Cottage Games / Camping Games

Do any/many of you head to a cottage or go camping in the summer?

We rent a cottage with friends each year and spend a week by the beach “Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool…” (Fresh Prince style). We load our cars to maximum capacity – so much so that the kids are usually bent into some awkward Twister position and my knees are up around my chest trying to fit one last thing in. They are going to be so glad when I tell them our next trip will be in an RV, not a cramped little car. We are so excited to get going, especially after sorting the RV extended warranty yesterday.

Granted, an ice cream maker isn’t a necessity, but neither are the bicycles we pack each and every year that the kids never ride (not so subtle hint to my Hubby).

While the toy situation for the kids has dwindled over the years, there are still cool evenings and the occasional rainy day that we need to be prepared for – without taking up too much space in the car. My friend used these in their rv as well when they went on a trip to test their new rv marine batteries and they went down a treat apparently!

I took the kids to the dollar store and gave them a mission: to find fun games that will fit inside this small paint can.

They did a GREAT job! True, one or two things poke out of the top of the paint can, but all the games were “lasting” ones. (Ones that won’t end/be completed in two minutes).

Okay, the bubble containers are kind of small and might not last that long, but they are easily refilled with dish soap and water.

Some play-doh for imaginative play, a hacky-sack for movement, marbles for a challenge and card games and dice to involve the parents.

I’m going to print off (if I remember) rules for a few different card games so that we can change things up from SNAP! and Go Fish.

If your kids are a bit older, remove the play-doh and bubbles and make a tween-teen cottage game pack – the card games will be a big hit if there is some ($) change involved.

If I pulled the cards and dice out of their wrappers, I think it would all fit lid and all – which would be great because then nothing would spill out in the car.