Campsite games for kids

So, you’ve pitched your tent, explored the campsite and had your first cup of tea. Maybe the kids are getting restless already, or your teenagers are feeling lost without their regular link to cyberspace. You find yourself looking ahead to the hours before you can snuggle up in your sleeping bags and wondering how you are going to fill them with something that everyone will enjoy.

Fortunately, camping is a very social activity and is the perfect opportunity to bring people together for some old fashioned outdoors fun. Most people who camped as a child will have fond memories of making friends with the other children on the campsite – going off together for evening adventures, exploring the nearby countryside and having to be dragged to bed far earlier than feels justified.

For adults too, the relaxed atmosphere and the laid back style of life are perfectly suited to socialising with new and old friends alike.

Life seems to take on a different pace when you are camping and you suddenly find you have time to relax, play games, and enjoy time together as a family. Who can resist huddling round the camp fire, toasting marshmallows on sticks, telling ghost stories and strumming tunelessly on a guitar?

As well as the traditional ball games and campfire sing-along, there are a whole host of fun games you can play, either as a family, or as a way of entertaining the children when you want a bit of quiet adult fireside time.

Of course, camping is all about travelling light and making the most of being outdoors, so you don’t really want to be taking up valuable tent space with stacks of board games and tennis rackets. Ideally you need games you can play with little or no specialist equipment, activities that make use of what you’ve bought with you, or that involve a bit of exploration and imagination.

The following games therefore are designed to take up the least possible space in your car boot, whilst still providing the most possible fun for all the family.
 
CAMPSITE SCAVENGER HUNT

This one takes a little bit of preparation in advance, but is well worth it. It’s perfect for amusing the children while you set up camp, or when you just want some peace and quiet.

How to play
Prepare in advance a list of items to search for. The list can be as long as you like, depending on the attention span of the children in question. Include a good mix of specific items, and more general criteria, and make sure some are easier to find that others, so players don’t get disheartened. You can play as individuals, in a group, or in teams.

Possible items to include: a pine cone, a fern, a Y-shaped twig, a seed or nut, a stone smaller than a pea, an interesting shaped leaf, something left behind by an animal, eg sheep’s wool.

Variations
If you are worried about kids ransacking the countryside and arriving back at the tent with piles of flora and fauna, make it a photo scavenger hunt instead. Teams each have a camera, and need to come back with a clear photograph of each item. If you are playing this version you can include animals and insects on your lists, or less tangible items such as sunlight coming through the trees or an animal eating.

If you haven’t been able to prepare in advance, you can always try the A-Z version. For this, you just need a pen and paper, plus the optional camera, and teams have to find something beginning with each letter of the alphabet. Extra points for the team that manages to get a picture of a zebra.
 
TORCH TAG

As the name suggests, this is tag with a twist. Ideal if you are camped in or near woodland, or somewhere offering interesting places to hide. Not recommended for small children who scare easily, or for anyone camping near deep water or cliff edges…

How to play
For torch tag, all you need is a torch and darkness. One person is ‘It’ and they carry the torch. Everyone else hides. Play then proceeds much like traditional tag, but with much more falling over and bumping into things. Players are found, identified and tagged by ‘It’ using the torch beam. The torch is then passed on and the other person becomes ‘It’. You cannot be tagged if you have just passed on the torch.

Players don’t have to stay in their hiding place all the time – you can move about as much as you like so long as you can keep out of sight of the torch and avoid being tagged.

Variation
Rather than passing on the torch each time, you might prefer to play hide and seek rules, whereby ‘It’ has to find every player, and everybody who is found returns to base. Tag rules are fun, but you do risk everyone just carrying on for hours in the darkness unless you set a time limit.
 
MARSHMALLOW GAMES

If you’re fed up with just toasting and eating your marshmallows, why not have a go at something a bit more challenging? There are loads of games to play with marshmallows, aside from the classic ‘how many marshmallows can you fit in your mouth at once’, so here are a few ideas to get you started:
 
Marshmallows on a string
All you need for this one is a ball of string and a handy branch. Each player has a length of string, onto which they thread ten marshmallows. Hang the string from a branch so each player can reach them with their mouths and the winner is the first person to eat all their marshmallows. No hands allowed.
 
The toothpick tower
Who knew cocktail sticks could be such fun? Split players into two teams and give each team a set number of marshmallows and cocktail sticks. Set a time limit, maybe five to ten minutes, depending on how technical your engineering is likely to get, and the winning team is the one who builds the tallest tower.
 
Pass the marshmallow
When you’ve finished building marshmallow towers, mix up the teams and recycle your cocktail sticks for this game: each team forms a line and each player holds a cocktail stick in their mouth. The aim of the game is to pass the marshmallow down the line, from cocktail stick to cocktail stick. No hands allowed.
 
Once you’ve finished playing with them, marshmallows should be toasted and eaten by the fire, ideally accompanied by spooky stories.
 
KICK THE CAN

An old Boy Scout favourite, Kick the Can is a combination of tag and hide and seek, perfect for large open spaces and great for burning off excess energy. All you need is some kind of empty can or tin – a sturdy camping saucepan or washing-up bowl would both work well.

How to play
Place your can in the middle of a large open space, in clear view. One person is ‘It’, and the rest of the players go and hide while ‘It’ counts. The object is for ‘It’ to try and find everybody and tag them before they get back to the can.

Everybody who is caught waits in a designated holding area, in view of the can. If a player is able to get back to the can without being tagged they can ‘kick the can’ and free everyone who has been caught already. Play continues until everybody has been caught.

Variations
There are lots of alternative ways to play this one. A popular version is for ‘It’ to have to race players back to the can and call out their name rather than tagging them.

HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD

A simple yet strangely compelling game, it is equally exciting to watch as to play, particularly if you are watching a group of competitive dads who see the game as a way to prove their manliness. This one works best in small groups of three; otherwise it becomes more a game of chance than of strategy.

How to play
For this game you’ll first need to send someone off to find a sturdy log or piece of wood. You’ll also need a hammer or mallet, which you should have already in your camping kit. The only extra piece of equipment you will need is a handful of nails. Begin by tapping a nail into the wood slightly, just so it takes hold.
Players take turns to hit the nail into the wood with the mallet. Each player only has one hit at a time and the object of the game is to be the person who makes the last hit, the one that knocks the nail all the way in, flush to the wood.

It sounds very simple, but it is actually very strategic – hit the nail too hard, in the hope it goes all the way in, and you risk leaving it open for the next player. Don’t hit it hard enough and you’ll never end up as champion.

Read more camping ideas and top tips here.

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