40 Fun Rainy Day Camping Activities (For All Ages)
Uh oh… you’ve already set up your campsite when it starts to rain.
You were looking forward to sitting around the campfire eating s’mores. Now what?
A rainy day doesn’t have to mean your camping trip is a bust! With this list of rainy day camping activities, you’ll have plenty of things to do until the rain passes.
These camping activities are great things to do on rainy days because they can be done when you’re cramped in a tent hiding out from the weather. They also require little to no equipment or Wi-Fi so they can easily be done on any camping trip, rain or shine.
This list includes activities that are appropriate for kids, adults, and campers of all ages.
Ready to have fun? Here is a list of 40 camping activities to do on a rainy day.
Use these links to navigate to age-appropriate rainy day activities:
- Rainy day camping activities for all ages
- Rainy day camping activities for kids
- Rainy day camping activities for adults
Rainy day camping activities for all ages
Here is a round up of camping activities that can entertain adults and kids alike on a rainy day in the outdoors.
1. Twenty Questions
Twenty Questions is a fun game to get your brain thinking.
To play, someone thinks of a person, place, or thing and keeps it a secret. Everyone else has to figure out what it is using 20 questions or less.
The questions can only be yes or no questions. For example, you could ask “Is it bigger than a pencil?” but not “How big is it?”.
Twenty Questions also makes for a great game to help pass the time while you’re setting up camp or cooking meals.
2. Telephone
Telephone is a group game that can be enjoyed by campers of any age.
The aim of the game is to get a word or phrase from one end of the group to the other only by whispering. See how much your message changed from the beginning to the end!
Get everyone together in a circle. One person comes up with a word or phrase and whispers it to the person next to them. That person whispers what they think they heard to the next person, and so on until everyone has heard the word or phrase.
The last person who had the phrase whispered to them will say what they heard out loud to the group. The person who came up with the phrase will then announce what phrase they started the round with.
It’s fun to have more people share what word they thought they heard to find out where the communication broke down and hear how many times the phrase got messed up along the way.
3. The Alphabet Game
The alphabet game is a memory game in which you take turns listing items starting with the letters A through Z. The challenge is that you have to remember and list every item previously mentioned before you say a new item.
For example, the first person may say, “I’m going on a camping trip and I’m bringing apples.” On the second player’s turn, they may say “I’m going on a camping trip and I’m bringing apples and bananas.” Then it would be the next person’s turn to list apples and bananas before listing an item that starts with the letter C, and so on.
This game is typically played with the prompt “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing…”. No matter what prompt you use, the items that players list don’t actually have to be relevant to the topic (you can totally bring a zebra camping when you get to the end of the alphabet!).
4. Categories
Categories is a word association game in which players take turns listing items within a category.
One player chooses a category, and then everyone takes a turn naming something that belongs in that category until one person can’t think of anything else. For example, if one player chooses the category “fruit,” the second person might say “peaches,” and then the next player may say “pears.”
Play continues until someone can’t think of anything else or repeats something that was already listed.
To keep the game moving quickly, set a time limit on how long each player can take to think of an item. For an extra challenge, set a rule for additional criteria, such as choosing a letter that every word in the category must start with.
5. Word Association Game
The Word Association Game is a game of quick thinking.
One person says a word. The player next to them must say the first word that comes to their head that relates to the previous player’s word. The third player says a word related to the second player’s word, and so on.
For example, if the first player says the word “island”, the following players might say “ocean”, then “water”, then “drink”.
Play continues until someone gets stumped or repeats a word that was already used in the round.
6. Silly Sentences
Silly Sentences is a fun game to test everyone’s creativity.
One person chooses 4 or 5 random letters. Another person has to create a sentence made up of words that start with that set of letters
For example, if one person chose the letters HAGEK, someone else would come up with a sentence like “He always greets each kid”.
Some sentences will sound pretty normal and some will be downright silly!
7. Story Time
Telling stories around a campfire is a classic camping activity. But you don’t need to sit around a fire to tell stories!
Ghost stories are a quintessential part of camping for many people, so you may have scary stories ready to go.
But any kind of story will do. Tell fairy tales you know by heart, share real experiences from your past, or create stories together as a group.
Sharing any kind of story is a great way to bond with your friends and family, create memories, and pass the time during a rainstorm.
8. Take a Nap
Who says you constantly need to be entertained?
The point of camping is to relax in nature, so a nap is a perfectly great way to rest on a rainy day.
And if the rain passes, napping during the day means you’re more likely to stay up all night for s’mores, scary stories, and games around the campfire!
