Everybody Should Be Making Salted Caramel S'mores This Summer (2024)

With COVID-19 numbers that rise and fall like the stock market, it's hard to plan your next family trip. But one thing that's been consistent these past couple years is that outdoor activities are lower risk than indoor ones, so maybe it's time to break out the tent, pack up the fishing gear, and go on a family camping trip. Once you're settled into your campsite, you'll have nothing but beautiful scenery, fresh air and lots of bonding time ahead of you.

But how do you fill those hours, especially if your kids are used to having nonstop wi-fi to keep them connected and entertained? It's time to think back to your days at sleepaway camp, and break out the analog camping activities and camping games. During the day, you can spend your hours doing lawn games, or find ways to explore the wilderness through scavenger hunts, treasure searches and orienteering activities. Then, when it gets dark, you'll probably have to stick close to the campfire, so be sure to bring plenty of outdoor-appropriate card and family board games, along with party activities like charades and storytelling activities. And, of course, anything that glows in the dark is fair game for nighttime competitions! When you're done, they're not going to miss the wi-fi.

Across the country, people hide "letterboxes" in public places, like parks, and leave clues as to where to find them. If you decipher the clues, you'll find a box with a logbook where you can leave your personal stamp to prove you've been there. You can check to see if there's a letterbox stashed near your campsite, and check out the basics of how to get started.

Like knitting before it, bird-watching is one of those grandma-and-grandpa hobbies that's experiencing a resurgence in coolness. Grab some binoculars and see how many different species you can spot.

You'll need brains, speed and stamina to win at this one. In case you don't remember the rules: Split up into two teams and designate an area for each. Each team hides a flag in their own area, and the object is to find the other team's flag and bring it back to your team's territory. Any player in the opposing team's territory can be tagged and put in "jail," and a teammate has to come tag them to rescue them. Get ready to sharpen those teamwork skills!

See if there is a place near your campsite where you can rent stand-up paddleboarding equipment. You'll work on your balance and core strength while getting to soak in some views.

It's like hide-and-seek — in the dark! Whoever is "It" has to shine their flashlight on the hider once they've been found. (Just be sure kids are old enough so they don't get lost too far away from your campsite.)

Whether you call it "skipping stones" or "skimming rocks," it's a little thrill when you find the perfect flat rock and watch it hop across the water. See who in your party can get a stone to skip the most number of times.

Find a trail, chart a course and go! Hiking gets your body moving and puts you out in nature, and basically embodies all the reasons to go camping in the first place.

Charades is simple: People write down clues on a piece of paper, and players have to act them out and get their teammates to guess their clue without saying a word. Once you've mastered Charades, you can move on to Celebrity, where all the clues have to be a famous person (real, fictional, alive or dead). The game is then played in three rounds.
Round 1: Players can urge their teammates to guess their clue using words as hints, so long as the words are not written on the paper (like Taboo).
Round 2: Once all the clues from Round 1 are guessed, the same papers go back in the bowl for Round 2. This time, players can only use a single word as a hint for their teammates.
Round 3: The same papers go back in the bowl again, and the last round is a wordless charades round. No talking!

Bait your hook, cast your line and see if you have any luck. In the end, it doesn't even matter if you catch a big one — you'll remember the conversations and the bonding time.

Pick out a fun float, paddle yourself out into a sunny spot and just relax — isn't that why you went camping to begin with?

There's a long, artistic tradition of creating masterpieces en plein air, out in the open of nature. Pack some sketchbooks and art supplies, find a picturesque spot and see if inspiration strikes.