Top 8 Activities To Spice Up Your Child’s Camping Experience (Part 1)

The rates of childhood obesity have doubled over the past two decades. The primary reason behind this increasing trend is the modern lifestyle that keeps children stuck to their screens. They have limited outdoor exposure and, as a result, get very little physical activity. Summer break is particularly challenging for parents to keep children entertained and active. This is where summer day camps come to the rescue. Summer camps allow children to enjoy and learn new things simultaneously with various exciting and adventurous activities.

To make outdoor adventures more accessible for children, R.A.D. Camps has introduced summer day camp programs for children between the ages of 7 to 17. By enrolling in our well-structured programs, children will explore over 50 unique and pristine locations in the forests and mountains of Central Oregon. Our summer day camp programs focus on interaction with nature, camaraderie, free play, and fun. 

​Let us explore some camp activity ideas to make summer camps an enjoyable experience for your child.

Outdoor Challenges

Children of all ages love to spend time in nature, where they can get involved in all sorts of outdoor challenges. Summer day camps are excellent for group activities like a three-legged race, water balloon hot potato, relay race with eggs on spoons, potato sack race, sprinkler limbo, super soaker tag, etc. Children use their imaginations to create fun outdoor games that let them get wet, dirty, and excited. ​

Cup For Cup

Cup for the cup is an exciting group activity that does not require a lot of specialized equipment, yet it’s among one of the favorite games of young campers. They need plastic cups, a bucket of water, and water. 

Here is how it works:

• Children are divided into different groups and made to stand in a line.​
• The first group member fills their cup with water from a bucket placed in front of them.
• Next, they pour the water backward by lifting the cup over their heads. The goal is to pour as much water as possible into the cup of the person standing behind them.
• This way, water is passed to the last person, who pours the remaining water into an empty bucket.
• Each group must reach a fill line on the bucket to move to the next activity.
• The process is repeated until they fill the bucket to the required level.

Carnival Game

In this activity, camp guides give children time in the morning to brainstorm a fun carnival activity where they have to create a game with things they find outside during outdoor exploration. Then in the afternoon, children rotate from group to group and play the carnival games they made. Basic supplies, including empty cups, bottles, ping pong balls, hula hoops, etc., are provided by the camp guides.

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Myth Busters

This activity offers a bunch of options for children without requiring special equipment. A few of the myth-buster activities that can be easily performed at the summer day camps include:
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• Comparing fingerprints by using an ink pad and paper.
• Getting campers to yawn to see if it is contagious.
• Arranging discarded plates on a table to see if the tablecloth can be pulled out without breaking anything.
• Cracking an egg on a hot surface to see if the sun cooks it.

Searching for an entertaining and affordable outdoor summer adventure for your child? Enroll them in our R.A.D. Camps summer camp programs. Our summer day camp programs are located in Bend, Oregon. We have multiple fun-filled trips for children to the Deschutes and Willamette National Forests. Our motto is "no child left inside." We connect children with nature through fun-filled activities.

For more information, visit our website, contact us, or call us at (541) 410-7258.