9. Play Music or Have a Sing-Along
Get everyone together and spend the rainy day bonding over music!
Anyone can sing at the campsite – no equipment required. But if you have an instrument or songs downloaded on your phone, you can bust those out, too.
10. Daydream
When you have nothing else to do, it can be a great time to think about your future and desires without any distractions.
While it’s raining you can plan your next camping trip, think about goals you’d like to accomplish, or fantasize about far-fetched realities.
Sit with your thoughts while you’re unplugged at the campsite and see where your mind takes you! You may uncover a dream you didn’t even realize you had.
11. Embrace the Rain and Go Outside
Embracing the rain is one of my favorite tips for a rainy camping trip.
There’s no reason the rain has to stop you from participating in your favorite camping activities.
Try putting on some rain gear and go outside anyway!
With the right clothing, activities like hiking, exploring, and fishing, can still be enjoyable in the rain. Kids can still feel the joy of being outside by jumping in puddles and making mud pies.
As a bonus, you may even find you have trails and other outdoor spaces to yourself if other campers are hiding out from the bad weather.
12. Read a Book
Reading a book is the perfect cozy activity for a rainy day.
Snuggle up in your sleeping bag with a good book to stay entertained for hours while it rains.
If you use an e-reader, just make sure it’s fully charged up before your camping trip.
13. Crazy 8s
Crazy 8s is a card game that’s similar to Uno, only it’s played with a standard deck of cards.
It’s a good game for small groups of campers since it can be played by 2 or more players.
The gist of the game is to get rid of all of the cards in your hand by placing down cards that match either the suit or number of the card in the center pile.
In this game, 8s are wild, hence the name of the game.
Click here to read the complete rules for Crazy 8s.
14. Slapjack
Slapjack is an incredibly simple game that requires quick reflexes and speed.
Take turns putting a card down in a pile in the center of the group.
When a Jack is discarded, everyone tries to slap the top of the pile. The first person to slap the pile gets to take the whole stack and the goal is to win all of the cards in the deck.
Click here to read the complete rules for Slapjack.
You may want to use an old deck of cards since they may get damaged during the game.
This game is a great rainy day activity no matter how many people you’re camping with since it can be played with any group of 2 or more people.
15. Journal
Life is often so fast-paced that we bounce from activity to activity without stopping to reflect.
Take advantage of the slower pace of camping and spend some time journaling.
Document your camping trip or just process how you’ve been feeling lately.
I’ve been journaling about my camping trips and I’m so happy I have all of the details of those memories written down to look back on!
16. Tic Tac Toe
Tic Tac Toe is a quick two-player game.
Set up the game by drawing a grid that is 3 squares by 3 squares.
Each player picks a symbol to mark squares with on their turn. Traditionally, one player picks X and the other player uses O.
Once the grid is drawn, players take turns marking one of the squares in the grid with their chosen symbol.
The goal is to get 3 of your symbol in a row (horizontal, vertical, or diagonally). The game ends when one person successfully gets 3 in a row or when the whole grid is full.
17. Hangman
Hangman is a fun game for people who enjoy word games.
To play, one person thinks of a word and draws a dash for each letter in the word. Then they draw a stand to hang a stick figure from.
The second player has to figure out what the mystery word is by guessing one letter at a time. If the letter is in the word, the first player fills in any blank dashes which contain that letter. If the letter isn’t in the word, the first player draws one body part of the stick figure.
The goal is to figure out the word before the whole stick figure is drawn.
18. Dots and Boxes
The goal of Dots and Boxes is to draw more boxes than your opponent.
Start the game by drawing a grid of dots that’s at least 4 dots wide by 4 dots tall. The bigger the grid, the longer the game will take to finish.
Players take turns drawing one horizontal or vertical line to connect any 2 adjacent dots on the grid.
Eventually, enough line segments will be drawn to complete boxes between the dots. Whoever completes the fourth side of a box that connects 4 dots wins that box. The player writes their initials in the box to claim it and then takes another turn.
The game ends once all of the dots are connected and there are no more lines to draw on the grid. Players count up how many boxes contain their initials and the player with the most boxes wins the game.
19. Word Within a Word
To play Word Within a Word, someone picks a long word and everyone sees how many smaller words they can make using the letters in that longer word.
For example, using the letters in “campground” you can form the words map, run, gram, pond, etc.
Play with as many people as you want and see who can come up with the most words.
20. Draw
Whether you think you’re the next Picasso or you haven’t drawn since art class, drawing is an easy activity that anyone can enjoy on a rainy day.
