to chase the other players to tag them.
- Once a player gets tagged they are then stuck in the mud and have to stand still until one of the other players that aren’t “it” comes to free them by running under their legs or arms.
- Play until everyone’s stuck.
Top tip: Make the game harder by having more chasers.
Camping Games for the Whole Family
8. Charades
Teamwork and bonding have never been so fun. Split your group of campers into teams to play the best camping game of charades there ever was. Everyone can join in on this one, from young kids to grandparents. To play:
- The aim of the game is to act out a word or phrase without speaking.
For example, “swimming” could be acted out by doing front crawl actions in the air. - Before playing everyone should write down some suggestions of words or phrases on pieces of paper. These should then be collected in a bowl. Select one idea at random when it’s your turn.
- On your turn start by indicating whether you’re going to mime the title of a movie, book, person or song. You can skip this step for younger kids by deciding on the topic beforehand.
- Next, indicate how many words are in the title by holding up that number of fingers.
- Next, show which word you’re going to act out first. For example, hold up two fingers to show you’re acting out the second word.
- Then you can indicate with your fingers how many syllables are in the word.
- Now you’re ready to start acting out your word. It’s the job of the other players to guess the title.
Top tip: Split your camping group into teams and go up against each other.
9. Dominos
Take a pack of dominos on every camping trip. Older kids and adults can sit down and enjoy the classic game, and younger kids can use them to make a domino chain to topple over.
10. Wink murder
If you’ve got 5 or more campers, wink murder can be a real crowd pleaser. To play:
- One person needs to secretly select the murderer. This can be done by a tap on the shoulder when all players have their eyes shut.
- Next, all players can either sit in a circle or walk around, if the murderer winks at you, you have to fall to the floor.
- It’s the job of all players to find the murderer and if you guess correctly you win.
11. Two truths one lie
This is a great ice breaker and perfect for getting to know each other. Take it in turns to each say two truths and one lie and see who can guess your lie correctly.
12. Beach/field sports day
If you’re camping near a beach or playing field, make the most of the space and organise a fun sports day. The activities you include are up to you but we recommend:
- Sleeping bag races
- Frisbee throwing
- Obstacle course
- Limbo competition
- Rounders
- Water cup relay
13. Forehead detective
In this game you can ask your team mates up to 20 questions. They can only answer yes or no to help you to figure out the celebrity, animal or country which is written on a post-it note stuck to your forehead. This is great with 4-5 players and the difficulty level can be tweaked by picking different subjects.
14. Pictionary
Similar to charades, Pictionary requires your team mates to figure out what you’re drawing in the quickest time possible. You can split into teams of two and go up against each other.
15. Memory game
This is a great family game for car rides and can be really fun depending on the answers you choose. To play:
- Player one should end this sentence with an object beginning with “A”: “I’m going on a picnic, and I’m bringing an…”
- Player two now has to repeat the phrase and player one’s answer, as well as adding to the list with the next letter of the alphabet. For example, player two could say “I’m going on a picnic, and I’m bringing an apple and a banana”.
- This repeats until you get to the end of the list.
Top tip: You can make a rule that anyone who can’t remember an object on the list after 30 seconds is out.
Family friendly card games
There are hundreds of card games which can all be tweaked for different age groups. We’ve linked to the most common set of rules for each game for you. A few of our top recommendations are
16. Snap
The classic and easiest card game around, that also gives kids an excuse to shout. The perfect entertainment.
Read the rules here.
17. Blackjack (Twenty-one)
As the alternative name implies, the aim of Blackjack is to get a set of cards that add up to 21.
Read the rules here.
18. Go fish
The goal of Go Fish is to collect the most sets of four by asking other players for cards.
Read the rules here.
19. Cheat
In Cheat, players aim to get rid of all of their cards. Cards are played face down and players are permitted to lie about what cards they play. It is a game of deception.
Read the rules here.
20. Solitaire
A great solo card game for all ages. The goal of the game is to move all of the cards onto the “foundations”. These are four stacks of cards, one for each suit.
Read the rules here.
21. Uno
Uno requires a specific pack of uno cards to play. The aim is for a player to get rid of all their cards each round, earning points each time.
Read the rules here.
If you don’t have uno cards then you can play this alternative version with regular cards.
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