Camping Trip

Camping Trip is a game my friends and I used to play when we couldn’t sleep at night. It can be a memory or guessing game, and for some reason, stretching my memory always made me sleepy.

There are a couple ways to play the game. You can play it as strictly a memory game or you can play so that the other players have to guess the rules of play as you go along:

The first person starts off by saying:

“I’m going on a camping trip and I’m going to bring …”

At this point the person says something he or she would want to bring on the camping trip. Let’s say it’s a “toothbrush.” The next person would then say:

“I’m going on a camping trip and I’m going to bring a toothbrush and …” This person would then have to add something else that they would bring on the trip. But this time, the object must start with the last letter of the pervious object. In the case of “toothbrush,” the last letter is “h,” so the person would have to think of an object that starts with an “h.” Let’s say the person chooses “horse.”

The third person would then have to say, “I’m going on a camping trip and I’m going to bring a toothbrush, a horse, and an electric guitar.” The game continues until someone forgets an object on the list. That person is out and the game continues until there is only one person left.

You can simplify this version of the game by taking away the memory element. The children don’t have to repeat the other objects on the list; they just have to add another item to the list that starts with the last letter of the previous item.

Alphabetical Version

You can also play Camping Trip using objects in alphabetical order. For example: “I’m going on a camping trip and I’m going to bring an asteroid.” Then “I’m going on a camping trip and I’m going to bring an asteroid, and a baseball ….”

The game continues the same way until there’s only one person left who didn’t forget an item on the list.

What If

All you need for What If is some imagination and maybe a map. Some of the best games you’ll ever play with your kids are games that involve creativity and imagination.

In this game, you pose a “what if” scenario to your child and he or she has to describe the conditions and possibilities.

For example: Ask your child, “What if the car trip we’re taking was actually in a covered wagon?” The questions the child should consider answering are things like:

• How long would the trip take?
• How many times would you have to stop to feed and water the horses?
• What would you eat?
• How much water would you need to bring?

You can look at the map with the child and try to imagine what the country looked like with single lane dirt roads. What kind of obstacles would you encounter on these roads?