5 Quick & Handy Camp Activities for Your Back Pocket
We’ve all been there… you’re running a camp or hosting a birthday party and all of a sudden time has gone much quicker than you expected! Your pre-planned activity that you spent hours perfecting just hasn’t taken up nearly as much time as you had expected and you are panicking! You think to yourself, “How on earth am I going to keep these kids from bouncing off the walls… I need to entertain them for just five more minutes… think think think!”
Thankfully you do not have to panic anymore, as we have put together a list of quick and handy activities for cases like this when you are stuck in a rut! All you will need to play these games are yourselves!
The Alphabet Game
- How to Play: First, choose a category such as animals! Then, take turns going through the alphabet and naming animals that start with each letter (e.g, alligator, bird, cat…).
Speech Therapy Goals:
- Word Finding & Vocabulary: This is a great activity to help kids with both their word finding and vocabulary skills. Make this game more tricky by choosing categories that are more abstract (e.g., naming things that are hot).
Telephone
- How to Play: First, have your kids line up side-by-side. Next, have the child at one end think of a word of a pre-determined category (e.g., a kind of food) and whisper it in the ear of their friend beside them. Every child in the line will tell the next person what they hear. Once the word gets to the person at the other end, they will say what they heard aloud! Everybody wins if the first person confirms that this was in fact the correct word!
Speech Therapy Goals:
- Word Finding & Vocabulary: This is another great game for targeting word-finding as the kids will have to think of different words for each category.
I Spy
- How to Play: First, have the kids take turns thinking of an item around the room of a various colour (e.g., “I spy something that is blue”). Then, the other children will take turns finding items around the room that are “blue”. The game is over once the correct item has been guessed!
Speech Therapy Goals:
- Vocabulary / Colour Concepts: Play this game with kiddos who are working on their colours! Make this game more tricky by having the kids find items based on abstract concepts (e.g, items that are big or little).
- Turn-Taking: Another great game to play to encourage turn-taking within a group!
The Birthday Party Game
- How to Play: This is an excellent game to play as it is a game that is especially enjoyed by those at any age! This game works best if the group is sitting in a circle. Begin the game by first choosing one person in the group to “host the birthday party”. This person thinks of a category to themselves of items that are only allowed at their party (e.g., jungle animals). This person will begin the game by stating an item that they will bring to the party (e.g., “I am going to bring my tiger”). The next person in the circle then must ask if they can bring an item to the birthday party. If this person does not guess a jungle animal, they cannot go; however if the person does name a jungle animal, the host will tell them “Yes, you can come to my party”. The game continues around the circle until everybody catches onto the category and is therefore “invited” to the party. Tip: Make this game easier for little ones by giving them clues along the way!
Speech Therapy Goals:
- Vocabulary / Word Finding: This game challenges both the “hosts” and “guests” of the party to think of words that fit various categories!
- Memory: This game is a good memory task as the “guests” must remember what other people in the group have already guessed!
“I’m Going Camping” Memory Game
- How to Play: This game also works best when the children are sitting in a circle. The game begins by asking one child what they are going to bring on their camping trip? The camper must respond by naming an item that they would bring camping (e.g., “I am going to bring my tent”. The next child in the circle must then remember the person’s item next to them and also add their own item (e.g., “I am going to bring my tent and my sleeping bag”). The game continues until it becomes too difficult to remember all of the items consecutively! Tip: Modify this game by changing the category (e.g., items that you would bring to school, etc.).
Speech Therapy Goals:
- Vocabulary / Word Finding: This is another great game to target category production and word finding as campers will have to think of a new word each turn!
- Memory: This game definitely challenges one’s memory as they must state all items in correct order!
Learn More About Our Services
Anderson Therapy Services specializes in child and youth speech and language development. We use engaging games, puzzles, and interactive therapy sessions to help improve speech and language outcomes. Our our team of Speech-Language Pathologists and Communicative Disorders Assistants are able to assess a range of speech and language disorders and develop customized treatment plans for each individual client. We offer a range of services including one-on-one therapy, teletherapy, and camp programs.