Make a few doodles or an elaborate masterpiece. Consider drawing a scene from your camping trip to remember the occasion!
21. Blind Drawing
If you’d rather turn drawing into a humorous game, try blind drawing!
Pick any object. It can be something in view or something that everyone knows about.
Close your eyes and try to draw that thing without looking.
The outcomes are hysterical!
22. Board Games
Board games are a perfect rainy day activity.
I personally enjoy bringing games like Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity on camping trips. These games don’t require a ton of space or tiny game pieces to play, so they’re easy to play no matter what kind of configuration you’re in when you’re playing at the campground.
Rainy day camping activities for kids
Below is a list of simpler camping activities and games that don’t fall under the “all ages” category because they are more geared towards kids. That doesn’t mean adults can’t do these activities, too!
23. Mirror Mirror
Mirror Mirror is a fun activity for squirmy kids who are feeling confined in a tent.
Have 2 people face each other. One kid starts moving slowly and the person facing them has to mirror their movements.
It’s a good way to get out the wiggles when there isn’t much room to move around.
24. Thumb War
Thumb War is another simple, equipment-free camping activity for kids.
Two players hold up one hand, stick up their thumb, and curl the rest of their fingers to link hands with each other.
Count down to the start of the thumb war with the rhyme “One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war. Five, six, seven, eight, try to keep your thumb straight.”
Then both players use their thumb to try and hold down their opponent’s thumb.
25. Play with Toys
Sometimes the easiest way to entertain kids is to let them play with toys.
Two great options that are small and easy to pack for a camping trip are stuffed animals and toy cars.
Try to choose toys that aren’t electronics so your kids still reap the benefits of unplugging in the great outdoors even though they’re stuck indoors during the rain.
26. Activity Books
Activity books are a great way to entertain kids since they are fun while helping to develop skills.
There are all kinds of activity books for a variety of ages including word searches, puzzles, educational workbooks, and more.
27. Speed
Speed is a two-player card game that requires quick movements and reflexes. I suggest playing it when you’re feeling energetic and sharp.
The object of the game is to get rid of all of your cards.
Players can place a card from their hand onto one of the center piles if the card is one number higher or lower than a card in the center. The catch is that there are no turns; players constantly discard cards at the same time as each other.
Click here to read the full rules for Speed.
28. Go Fish
Go Fish is a classic card game.
It doesn’t require much skill to learn or play, so it’s an easy game for kids to grasp.
The goal of Go Fish is to get the most 4-of-a-kind sets (e.g. 4 Aces, 4 threes, etc.).
If you’ve never played before or need a refresher, click here to read the rules for Go Fish.
29. War
War is a game of luck. Absolutely no strategy is needed to play this card game.
It’s kind of a mindless game, but it’s a good choice if you’re looking for something that isn’t very competitive or doesn’t require learning complicated rules.
In this two-player game, players simultaneously place a card from their hand face up in front of them. Whichever player has the higher card takes both cards. If both players place down a card of the same rank, you go to war!
The goal is to win all of the cards in the deck.
Click here to read the full rules for War.
Rainy day camping activities for adults
These camping activities for adults include drinking games, harder games, and other activities that are only suitable for campers over a certain age.
30. Cheers to the Governor
Cheers to the Governor is a typical drinking game where you make up silly rules as you go. Don’t forget to follow the rules or you’ll have to drink!
Set up the game by having everyone sit in a circle with a full drink. Go around the circle taking turns saying a number out loud from 1 to 21. Once someone gets to 21, everyone raises a toast and says “Cheers to the governor!”.
The player who gets to 21 creates a new drinking rule to implement on the next round of counting. For example, you could make a rule that whoever gets to the number 5 has to give someone a high five or that you must skip the number 13. If you break this rule during the rest of the game, you take a drink.
Once the rule has been established you restart the counting from one. Continue making a toast and a new rule every time someone reaches the number 21, keeping all of the previous rules that other players made.
This continues until there is a long list of rules. It gets harder and harder once there are a lot of rules to remember and a lot of mistakes have caused everyone to drink more!
31. Paranoia
Are you paranoid about what other people say about you?
In this game, you’ll get to find out what your fellow campers think about you – if you’re willing to drink.
To start a round, the person to your left whispers a question to you about the group of people you’re playing with. It could be something like “Who’s the funniest person here?” or “Who’s the most likely person to get fired from their job?”
You say your choice out loud to the whole group. Your answer must be someone in the group.
