Many people around the globe have fallen in love with the relaxing pastime of camping with family and friends. But, without the proper planning, your trip might not be so enjoyable.
The article that follows explains how the whole family can have fun while camping and offers great ideas for making your camping experience with your family a great one.
Camping with the family is much more pleasurable if everyone is partaking in the activities and pulling their weight. Create a daily journal where each family member can keep track of what they have done and the things they enjoyed most.
This way you can look it over the next time you’re planning the next family camping adventure to eliminate the things that the majority of family members didn’t like or want to do and add something things that maybe you never thought of but found out through trial and error. Also gives family members a chance to contribute to the overall experience by taking responsibilities they may not get at home.
Great Games To Play During The Day
Sometimes the children in your family may not want to leave the security and comfort of being at home. To make their adventure more enjoyable and to keep them interested and want to do it again you could play some games that will show them how fun camping really is.
A popular game to play during the daylight hours while camping is the “Bucket Brigade”. This is where you divide your family into two equal groups. Use two pails and fill them with water one for each group. Next place a container that holds three or four of the same pails something like a small wading pool or similar. Have each group form a single line. Stack a enough plastic or Styrofoam cups to cover any broken or damaged cups that may occur while each family is transporting the filled cups to the holding container. The object of the game is to empty your pail into the container or wading pool using only the plastic or Styrofoam cups. The first team to completely empty their pail wins.
Tree tag is another fun game to play with your family when camping in a campsite with trees. One member will be the coordinator who picks a number between one and how ever many of you are playing and writes it down on a piece of paper. The family member who picks the number the coordinator’s number is “it”. The rest of the family members will find a tree and touch or hang on to it until the coordinator yells “go”. At that point all the family members will attempt to get to another tree different than the one they are at without getting tagged by the person designated as “it”. The person who is tagged becomes “it” and the previous “it” becomes the new coordinator and the previous coordinator becomes a regular tag player. Play until everyone has a chance to be “it” or until fatigue sets in.
If there is a body of water near your site that is safe and easily monitored you can choose a shallow section that is long enough to swim 20-30 feet without any safety concerns. Pick family members to form two separate teams and have one person with first aid training be the starter and lifeguard. The starter will yell go and the first two swimmers will swim to the designated point and back where the second swimmer will start to swim to the designated point and back. Rinse and repeat until one team relays through all members to win the game. This game isn’t really suitable for younger family members or those who cannot swim. First and foremost safety is the most important aspect of this game.
Another fun game to play is called “Coyote and Roadrunner”. In this game all family members sit or stand in a circle. Two balls are used with one being small and the other being large. The small one is the roadrunner and the larger one is the coyote. Make both balls soft in nature so as to mitigate any pain that may occur on a missed or bad throw. The object of the game is to start tossing the smallest ball around the circle in on direction and after a few seconds start tossing the larger ball around in the same direction. When the coyote catches the roadrunner that family member is out of the game. Start the game over again and play until the circle cannot be maintained.
Great Games to Play at Night
Hide a prize inside a zip lock bag and hide it somewhere in the campsite. Give everyone who is playing a flashlight and line them up. Say go and the person who finds the prize wins. When someone gets close to the prize you can shout out their name along with lighter for being close and darker for the rest who may be getting further away from the prize. Once the prize is found create another one and make everyone turn away while you hide it and start the game over again.
Play Ghost tag after dark to keep your kids and other family members adrenaline pumping. Start by designating a ghost who has to go out and hide somewhere within the camping area. The rest of the players will go to a designated base where they will count one o’clock, two o’clock, three o’clock… until they hit twelve o’clock and then they all yell “midnight, hope we don’t see a ghost tonight” and start to meander around the camping area looking for the ghost. When someone finds the ghost he or she will yell out “Ghost in the Graveyard” and everyone will attempt to make it back to the base without getting tagged by the ghost. The ghost will attempt to tag as many players as he or she can and each player tagged will become a ghost and hide for the next round. The newly tagged ghosts cannot tag anyone until the next round begins. Keep playing until everyone is tagged and placed into the graveyard. The last person standing wins the game.
To Sum It Up
How the whole family can have fun while camping will depend on how much you think outside the box and keep everyone excited to be there. Games are a great way to have fun and keep everyone participating in the adventure. Don’t forget to keep a daily journal of everyone’s activities and anything else that may help you to make your next family camping trip a little easier to manage. If everyone is having fun and enjoying themselves than they will be asking you when the next outdoor adventure will be. When the whole family is having fun and doing the little things that it takes to help make the camping trip run smoothly everyone benefits and the family is able to bond a lot more.
Please Leave Comments or Ask Questions Below
Don’t be shy, please leave us some comments good or bad it doesn’t matter as we love hearing from you regarding our website, articles and what you’d like us to do to make this website better suited for your needs. We’ll always reply with 48 hours to your comments or questions. Please be courteous and polite though even if you disagree with something as no one likes a bully.
Also don’t forget to share us with your favorite social media site using the buttons at the top and bottom of every page so we can get the word out there about the beautiful camping opportunities that exist on Vancouver Island.