Tips for entertainment and activities when camping with children

Camping means adventure, relaxation and the opportunity to experience nature up close. But what would a family vacation be without exciting and entertaining children’s activities?

Whether playing, crafting or discovering – the many possibilities ensure that time outdoors is never boring.

In this article, I will introduce you to various game ideas and outdoor activities for children that not only stimulate creativity, but also provide lots of fun and good humor. Let these outdoor games inspire you and discover together how much fun nature experiences can bring!

Outdoor activities when camping

There are many different outdoor games for children that will keep them from getting bored. Whether on the campsite itself, in the adjacent forest, on the beach or on an excursion into nature.

These outdoor games for children will keep them entertained and in a good mood.

If you are traveling with little explorers, I recommend an explorer set for even more fun.

Outdoor games with children at the campsite

Crafting with natural materials

The best thing about camping is that many pitches and campsites are close to nature. Collect stones, leaves, pine cones, grass, tree bark etc. with the children and get creative.

Simply stick or glue things together or take cardboard or paper and create beautiful natural shapes.

➡️ You will need: scissors, glue, pens, string, paper or cardboard if necessary

Water battle

Water is always a good idea in warm temperatures, isn’t it? Water pistols, wet washcloths or water bombs provide a little cooling and lots of laughs.

It makes sense to draw up rules before the game as to where the water must not land. For example, in the tent, caravan or mobile home, in buildings, on neighboring plots …

➡️ You will need: Water and water pistols or similar.

Carving / creating a bow and arrow

Young and old Indian children can look for sticks/branches to make bows and arrows at the campsite or on a walk in the woods.

A branch that is as flexible as possible is used for the bow and the arrows are made from long, straight sticks. The string is attached to the bow. Pay attention to the correct ratio of sticks.

Then you can draw a line up to which the arrow should be shot.

➡️ You will need: sticks/branches, ribbons or cords, a feather if necessary and a knife for carving

Organize a picnic

Of course, this activity is possible both on the campsite and on the road. All you have to do is spread out your picnic blanket and prepare breakfast or dinner on the ground.

A little break from the usual camping routine is back to basics and fun for the whole family.

➡️ You will need: Picnic blanket and food

Sporty children’s games for outdoors

Slackline

A popular outdoor activity for children is the slackline. Balancing on the narrow strap not only improves balance, but is also great fun.

For smaller children, it is better to stretch the slackline a little lower, although it can be higher for more advanced children.

➡️ You will need: a slackline, two (stable) trees

Boccia

We love to play boccia on the campsite and before you know it, your camping neighbors come and join in. The aim of this game is to get your own balls as close as possible to the target ball.

A big advantage of boccia is that you can play it alone, in pairs or with several people.

➡️ For this you need: Boccia balls, a flat and even surface, e.g. a lawn

Catching soap bubbles

Blowing bubbles and letting the children run after the bubbles and catch them is a simple but very fun activity, especially with small children.

This works particularly well if you use large soap bubbles. An entertaining game that combines sport and fun. Remember to dress the children in old clothes, as the bubbles can stain.

➡️ For this you need: soap bubbles, old clothes

Bunny hop

We used to play sack races a lot. However, jute sacks are not always readily available, so we modified the game a little. Tie two children or people (of roughly the same height) together by one leg each so that they are facing in the same direction.

Then the children have to hop off and make it to the finish line. This children’s activity promotes team spirit and coordination.

➡️ You will need: a rope and an object as a finish line

Entertainment and games in the evening / at night

As soon as the sun goes down, things can get exciting at the campsite too. On vacation, the children are allowed to stay up late.

Stick bread

A campfire in the evening is a little adventure, especially for children on a camping vacation. Find long sticks in advance, prepare stick bread dough and wrap it around the tip of the stick in the evening. Then hold it over the fire and enjoy it crispy.

Pay attention to the rules of the campsite, open fires are not allowed everywhere!

➡️ For this you need: Fire (possibly in a fire bowl), a long stick, stick bread dough

Roasting marshmallows

You can roast marshmallows over the fire without much preparation. You also need long sticks for this. Put the marshmallows over the tip of the stick, hold them briefly over the fire and enjoy. Children love the sticky, sweet stuff.

➡️ You will need: Fire (possibly in a fire bowl), a long stick, marshmallows

Night hike

I can still remember well how we used to go on the odd night hike back then. As soon as it got dark, we took out our torches or headlamps and followed Dad through the forest.

It’s especially fun if you make decorations like ghosts in advance. For example, you can glue a balloon and create ghosts that can be hung in the trees.

