Activities You Ought to Try on Your Next Camping Trip

Every family needs some time away for reconnection. And what can be better than spending some quality time with your loved ones out in the wilderness? After all, camping creates memories with family and friends and gets away from the busy daily schedule.

Having no TV may force you to develop creative ways to occupy your family’s time. When you’re done exploring the many attractions available at your campground, you can spend time playing games, both indoors and outdoors, with your family. It’s important to make the most of this time to bond with your kids and let them know how much you value them.

The activities you can do while camping depends on the kind of people you go with. While camping with the family, you should include activities to strengthen your bond and teach your kids some life lessons. So, today, we will talk about different fun-filled activities that you can try with your family both indoors and outdoors while you’re camping. 

So, let’s take a look at them, shall we?

Maze of Maps

This game will be perfect if you’re looking forward to teaching your kids some lifelong skills. You can teach your children a skill while also playing this game by hiding some store-bought treasures a short distance from your campsite, then give your children a map and directions to find them. When your children are older, you can use a real map; you may have to create your simplified version if they are younger. If you’re camping in the Smokies or staying in the cabins, you can even make this game to lead them to the smoky mountain rafting site, where you’ll be waiting for them. Once everyone gets there, you can enjoy a thrilling ride down the stream. It won’t only be fun, but the ability to read maps will stick with them for the rest of their lives.

Create a Course with Obstacles

Kids love a new challenge. So, to keep your kids entertained, try to create an obstacle course for them. A great thing about obstacle courses and team relay races is that you can use whatever you have on hand to design them. Water balloons, hula hoops, and jump ropes all make good mini-challenges that can be adapted to your child’s abilities. Not only will your children enjoy doing it, but those who don’t know how to do hula hoops will also learn to spin them. 

Hiking

Camping is all about interacting with nature and exploring the wilderness. Therefore, going on a hiking trip while camping with your family makes perfect sense. Go on a hike with your kids and explore the nearby areas. Moreover, if you have some GPS devices, you can even try playing Geocaching with your kids. Give your kids GPS coordinates to a nearby spot and let them find it on their own, and the ones who reach it first will be rewarded. Geocaching isn’t only a fun-filled activity, but it will also teach your kids the skills needed to read coordinates. 

Bird Watching

Bird watching is another good activity to try with your kids. It’s quite rare to spot exquisite birds in the cities these days due to all the pollution and high-rises. So, while you’re out in the wild camping, make use of your time and go bird watching with your kids. You can start by asking them what species of birds they can spot. If they can’t tell you, you should educate them about the birds you can easily spot near your camping sites. There’s no need to complicate things. You can ask your kids to find different parrots, sparrows, and robins that they can near your camping site. Another fun way to observe birds is to try and see who can spot the most of them by playing a game.

Water Balloon Fight

Fighting with water balloons is an excellent way to cool off some heat. Though water balloon fights are family-friendly, younger children may find the action too intense. In addition, it is a good idea to split the groups of children into teams of similar ages because pitting a group of 10-year-olds against teen cousins may be unfair; these camping activities should be fun and entertaining for everyone.

Observing the Stars

Staying up in the open also allows you to gaze at the stars at night. Night skies are easier to see without city lights and skyscrapers. The best way to view the stars is through a pair of binoculars. Ideally, you want to get your children to spot the constellations that they can see. It is pretty easy to locate the Milky Way Galaxy and some common constellations in a clear sky.

Fishing 

Going fishing is another good activity that you can try with your family if you’re camping near a lake, pond, or small stream. Children of all ages can enjoy fishing as long as parents supervise younger children and help bait their hooks. Although fishing requires a lot of patience, it can be incredibly rewarding when you reel in a large fish. Not to mention, fishing will teach your children patience. They need to stay patient while waiting for a fish to get caught and take the bait.  

The Sleeping Bag Race

While camping, we all bought our sleeping bags, right? So, having a sleeping bag race is a must. Use your sleeping bags as a sack and start running towards the finish line. You should also join in the fun with your kids to double the fun.

Scary Stories

A camping trip isn’t complete without a round of scary stories and some S’mores. So, to set the right mood, you should set up a bonfire and gather everyone to settle down around it, and then you should start to scare the lot. To create more fright, we suggest you use a flashlight and make hand signs that will frighten the children. 

The Bottom Line

Being in nature and escaping the hustle and bustle of the city is a great way to bond with your loved ones. So, the next time you go camping with your lot, we hope that these fun-filled campsite activities will come in handy to make the most of your trip.