Scavenger Hunts and Other Fun Games for Kids

There are so
many ways for kids to have fun on a camping trip, and with a little advance
planning, you can make sure you’ll never hear those dreaded words, “We’re
bored!”  Here are a few ideas:

Plan a Scavenger Hunt 
This tried-and-true activity has several variations:

• Nature Hunt. For this classic
  version, identify items that can be readily found at your campsite (an oak leaf,
  feather, pine cone, etc.). Give each child a checklist of them along with a
  pen or crayon and a brown paper bag to put their findings in. Then send them
  off on their search.  (Before you leave home, you can even find free
  printable scavenger hunt lists online.) This can also be a good opportunity
  to teach your kids about the importance of protecting nature by asking them
  to only take things that have dropped to the ground instead of picking items
  such as flowers or leaves off of living plants or trees
• Alphabet Hunt. Have the kids go
  through the campground and identify something that starts with each letter of
  the alphabet, in order: Apple, baseball, camp stove, etc.
• Camera Hunt. If you have a group of
  older kids who have access to a cell phone or digital camera, give them a
  list of things to find and take pictures of around the campsite:  a
  blue tarp, a man with a mustache, a BBQ grill, etc. Remind them, though, to
  get permission before they take photos of people.

Scavenger hunts are the most fun when the kids work together in
teams. Set a time limit for the search, and decide on a simple prize for the
winning team. If you don’t have a prize handy, though, that’s OK. They’ll
still enjoy having bragging rights!

Organize an Olympic
Event
For this activity, you can plan a series of simple yet fun athletic events
for the kids to participate in. The possibilities are endless, but here are a
few ideas. You can do a pine cone toss where each athlete gets three tries to
toss pine cones into a bucket, a long jump to see who can leap the furthest,
a relay race for a team competition or a classic potato sack race. Another
fun idea is to have a noodle hockey tournament if your campground has a
large, flat open space. The game is played with pool noodles, a wiffle ball
and goalies armed with brooms.

See What They Can See in the
Clouds
This one is probably the simplest activity of all, but it’s fun for the
kids and great for their imaginations. Just spread a blanket on the ground on
a day when there are a lot of white, fluffy clouds, and ask the kids to lie
down, look up at the sky and decide what the different clouds are shaped
like. You’ll likely get some surprising answers – and plenty of
giggles!

Play Glow in the Dark
Games
Fun and games don’t have to be limited to the daytime. Bring along a bunch
of glow sticks and organize one or both of these activities: Drive a stick
into the ground and form glow sticks into circles to create a ring toss game.
Or, put a glow stick into each of 10 water bottles and use them as bowling
pins with a soccer ball or basketball serving as the bowling ball.

Make the Trip Speed
By
The fun can start long before you even get to the campground. Playing some
“old school” car games as you drive to the campground can be a refreshing
change from electronics.  Two classic examples are backseat bingo
where the kids look for different items on their bingo card like a traffic
light, a barn or an airplane, and license plate bingo where they have to look
for license plates from specific states. You can download printable bingo
cards for free online.