Summer camp activities for kids can be hard to find and choose from. Kids can’t be satisfied with just one activity all day, so it’s crucial to keep things interesting and exciting! If you’re looking for some great summer camp activities for kids, look no further than this ultimate list of over 20 summer camp activities that guarantee your child’s happiness while at camp! From sports and arts & crafts to games and scavenger hunts, many summer camp activities will give your child the time of their life!

9 Nature Inspired Activities

1. Kids can go on a nature scavenger hunt to find leaves, flowers, rocks, and sticks.
2. Take part in some adventure activities such as hiking, canoeing, or rock climbing.
3. Fun summer camp activities include water balloon tossing, egg races, and sack races.
4. Kids can find their way out of the forest only using their sense of smell and hearing.
   Roast marshmallows, sing songs, tell stories, and make s’mores around the campfire! Bring snacks, board games, and your favorite summer camp gear!
5. Draw a chalk picture on the pavement.
6. Bring binoculars along on a hike or nature walk around your neighborhood to help children find interesting bugs, flowers, and more.
7. If you want to spend some time learning about nature but also have a little fun, consider doing an outdoor science experiment. You can give them each a basic list of materials to bring and then have them come up with their ideas (e.g., do a rain cloud experiment).
8. Organize a nature walk. This is a simple, low-maintenance activity that allows kids to spend time enjoying nature on their terms. If you want to increase engagement, include activities in your nature walk (e.g., tasks and games).
9. Bug Jars are a fun way to learn about bugs and their habitats. Have each child bring home one bug they find around their house or neighborhood and put them all in a jar (or plastic bag). Bring the jar(s) back to camp and discuss what kind of bugs each child found, what habitats they came from, etc. Then go through and identify each bug together. What does it eat? Where does it live? Is it beneficial or harmful? Who knows what else is living in that jar?!

4 Outdoor Recess Ideas

Give kids a chance to explore and play with these outdoor recess ideas. These ideas are perfect for summer camp!

1. Have them pick their favorite outdoor activity (e.g., gardening, zip lining) and write a short paragraph explaining why they like it so much—then use their submissions to teach them how to create an informative poster. If you have enough supplies, have each child make one as part of their summer camp curriculum!
2. Going out into nature is bound to make you think about your place in it. Encourage kids to explore their sense of place in nature by asking them questions like What do you like about living on Earth? Do you think anything about Earth will change in 100 years? What are some ways people can take care of nature and wildlife? Have each child write down a paragraph summarizing his or her thoughts. Afterward, have them share their work with others around a campfire (during evening activities).
3. Tired of hearing kids talk about video games and cartoons? Organize an outdoor sports league where kids can participate in various games (e.g., soccer, Capture-the-Flag, basketball) or even create their own.
4. Organize an outdoor scavenger hunt. Give kids a list of objects they have to locate—which you can make as varied or specific as you’d like (e.g., things that start with A, one bird, one tree, etc.). If necessary, help them find items by telling them where they are and what they look like. Allocate points based on how difficult it is to find each item.

6 Creative DIY Crafts

Summer camp is the perfect time to get kids involved in creative DIY crafts. These crafts are not only funny and interactive, but they’re also easy to do. Plus, they’ll keep kids entertained for hours on end. Take a look at these four examples of great activities you can set up at your summer camp this year:

1. Make the homemade ice cream: All you need is some milk, sugar, vanilla extract, and ice. Put all the ingredients in a bag and let the kids shake it up! Let them pour the mixture into an ice cube tray and place it in the freezer overnight.
2. Create a summer memory book: Encourage your child to draw or create summer-themed pictures that they can put in their summer memory book. Get crafty by using various colors of paper, embellishments, stickers, stamps and markers to help design their book
3. It’s always good to allow kids to work with their hands and use their creativity.use popsicle sticks as building blocks so they can make whatever they please! They can create puzzles and 3D objects using straws, pipe cleaners, glue, googly eyes and feathers.
4. Use ice and pipe cleaners to make some pretty ice lanterns. It’s easy, fun and cheap! All you need is a clear glass or plastic bowl, water, ice, food coloring and some pipe cleaners. After turning off all of the lights in your house, light up these lanterns to give a mystical effect.
5. why not try crafting with some homemade play dough? All you need is some flour, salt, oil and water. Mix everything and add a few drops of food coloring to make different colors. Roll them into balls and let your kids create whatever they want!
6. Get crafty with some fun DIY jewelry. Your children can use simple materials like bottle caps, ribbons, beads and buttons to create great jewelry pieces. They’ll love wearing their creations

5 Easy Backyard Games

It’s summertime, which means it’s time to get the kids outside! Here are five easy backyard games that will keep them entertained for hours.

1. The Crazy 8s game is a card game where players make three piles of cards and take turns moving from pile to pile, trying to collect as many cards as possible.
2. The Banana Phone game is like musical chairs but you have a banana in your hand and when the music stops, you call out fruit and whoever doesn’t say that fruit has to sit down.
3. In Musical Chairs, there are more than enough seats for everyone, so the last person left standing gets to be in the next round.
4. Memory Match Up is a fun twist on traditional memory matching games where instead of flipping over two cards at once, one card can be flipped over first. Then after making a match with this first card, another card can be flipped over, revealing another match-up opportunity.
5. Capture the Flag is a popular game usually played between two teams using a large piece of cloth or flag. Players must sneak into their opponents’ territory, capture their flag without being seen, and return back to their territory without getting caught.

5 Creative Indoor Game Ideas

1. Charades – A great game for acting out and guessing, charades can be played with as few as two people. Soap Carving -This is a craft where kids take a bar of soap and carve it into an animal or shape of their choice.
2. Ping Pong-A popular table tennis game, ping pong is the perfect indoor activity to burn off some energy indoors.
3. Finger Jousting-Two players stand at opposite ends of the room with hands in front of them while trying to knock the other person’s fingers away from their hand using only one finger on their own hand.
4. Foosball-Foosball is the classic tabletop soccer game that allows children to get active while playing a fun, competitive game. Using poles, footballs are played by either one or two players. Some balls may have markers on them that denote points scored by each player during playtime. The game’s goal is to score more points than your opponent by sending your opponent’s ball into his/her goal before your opponent sends yours there.
5. Spoons-How many times have you played with spoons? This is a game where two or more players compete to be left with one spoon at the end of each round. You’ll start by giving each player one spoon and drawing a circle on a piece of paper. Each player then takes turns tossing his/her spoon into the circle, trying to get it as close to another player’s spoon as possible. The other players then knock their opponent’s spoons away until all but one remains in play.

Take away

Joining a summer camp is a great way for kids to explore new things, make new friends, and have lots of fun. These activities are just a few of the many great things that kids can do at summer camp. So don’t hesitate to sign your child up for a summer camp today!