It is a good idea for an adult to walk the route in daylight beforehand so that not everyone stumbles through the forest in the dark. With older children, the night hike can be combined with an exciting or scary story, then goosebumps are guaranteed.

➡️ You will need: Flashlights or headlamps; additional materials for decoration if necessary

Games for on the go

There are great children’s activities not only at the campsite, but also on an excursion or walk.

Geocaching

Do you enjoy scavenger hunts with your children? Then give geocaching a try. There is a community all over the world that hides or searches for and finds caches. You can go on a treasure hunt with your cell phone and the geocaching app.

Follow the GPS data, solve a small puzzle (or several, depending on the case) and search for the so-called cache, i.e. the treasure.

The app can generally be used free of charge. In the free version, some caches “treasures” are visible. The paid full version shows countless caches and special caches.

Once you have found the cache, enter your user name in the logbook.

➡️ For this you need: Cell phone, geocaching app, pen

Identify animals

Animals are always exciting, but often more difficult to find than plants. Which genus does the animal belong to, is it a beetle, a worm or does it swim? Explore nature with the children and draw their attention to the living creatures.

➡️ For this you need: An app or a book to identify animals

Identify plants

To identify a plant, take a close look at the most important features of the leaves, flowers and fruits. Also pay attention to the location of the plant and the time of year. Use identification books and apps to identify the plant based on its visible characteristics.

➡️ For this you need: An app or a book for plant identification

Outdoor games with children by the water

Activities with children by the water are always a good idea, aren’t they? It doesn’t matter whether it’s a small stream, river, pond, lake or the sea. There are great opportunities for outdoor games.

• Collecting shells and beautiful stones by the sea
• Frisbee throwing
• Fly a kite
• Go on a voyage of discovery with the landing net

Outdoor games with children in the forest

If the campsite or camping site is located near a forest, there are lots of great forest games for children. Get active or creative and play with natural materials. Of course, the games can also be planned in during a walk or excursion.

Fir cone toss

A popular game in the forest with children is the pine cone toss. Collect some pine cones with the kids and form a line behind which everyone lines up. Now the children can take it in turns to throw pine cones and see who gets the furthest.

To make the forest game a little more difficult, you can also stretch a rope between two trees, which the children have to throw over, or you can bring a ring, e.g. a wooden rope frame, which you attach to trees with ribbons and which the children have to throw over.

➡️ For this you need: Pine cones, a rope and, if necessary, a hoop or circle, e.g. a knitting frame

Blind cow with trees

One game we particularly like is Blind Man’s Buff in the Woods or Tree Guessing. One of the players is blindfolded with a scarf or shawl. They are then rotated around their own axis a few times so that they no longer know which way they are facing.

The child is then led to a tree and has to feel the tree.

It is then brought back to the starting point, turned a few times and the eyes are free again. Now the child has to guess/search/feel which tree was “his” tree.

➡️ You will need: a scarf or a cloth to blindfold your eyes

Forest Olympics

Organize a small Olympics in the forest with various disciplines, such as throwing branches or pine cones, stacking stones, balancing on a tree trunk or throwing stones into the water.

It is especially nice if you (or the children) stick paper on a beer mat beforehand, draw some boxes (depending on the number of stations) and stamp the completed stations with a child’s stamp.

A hole is made at one end of the beer mat (e.g. with a hole punch) through which a cord is pulled, knotted and hung around the children’s necks.

These forest games with children get everyone active and develop motor skills.

➡️ You will need: Natural materials, / possibly beer blanket, paper, glue, hole punch and ribbon or cord and children’s stamps

Outdoor games with children in the city

City rally

If you’re out and about with your little sleuths, there are great offers for city rallies in many cities. We particularly enjoy doing this, as it makes the city tour much more interesting and entertaining for children.

Let yourself be guided by the questions and answers, take a look at the most important sights and solve exciting puzzles along the way. A great way to explore the city interactively. You can find tips for various city rally options here.

Themed tours

If you want to find out more about the city and gain deeper insights, many cities also offer themed city tours.

Whether it’s a tour with the night watchman through a medieval old town, a comedy tour or a children’s tour with particularly interactive components, they are particularly popular with families.

Themed tours through the city are not only fun for children. I myself have taken part in a musical city tour and have rarely laughed so much.

Alternatively, you can often find forest adventure trails on the outskirts of the city, which are usually particularly fun with children.

Indoor activities in bad weather

Unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately – there’s nothing you can do about the weather. Rain on a camping vacation is never nice, but I’ll show you a few ideas on how to survive bad weather when camping with children.

