Grab A Couple of Balls for Kids Camping Fun!

The Gap Game
For younger kids
Requirements: two round Nerf balls (soccer or volley balls) and an even number of players.

All players stand in a circle with their legs stretched wide. The players with the balls try to roll them through the legs of another player in the ring before they can reach down and grab it. Everyone must keep their hands on their knees until a ball comes at them. The players should keep score for themselves. A successful roll through someone's legs counts as a point against that player, and the person with the fewest points at the end wins.

Blanket Ball
Requirements: one blanket and Nerf or beach ball for every team of four players.
This works best when the players on each team are of roughly similar heights.

Position one player at a corner of each blanket and rest the ball in the center of the blanket. Have them work together to pop the ball into the air, then catch it again. When they're proficient enough to have done this five times without dropping the ball, set up another team next to them and see if one team can toss its ball up and over to the other team. Then challenge that team to throw the ball back.

Crab Soccer
Requirements: Nerf soccer balls and cones or other markers, plus at least 10 players
Set up two teams. Use the cones to establish two goals, one at either end of the field.

Each team will be instructed as to which goal is theirs and which is the opponents goal. You can assign goalies to protect each team's goal if needed. Players line up on each side in front of their goal. Roll the ball down the middle. The players must all be in a crab position (both hands and feet on the floor with bottom facing the ground). The players will have 3-5 minutes to kick the ball into the other team's goal to score one point. The team that scores the most points or reaches 15 is the winner.

Doughboy Heaven…bet you can’t eat just one!

Here’s a campfire treat that’s sure to be a hit...doughboys!! These little toasted “tubes” can be filled with your choice of fillings - chocolate syrup, jelly, pie filling, whipped cream - you get the picture - and enjoyed on the spot! Here’s how to make your own doughboys:

You’ll need a “stick” about 1 ½ inches in diameter and about 2 feet long (pick up an untreated wooden dowel at your local home improvement store and cut to length). Decorate the holding end with permanent markers – one stick for each camper (this makes a great campsite craft for you and your grandchild).

At the campfire, butter the doughboy end of the stick and using refrigerated biscuit dough and roll a single biscuit into a snake shape. Spiral wrap the dough on the buttered end of the stick making sure the dough is sealed on the sides and end - creating a “tube”. Rotate/toast over the fire for about 5 minutes - until it’s brown and easily slips off the stick (careful - they’re hot). Fill and enjoy!

Slime – Easy Green Kid Fun

There’s nothing kids love more than camping out, roasting marshmallows, making s’mores, and enjoying the great outdoors…except having silly, messy fun that wouldn’t be permitted at home. Here’s a kids camping activity that will keep them occupied, interested and looked forward to the next trip. Slime.

Yep, I said slime – gooey, oozing slime. Don’t panic – it’s easy, environmentally- friendly and you might even like to get a piece of the action. Slime is a simple mixture of cornstarch, water and food coloring. Here’s how to do it – you’ll need:

➢ a large plastic bowl
➢ a large, strong spoon
➢ a Frisbee (for each kid) to use as a slime platter
➢ 1 box of store brand cornstarch
➢ water
➢ liquid food coloring (a multi-color 4-pack is a good choice)

Cover your picnic table with a plastic table cloth to protect the tabletop.

Begin by pouring half the box of cornstarch into the plastic bowl. Add a little bit of water – maybe a fast count of 5 under a faucet – and stir. At first it’ll be difficult to get the spoon through but with a little elbow grease the mixture will become rather loose. If it’s too soupy add more cornstarch and keep in mind, you’re looking for a mixed consistency a bit looser than glue.

Give each kid a Frisbee and divide the mixture up between the kids by spooning it into upside-down Frisbees. Next up is the color. Allow each participant to choose a color or a mixture of colors. A few drops should do it. This can be an excellent teaching tool – showing and experimenting on how combinations of colors make other colors. A word to the wise – keep the food coloring in your possession – kids tend to get very carried away with it.

Now it’s time to slime. Let the kids use their hands to scoop, ball, or simply slither around in the slime. Amazingly, the more it is handled the harder it becomes. Make a ball and it holds together. Open your hand and it turns back to goopy liquid.

When the fun is done you can pour the slime down the drain or in a trash can without any environmental guilt or concern. After all, every ingredient in slime is edible! And cleanup couldn’t be easier – use a garden hose and spray the mess away.

FYI - Hands may temporarily turn the color of the slime but will come off with washing within a day.

Winter Family Fun

If your family has too much energy to be pent up indoors, then why not head out? There's no reason to let a little cold slow you down, especially with all the fun there is to be had outside in the winter. You'll keep your crew happy and busy building snow forts, crafting snowmen, and sliding down snow-covered hills. You might even try something new this year, like snow shoeing or snow painting. Don't miss the fun of a winter wonderland!

Experts agree that people who live in northern latitudes suffer from a lack of sunlight during the winter. With winter's short days and long periods of darkness, it's easy to go all day without stepping out into natural light. This lack of sunlight can lead to depression and lethargy that often culminates in seasonal affective disorder. However, the solution is easy to find! Just by spending half an hour outside every day, people dramatically cut their chances of being depressed in the winter. And since it's such a great way for families to blow off steam and burn some excess energy, winter activities are a natural fit for parents and kids.

Things To Do
There are plenty of old-fashioned winter activities that your family probably does already. Tubing and sledding are classic fun activities, as are snowball fights, building snowmen, and creating snow angels. But has your family ever constructed a snow fort? These can be simple or elaborate. In their simplest form, a snow fort is a wall of snow (that ideally blocks the prevailing wind). After the wall is built, the family can sit behind it and feel nice and snug.

A more complicated snow fort can be a cave, a box (four walls), or a wedge-shaped shield that's the perfect defense during a snowball fight. If you have a brick form, you can even try making igloo blocks and building your own snow hut. Just make sure you pack the snow well into the forms, or the block will crumble apart.

Cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, and ice skating are also great family activities. If you have the gear, you can spend days exploring local trails, noting how different even familiar landmarks look when they're covered in snow. If your area is cold enough, your crew can go ice skating on local ponds or lakes. Just make sure the ice is 3-4 inches thick before you venture out.

Try Something New
Maybe this year your family will be ready to take up snow shoeing. Snow shoeing is fun and easy, and it's a great way to travel across the snow without worrying about sinking in to your waist. However, because of the wide stance it requires, snow shoeing can be tricky for smaller kids with short legs. If you want to try snow shoeing with little ones, be sure to find snow shoes that are the right size and that are made of light-weight aluminum. Adult snow shoes are more or less one-size-fits-all.

Snow painting is a fun family project. Take a few water bottles with squirt tops and fill them with a mixture of water and food coloring. Ideally you'll have a different color in each bottle. Then head out into the snow and use your imagination to make some fun pictures.

Make a snow sculpture. If your family is tired of the standard snowmen, then it's time to branch out into snow sculpting. You've probably seen some of the amazing sculptures that are built for winter carnivals and festivals around the country, so why not try replicating them in your own front yard? The key is to start small with a project that isn't too ambitious. Build a big mound of snow that's well packed-down. Then use spoons, ice scrapers, and small snow shovels to scrape away what you don't want. While you're building your small sculpture, you'll learn tricks that will serve you well if you go on to build something bigger and more dramatic.

Making your own snow cones is another fun winter activity. All you need is a bowl, some clean snow, and maple syrup or some other flavored syrup. If you want to use vanilla extract or another baking flavoring, be sure to dilute it with water first and dissolve in some sugar. Drizzle your syrup over the snow and take a bite!