Sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows, making s’mores, talking, singing, or telling stories can be loads of fun for the whole family. But, campfire games can take it to another level.
So, as this year’s camping season looms on the horizon, we’re tossing out a few ideas for campfire games for kids, campfire games for adults, and games for the whole crew, regardless of age.
Campfire Games for Kids
First, let’s check out some fun games for kids.
Depending on the ages of the children involved, some games might work better than others, but we’ve tried to select games that’ll be fun for kids at all levels of development.
Duck, Duck, Goose!
This one’s more for Littles, but it’s a classic.
In the game, “Duck, Duck, Goose!”, the kids sit in a fairly sizable circle.
One person is chosen to be “it”. That person walks around the back of the circle (behind the seated children) gently ???? tapping each child on the head while saying “duck” until they get to the person they want to have chase them.
While touching the head of the child who’ll be the chaser, the person who is “it” yells, “GOOSE!”, and starts running around the back of the circle.
The “goose” jumps up and runs around the circle (in the same direction as the “it” child) until they can touch the person who was “it”, or until the “it” person drops into the “hot seat” left open by the goose.
If that’s confusing, just ask any little kid. They all know how to play this game! LOL!
Hot Potato
This is a classic game for kids of all ages. You’ll need an object to serve as the “hot potato.” This could be a ball, a marshmallow, or anything safe you’ve got around the campsite.
You’ll also need some way to play music, such as a phone, someone singing, a kazoo… really, just about anything.
One person is in charge of the music. When the music starts playing, the game starts.
While the music plays, the players pass the “hot potato” object from player to player until the music stops.
When the music stops, the person left holding the hot potato is OUT!
The one remaining player is the winner of the game.
I Spy
Another game for kids of any age is “I Spy”.
There are lots of fun children’s games to play while roasting marshmallows around the campfire.
Choose one person to be the first spy. That person will look around the campsite and choose an object they see and hold the object in their mind while giving clues about it.
For example, “I spy something green.” After one hint, each player gets to guess what the object is. The game continues with the spy giving hints until the object is correctly identified. The person who correctly identifies the object is now the spy!
This is a great game, even when on the road!
Frog
This is a game of repetition!
The object of this game is to repeat the “frog” statement correctly. When someone makes a mistake, the other players yell “FROG!”, and that player is out of the game.
The statement is: One frog, two eyes, four legs, in the puddle!
Here’s how it works:
The first player says “one frog”. The second player says, “two eyes”, third player says, “four legs”, next player says, “in the puddle”, continuing around the campfire until someone makes a mistake and everyone yells “FROG!”
The last person left is the winner!
Campfire Games for Adults
Here’s a list of games that are great for the adults to play… whether you don’t have kids, didn’t bring them on this trip, or they’re already tucked into bed and fast asleep!
20 Questions
In the game “20 Questions”, one person has to think of a famous person, place, or thing.
The other players ask questions that can be answered with a “yes” or “no” only, and everyone tries to figure out what person, place, or thing the person is thinking of.
But remember – you only have 20 questions to get it right!
Two Truths and a Lie
This is kind of a “get to know you” game.
In this game, one person says three things about themself – two are truths, and one statement is a lie. The rest of the group must guess which of the three statements is the lie.
For example, “I’m 47 years old, I’ve been bungee jumping, and I’ve eaten octopus.”
True Story
This is another type of “truth or lie” game. The object of this game is to figure out whether the other players are telling the truth or telling a lie, but this time they’re telling a whole story!
Adults can have fun playing various types of games around the campfire!
Campfire Games for All Ages
If you have a group that spans a large range of ages, the following games are likely the best choice for you.
Telephone
Telephone is a classic communication game.
The group sits in a circle. The person chosen to begin the game thinks of a phrase, and whispers that phrase to the person next to them, then that person whispers the phrase to the next person, and so on, until you reach the end of the circle.
At that point, the last person says out loud what phrase they heard, and it’s compared with the actual phrase that was originally whispered by the first person.
Charades
Talk about a classic game! Charades has been around for ages, and it’s still one of the most fun games for a group of friends (of all ages) to play.
In Charades, one person acts out the title of a song, a show, a book, a play or musical, or a movie in front of the rest of the group. The actor can’t use any words or sounds at all… only motions.
The person can either come up with the idea on their own, or the group can place titles in a bowl/hat that the actor can select from.
There are lots of different variations of charades out there, so your group may prefer to play in a different way. But the general idea is the same.
The person who correctly guesses what the actor is demonstrating becomes the next actor!
Large groups may prefer to play this in teams.
There’s nothing like a good game of charades!
I Went to Market
This one’s a memory game. One group member starts the game by saying, “I went to the market and bought…” and finishes that sentence with the name of an item that begins with the letter “A.”
If you’re playing with all adults, or adults and older kids, and you want to make the game harder, you can make it a rule of the game that every item has to be a camping item.
So, for example, person 1 might say, “I went to the market and bought an air compressor”.
The next person says, “I went to the market and bought an air compressor and (an item that begins with the letter “B”…for example, a battery).”
The next person says, “I went to the market and bought an air compressor, a battery, and (a camping item that begins with the letter “C”)”… you get the idea.
Fortunately and Unfortunately
This is a storytelling game in which the group tells a story one sentence at a time, alternating “fortunately” and “unfortunately” at the beginning of each sentence.
The first person starts by offering a sentence beginning with the word “fortunately.” For example: “Fortunately, on the first day of our camping trip, it didn’t rain!”
The second person has to start his sentence with “unfortunately” while continuing the story’s theme. For example: “Unfortunately, it was 107 degrees in the shade!”
The third person continues the story, by beginning the next sentence of the story with the word “fortunately.”
“Fortunately, we had a fan!”
“Unfortunately, the power at the campground was out!”
“Fortunately, we had a generator!”
“Unfortunately, it wouldn’t start!”
“Fortunately, a wind came up and cooled things down!”
“Unfortunately, the wind knocked over the picnic table and all of our food dumped onto the ground!”
And on, and on…
Earn Your Smores
This is a game to be combined with the making of s’mores over the fire.
Make ’em earn their s’mores by doing something silly!
The theme of the game is that each player has to earn a s’more by completing a task that’s been written on a piece of paper and placed in a bowl or hat.
Each person chooses a task and has to complete it in order to earn a s’more.
The tasks should be something fun like singing a particular song (KOA’s Best Campfire Songs article has some ideas for you), dancing a jig for 30 seconds, finding a rock shaped like a heart, etc. Although we wouldn’t blame you if you snuck in a few like “Clean up the dinner dishes” or some other chore! ????
What Are Your Favorite Campfire Games?
Now comes the good part! We’d love for you to share your favorite campfire games with us! Drop us a comment below if you’ve got some good ideas to share!
Not into playing games? How about singing some campfire songs? Or making a delicious dessert using a pie iron?
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