Creative activities in the rain

When it’s raining on the campsite, it’s time for a little creativity. Crafts and painting are always a good idea, aren’t they?

Painting stones

If the children have found beautiful stones on an excursion, they can be painted wonderfully. Get creative and paint dots, lines and beautiful things on them.

The children can either take the brightly painted stones home with them or place them on the path for other walkers on their next outing.

➡️ You will need: Stones and pens or paints that stick to stones

Paint your best camping experience

Let the mini campers draw their favorite camping experience and the parents have to guess in which situation it was. Of course, this can also be done the other way around or in teams.

Here you can of course restrict whether all camping vacations together or only experiences from the current vacation apply. If you enjoy this, extend the coloring game and find out which camping vacation it is.

➡️ You will need: Paper and pens

Nature memory

Take paper or cardboard and cut out squares of the same size. The children should color them with (two matching) things from nature.

For example, a tree and a leaf or a bee and a beehive, whereby the pair does not necessarily have to be identical, but should belong together.

The squares are then shuffled and placed upside down on the table. The players take it in turns to turn over two squares. The aim is to find matching pairs by memorizing the positions of you and your fellow players.

➡️ You will need: Paper or cardboard and pens

Educational activity in the rain

The following ideas show that learning doesn’t have to be boring and can be done wonderfully with children at the campsite even in rainy weather.

Learn foreign words

Which country are you currently in, or which vacation destinations are you planning? If you are going abroad, learn a few foreign words.

A few sentences in the local language can never hurt, and in my experience the locals are always very happy when you greet them in their language.

Write down a few important words that you can use in your everyday camping life and make a note of the respective translations. Which of you learned the most words the fastest?

Hello, goodbye, please, thank you, good morning/day, campsite, left and right are just a few of the simple words that you can generally learn quickly in other languages too.

City, country, river

A popular and great game that can be played with schoolchildren is “City, Country, River”.

The great thing about this game is that it can be changed at will. Instead of city, country, river, you can search for categories such as hobbies, animals or things in nature with younger children.

You write the chosen 3-5 categories on a piece of paper, then one player counts through the alphabet in their head and another player says stop at some point.

It is the chosen letter’s turn and each player must write down things from the different categories for this letter as quickly as possible. As soon as the first (or alternatively the first two) players have finished, the pens must be put away and there is a resolution.

This game develops the vocabulary and knowledge of children and sometimes adults too.

➡️ You will need: A piece of paper and pen for each player

Indoor activities on the campsite or in the surrounding area

If the weather isn’t playing ball and you still need to get out and about. Search the surrounding area for exciting excursion destinations or activities that you can do indoors. You can find great tips for indoor activities here at Familienreisefieber.

A few ideas are:

• Swimming pool
• Indoor playground
• Trampoline park
• Black light mini golf
• Escape room
• interactive museums

Guessing games with children

You can play guessing games with the children outdoors, on the road or in the camper, caravan or tent in bad weather. The following games are particularly fun.

Guess camping words

Hangman, as the game is often called, was regularly used at school to break up the lesson.

A few rounds of word guessing are also fun on a family vacation. Simply use words from everyday camping life. See how quickly you can guess campsite, camping chair, camping loo, permanent camper, sleeping bag, wild camping or tent camper.

Nature – or camping ABC

The youngest player starts and has to say a word with A from nature. The next player in line says a word with B, the next with C and so on. e.g. A for blackbird, B for tree, C for Christmas rose …

If you play the game with older children, make the rules a little harder and choose other topics, for example words from the camping area, e.g. A for trailer, B for burner, C for camping chair …

I see something you don’t see

A classic game that can easily be played without accessories. One player chooses an object in the environment and the others have to guess what it is. Observe the surroundings carefully and get creative, the more exciting the game is.

My conclusion on children’s activities and games on a camping vacation

A camping vacation offers an excellent opportunity to be active with children and experience nature. The many outdoor games and activities ensure that there is never a dull moment.

I can still remember many great moments on our family vacations where we explored nature together. The best thing about it is that the ideas for playing with children not only encourage creativity, but also team spirit and the joy of being outdoors.

Whether in the tent, around the campfire or on an excursion into the surrounding area – the possibilities for exciting children’s activities are almost endless. Games on a camping vacation bring the whole family together and ensure that they have fond memories of their time together.

Do you have any other ideas for children’s activities and games for a camping vacation with kids? I look forward to your comment!

Photos: © Tanja Klose

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