Card Games & Such

I posted about the Board Games in our camper the other day, and our Outdoor Games a while back.  Clearly, I love games.

We have a regular deck of cards in the camper, but I don't think the cellophane is off of it yet.  We could easily play Crazy 8s or Go Fish or whatever.  But Uno, it's a favorite for our family.  Simple, fun.  A way to play and connect with each other.  When we went camping with my in-laws this year, my father-in-law shared that he'd never played the game.  #1 - I was shocked, who hasn't played Uno?  #2 - They went and bought a deck shortly after the trip to play with my nieces visiting from Florida.

Youngest Kid isn't quite there with Phase 10, though she wants to be.  You try to beat your competitors through 10 different phases of card combinations.  It's a longer game, we've been known to pause a game on our score sheet and finish on another day.

Spot It was a gift from those nieces in Florida.  It's a faster paced game, everyone tries to find a match on the same card.  Fun.

I saw the Little Hands Card Holder at Walmart a while back.  Genius.  Little hands need to hold a lot of cards, this helps them out.  Certainly the 10-11 cards in Phase 10 fit in this nicely.  Also if someone gets zinged a lot in Uno.  These were such a hit that we have 2 in the camper and 2 in the house.

I have some more games that I'll post about another day, good travel sized games. Maybe later on, I'll share games that didn't make it into the camper this year (mental note...).  If I remember.

Board Games

I love to play games, always have.  I have fond memories of playing Risk in our pop-up as a kid with my family.  My kids enjoy games, too, and I love that my kids are old enough to play games beyond Candyland.  I certainly enjoyed Candyland when they were 3, but I'm glad to have moved it to the basement.

As I have started clearing things out of the camper for the winter, the games come into the house and join our other games.  Inevitably, we'll want to play them some time during our snowy months.

Cribbage is mostly for Husband and I to play on rainy nights after the kids are in bed.  We have played it with the kids, but they still need lots of help.  It's a card game with a board for keeping score.

Pentago was a new addition to our collection this year.  It's a 2 player game where you try to get 5 marbles in a row.  Think of Connect 4 or Tic Tac Toe with a literal twist in the game, as you twist a quadrant of the board at the end of your turn.  It's simple and fun, deserving the awards it's received in my opinion.

We have the kids version of Sequence, but it's nice to have moved up to the full version of Sequence.  You use playing cards to attempt to get 5 in a row on the board or to block other players.

My kids love Clue.  We just happen to have The Simpsons version.  Youngest Kid still needs a bit of help, but we have fun playing it.  And when the game is done, the kids will just play with the figurines and make whole story lines.

Sorry, a classic.  Always fun to bump another player back to their Start.

We also have Monopoly in the camper.  I got two games of Monopoly when my uncle died, not sure why.  One board just stays in the camper.  I've thought about getting a new one that has electronic banking so that money can't fly away in the breeze while on a camping trip.  But when we already have two boards, it's hard to justify paying for a 3rd.

The games have moved inside.  Come spring, I'll have the kids help pick out the board games for Camping Season 2015.  I'm always a bit surprised by what they pick.

Here are my posts about Card Games and Outdoor Games

Pumpkin Hunt

On our first Halloween camping trip (was that 4 years ago now?), my BFF had a fun activity for the kids the first night of our trip.

She found a bunch of these ------------------------------>
little pumpkin cups.  I've seen them at numerous stores.  I've also seen them as cauldrons as well.  They're like miniature trick-or-treat containers.  She filled each one with a little fun goodie, like bubbles and stickers and small toys and trinkets.  Nothing expensive.  The goodies were age appropriate for the kids in our group.

While the kids were on one campsite playing with the dads, the moms hid the little pumpkins around another campsite.  The kids loved finding the pumpkins and then showing their friends and siblings what all they got.

Just like an Easter Egg Hunt, the kids went on a Pumpkin Hunt.

Outdoor Games

I have a love of big campsites.  We use the whole space of our site, we go camping to spend time outside.  To spend time together with minimal distraction.

We have the cheap-o version of Corn Hole.  Ladder ball, a washer ring toss game.

The kids have a bin of outdoor toys with bases and a bouncy ball for kick ball.  Bubbles.  Scoop ball.  Rackets and a birdie.  Soccer ball.  Bocce ball.  Stuff has been thrown in over the years.

What are you favorite outdoor games for camping?  Anything you've been eyeing and want to get?

My posts about Board Games & Card Games

Road Trip Game: 50 State License Plates

Long car trips require things to do.  For our upcoming trip to Gatlinburg, we'll keep track of the license plates that we see.  I remember doing it as a kid on vacation and I think it'll be one way to help pass the time with my family.

Click HERE for the PDF.