Camping Charades and Pictionary are two of our favorite camping games for kids and adults. Both outdoor games provide hours of belly rolling laughter. Get our free printable camping-themed words so you can join in the fun with your family too!
The best outdoor games for kids, teens, or adults are those that you can do anywhere. These two are no exception. You can play either game at your campsite, while backyard camping, or when you just want to imagine you are car camping again. I’m sharing them together because they can use the same printables that include phrases like pitching a tent, catch the ball, mosquito bites, hide and seek, roasting marshmallows, etc.
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Camping Charades Game
Before playing: Divide players up into two teams. If using the provided printable, cut the camping-themed charades and Pictionary words out and put them into a container. Otherwise, have each team create their own words and write them down on slips of paper and pass that container to the other team.
Gameplay: To play Pictionary, a player from the first team picks a word/slip of paper from their container. He/she is the only person who can look at it. When ready this player acts out the word or phrase without speaking. If the team members guess the word correctly in 3 minutes or less, they get a point.
Next, the other team has a try and gameplay continues until all the ideas are used or a pre-agreed time limit is up. The winner is the team with the highest score.
Camping Pictionary Game
Before playing: Gameplay is very similar to charades. Divide players up into two teams. Cut out the camping-themed Pictionary words from the printable or create your own. Place all the words/phrases into a container. For this game, you’ll need large notebooks or sheets of paper and a marker.
An alternative is to use a stick and draw on the dirt. This version is not as clear as when using a marker and paper, but it can be infinitely funnier when trying to guess squiggly lines in the sand.
Gameplay: A player from the first team picks a word/slip of paper from their container. When ready this player draws out the word or phrase on the paper or on the ground without speaking. If the team members guess the word or phrase the person drawing correctly is in 3 minutes or less, they get a point.
Next, the other team has a try and gameplay continues until all the ideas are used or a pre-agreed time limit is up. The winner is the team with the highest score.
Camping Story Starters
A third alternative for a fun outdoor activity is to use the printable word prompts as story starters. Everyone can randomly select 2 camping words/phrases that have to be woven into a story. The first player starts the story using their words within two sentences. The next player adds to the story using their words within 2 sentences. Gameplay continues until all the words are used up. Our kids love to get creative with this one and the resulting stories are always wacky.
Get our Pictionary and charades printable prompts before your next camping trip. If you don’t want to opt-in to our mailing list, you can also find them in our Etsy Store. Your family will love this fun game just as much as we do.
Check out these other outdoor games and activities:
These camping games sound like a blast! I love how they’re so versatile, whether it’s a real campsite or just backyard camping. I can picture the chaos and laughter as teams try to guess “pitching a tent” in charades or draw “roasting marshmallows” in Pictionary. Have you tried these games with a big group? How do you keep the energy high when everyone’s been playing for a while?