If anyone wants to hear what the question was, they first have to take a sip of their drink. The person who came up with the question will whisper the question to anyone who took a drink (don’t say the question out loud or else everyone will hear it whether they drank or not).
Just don’t make anyone too paranoid since you’re all stuck in a tent until the rain stops!
32. Rummy
There are many variations of the card game Rummy.
Generally speaking, players take turns drawing cards with the goal of collecting 3 cards of the same rank (e.g. 3 sixes) or runs of the same suit (e.g. the 5, 6, and 7 of spades).
Click here to read the rules for the basic version of Rummy. If you only have 2 players, click here to read the rules for Gin Rummy.
33. Hearts
Hearts is a good card game for a small group looking to play a game that requires a bit of strategy.
In this game, everyone takes a turn placing down a card. The cards must be the same suit as the suit of whatever card was placed down first in that round – unless you don’t have any cards of that suit.
There are special rules and point values for hearts and the queen of spades. The goal is to have the fewest points after everyone has discarded all of their cards.
Hearts is typically played with 4 people, but it can be played by 3 to 5 players if you discard any extra cards when dealing so all players start with the same number of cards.
Click here to read the rules of Hearts.
34. Would You Rather
Would You Rather is a game that can strike up interesting conversations and fuel lively debates.
To play, take turns coming up with two hypothetical scenarios and asking everyone which one they’d rather do. For example you might ask, “Would you rather have the ability to fly or to be invisible?”
The scenarios can be as unpleasant, ridiculous, far-fetched, or profound as you can think of.
It’s a great game to pass the time on any camping trip while you’re sitting around the campfire or staring up at the stars.
35. Never Have I Ever
Never Have I Ever is a great game to play with people you’re willing to be open with.
On your turn, you say something that you have never done. For example, you might say “Never have I ever gotten a speeding ticket.” Anyone who HAS done that thing has to take a drink.
Alternatively, if the people you’re camping with don’t drink, you could all hold up 3 fingers at the start of the game and anyone who has done the thing has to put one finger down. You’re out of the game when you’ve put down all of your fingers.
The things you share can be as mundane or risqué as you want, as long as you’ve never done them.
I recommend playing this game with adults only. Even if you keep the topics PG and play by the non-drinking rules, the adults are at a bit of a disadvantage if you’re playing with kids with little life experience.
36. Truth or Dare
Truth or dare is a great way to bond with your fellow campers by sharing secrets and engaging in scandalous dares.
The rules are simple. On your turn, pick someone and ask them “Truth or Dare?”. That person will choose to either tell the truth or accept a dare.
If they choose “truth”, you get to ask a question that needs to be answered honestly. If they choose “dare”, you will suggest a challenge for them to do.
As with Never Have I Ever, the questions and dares can be as innocent or intimate as you want. It makes for a great camping game for couples if you use flirty prompts, yet it can also be played with groups that are less comfortable together if you keep the prompts tame.
37. Two Truths and a Lie
Two Truths and a Lie is a fun way to get to know more about your friends and family. What better way to spend quality time together?
To play, one person lists 3 statements about themself. Two of the statements are true and one of the statements is a lie. Everyone else has to guess which one is the lie. Then it’s another person’s turn to come up with two truths and one lie about themself.
It can be a challenging game if you feel like you and the people you’re camping with know everything about each other. But it can be a great way to learn even more things about each other that may never come up in conversation otherwise, or just to see how many random facts you remember about each other.
38. Shag, Marry, Kill
Shag, Marry, Kill is another game that can easily be played while doing other camping activities like making s’mores or stargazing.
To play this game, someone lists three celebrities and another player must choose one celebrity to shag, one to marry, and one to kill. After taking their turn, they present the next player with three celebrities to shag, marry, or kill and so on.
It can be interesting to hear what combinations other people choose!
This game is versatile for camping because it can be played anywhere in any size group. It’s simply an amusing prompt for conversation.
39. Shake the Trailer
… or the tent.
Whatever kind of equipment you’re camping in, get it on with your partner.
40. Caption Your Photos
If you’ve taken a lot of photos during your camping trip, it can be hard to remember what’s happening in each photo once you get home and start to organize them.
Take advantage of the downtime to get a head start on this task. Scroll through your phone and add captions to your pictures while the details are still fresh in your mind.
Looking for more fun camping activities? Check out these related articles:
- 35 Super Fun Camping Games For Adults
- 27 Incredibly Fun Camping Games For Couples
- 20 Awesome Camping Games To Play At Night
As always, enjoy the outdoors responsibly. Leave no trace on all of your adventures.
