Can you tell we're excited about camping season this week? What with a camping recipe round-up, a Bush Craft book giveaway and here, today, our favorite camping games? These lovelies are lightweight, portable and guaranteed to bring a lot of joy to your next camping trip. So, go ahead and. . .
. . .tie some knots and play some games. . .
. . . perfect your map reading skills during a round of capture the flag. . .
. . . hone your tracking abilities on a scavenger hunt. . .
. . .learn more about nature with fantastic Fundanas. . .
. . . or brush up on your shadow puppets for flashlight fun after dark.
Oh how we do love camping so.
Portable Camping Games & Activities:
- Knot tying tutorial (if the tutorial piqued your interest, you could try this awesome kit)
- DIY Convertible checkers and tic-tac-toe game board.
- Capture the Flag Geography Game (grab a paper map for the kit instead of the globe and it's super portable and ultra fun)
- Scientific Scavenger Hunt (perfect for learning to use a compass and nature study)
- Fundana Bandana Games (the come in all sorts of themes and are great prompts for play/exploration)
- Shadow Puppet Fun: Download this lovely free book of shadow puppets from 1859 before you go, or make a portable shadow puppet theater and cards like this one here.
- Make a set of camp craft cards! We made these printable cards to play a game of camper's go-fish and more:
To make the game simply click on the image above for a full size printable download. Drag the image to your desktop or print from the page directly. Each page will print templates for 4 playing cards.
To start off, pick four different plants/bugs/camping knots. Make those into the different card suits by drawing pictures of them in the center of the blank side of the cards numbering them like a regular card set up to the number 13 (we used the numbers 11,12, and 13 instead of Jack, Queen, and King). You would then have four groups of 13 cards, with cards like a "4 of hitching knot" or a "6 of poison oak".
Use these cards to play a standard game of go fish like you would with any other card deck.
Alternately you could also play camp craft trivia by making many different cards with the plants/bugs/camping knots etc. drawn on one side and the description on the other. Players would then choose a card and have to guess the name from the drawing on the front of the card. When players guess correctly they get the card. The player with the most cards at the end wins, but really, everyone wins because all the players are learning more about camp craft while they are playing.
Happy Trails!
~ Sarah
*Last time in Crafts and Activities: Something to Do, Something to Make
