Camping games are probably one of the best ways to get family and friends to grow closer when going away on camping trips. Not only do you interact with one another, you also laugh and have fun, afterwards they provide hours of discussion and are usually free or use the items that you have on hand already anyways. Below you will find the ultimate list of camping games that I use as an outdoor instructor on a regular basis and find them to be very successful at getting the groups energy levels up.

Camping Games

1. Camouflage

One of my all time favorites. Camouflage has a bit of hide and seek, running and strategy incorporated into it. It’s a fantastic way to get everyone excited and having fun.

Find an area that is full of hiding spots. For example tall trees, downed trees, shrubs and so on. Avoid places where there is water, or prickly bushes.
Round 1 You will require a person that will be IT. This persons role will be to stand in a central location and call out “Camouflage”. Once called they will close their eyes and count down from 20. Loud enough so that everyone can hear.
When camouflage is called the remaining participants run and hide where ever possible.
Once the 20 seconds has been counted down the person that is “it” opens their eyes and begins searching for everyone in the forest. This person is only aloud to move as far as they can lunge while keeping one foot on the position they began the game from.
Once someone is spotted the person that is “it” needs to describe the person that they see and their hiding spot. Once found out the participant that was hiding is out of the game.
Round 2 When the person that is “it” can no longer find any more people that are hiding they call out “food and water” and begin counting down from 15 with their eyes closed.
At this moment everyone that was hiding needs to run in and tag the person that is “it” and run back to a hiding spot.  Again after 15 seconds the person that is”it” opens their eyes and searches for the remaining participants.
Round 3 Person that is “it” calls out “food and water” and begins counting down from 10 with their eyes closed. The remaining people run in and tag the person that is “it” and find a hiding spot.
After 10 seconds the person that is “it” opens their eyes and again searches for the people that are remaining.
Winner Person that is “it” calls out “food and water” and begins counting down from 5 with their eyes open this time. The remaining people need to run in and tag the person that is “it”. The person that is first to tag the person in the middle wins.

2. Chubby Bunny

A campfire would not be complete without marshmallows, so you should have several to spare for this kid-friendly camping game. Each player has to place a marshmallow in their mouth and say, “Chubby Bunny.” Once everyone says it well, they all have to put another marshmallow in their mouth. The person who can fit the most marshmallows in their mouth and still say, “Chubby Bunny” wins. (For safety reasons, use small marshmallows.)

3. Amoeba Tag

Tag games are always a lot of fun, this one in particular is fantastic as it incorporates team work into it and gets everyone running around.

To start the game you need to designate an area where everyone can run around in. You will also require 2 people that will be “it”.  These 2 will interlock their arms. They will now chase after everyone and when someone gets tagged they join on and interlock their arms with the people that are “it”. The game continues until everyone is tagged.

4. Guess What?

This game is super simple and best of all it allows for everyone to be very creative and can provide hours upon hours of fun.
So the basic idea is that someone comes up with an idea in their head, and then acts it out in front of everyone. The rest of the people who are observing the person acting need to guess what he/she is doing.

5. Human knot

This game is great because it incorporates fun, team work and strategy. groups of 5-9 work best, any more makes the game almost impossible to play.
To start you will require everyone to stand shoulder to shoulder in a circle formation facing inwards.
Next you will get everyone to reach out with their right hand and grab someone else’s right hand. Make sure to specify that you cannot grab the hands of the people that are right next to you.
Followed by everyone’s left hand doing the same.
After that you walk away and let everyone untangle themselves.
For added challenge you can break up the group into multiple teams and get them to race one another.

6.  Count Off

This is a great game to play around the fire. There are no moving parts and it involves the whole group. It incorporates fun and strategy. The idea behind the game is to get everyone to count to 20. Seems simple but there are a few rules that make it a little bit more difficult.
Get everyone sitting in a circle. While in the circle there cannot be any pre-planning of who will count off.
Next you get everyone to count off, but they cannot count around the circle, they also can’t give each other signals and if 2 people count off at the same time they need to start again.
Once the game is finished time them to see how long it takes them to do it again.

7. Crawling line up

Get  2 – 4  groups lined up across from one another. Then have them lay down and the idea behind the game is to get everyone to crawl their way to the other side and line up again. As everyone begins crawling they instantly become an obstacle for the other team. So they have to find a way around them, either over the top, underneath or to the side. It’s a fun filled game and best of all it doesn’t take to long to play.

These are just some camping games that you can play in the wilderness. By introducing games like this you will find that the group of people become more open and have a lot more fun. There are plenty more out there and if you have any suggestions on games I should include in the next list please add them to the comments below. Additionally if you liked this article please like and share it.
Thank you

Featured image:  Andres Rodriguez