Things for kids to take/do outside on a campsite?

[MilaMae]

I always take masses of indoor stuff for rainy days but now my kids are 7,7 and 6 I'm thinking I can shoo them away if we get some sunny days in July.

Soooo what keeps kids amused and out of your hair on a campsite?We'll be camping in Cornwall and assuming we get some good weather I need some ideas.

I got as far as a frisbee .Can't take bikes or scooters as I'll soon be the proud owner of a Cobb(one has to get one's priorities right) .

TIA

swingball?

Badminton things.

Cards and board games

My brother always found himself a stick, it kept him occupied for days (in the 70s).

My brother always found himself a stick, it kept him occupied for days (in the 70s).

Hmmm we do sticks a lot and have a huge stick pile arsenal to show for it however if dp and I are to get the odd afternoon of campsite relaxation I'm not sure a stick would cut it.In our family sticks can turn into pokers after a while .

marbles, bowls in a packet, pocket kites, racket of any kind and balls - soft balls or shuttle cocks are excellent in case they hit something then it will not break whatever it hits and is also light and easy to pack.

bowls and cricket

Last year, I bought a (cheapy) net bag thing from Tesco with two racquets and shuttlecock, soft rounders bat and spongey ball, a small football and another thing for which I do not know the name! (It's an oval ball with a hole in the middle and two strings going through it. There are two handles at each end, and you need someone on each end holding the handles in each hand. You pull your handles apart to make to ball whizz down to the other person's end. Does anyone know what the hell is it called??). It's small, light and the DCs have played with it lots.

Oh, apparently, it's called whizzball. Anyway, when I said the DCs played with it lots, I meant the collection of games rather than the Whizzball thingy alone

We have a trug that just goes with us on every trip, it has rackets, soft balls, bubbles, drawing stuff (pads and pencils/crayons) buckets and spades, magnifying glasses, binoculars, those balls you throw at velcro mitts and the mitts to go with them, little cars, little animals, water pistols, it also has all the little bits that they have had as souvineers/out of kinder eggs from all the trips we have ever had, so if they pick down to the depths it is a trip down memory lane.

I am trying to build up a toy set which only comes out when camping. Some good ideas here, will add to the set.

*found a new travel etch a sketch in the charity shop for £1
*blow up beach ball
*Eye spy books from charity shop
*Pretend camp set like this from ebay

Those sticky mitt things with the ball that sticks to the mitt.
Tennis racket and tennis ball to play french cricket.

Skipping rope.

Bow and arrow.

Dressing up stuff, mine used to stay in character for hours

Love the pretend camp set, but my DC are too old at 10 and 11!

We have loads of those outdoor bat and ball, etc games in a bag. And we have always taken their bikes. If space is short, a scooter?

A football and a set of 4 small cones to make goals.
I-Spy books
Colouring books
Top Trumps
Water pistols

Mine don't need to seem anything. They just run wild and free, making dens, tanking about forming tribes with the other kids on the site and making grass soup.

Maybe you just need to get better at ignoring them?

In France, a ping pong bat is what you need.

Meryl I have 7 year old twin boys and a 6 year old girl who are generally great at amusing themselves when camping.

They are Devon kids so do a lot of the stuff you mention when we're not camping,I'm sure they'll do plenty camping.I just like to have a few tricks up my sleeve when camping for 10 days on the trot on a rural site. Makes it more enjoyable for us all,us and the other campers .

Forgot to say thanks all for the fab ideas,going to compile a camping toy set with them all.

So true basingstoke, DH always remembers ours!

This is probably only good for the over 5s, but my dds take knives and they go off and find sticks and bits of wood and then sit and whittle away for hours. Very lightweight and easy. And it appeals to my minimalist camping back-to-nature side.