My favourite holidays are not the overseas trips, the fancy hotels the spotless restaurants or the poolside bars. Its actually paying top dollar to leave my spacious air-conditioned home and live in a tiny tin house or thin fabric tent, share a public toilet and shower block, and be surrounded by others doing the same. With over 2000 parks and an annual income of $2 billion dollars, I am not alone with my love for Caravan Parks. One of the biggest reasons why Caravan parks are so appealing to families is that they offer so many activities for children.
From great pool set ups to playgrounds, jumping pillows, kids clubs and more. It's an adventure wonderland for children. Furthermore children have the space to roam free within the bounds of the park, to create their own fun, to be out all day, while parents enjoy not having to chase them out of their room or off their devices. Whether your Caravan park is equipped with activities or not, I've compiled a list of awesome games that your kids can play, that make use of the great space of the Caravan Park
Scavenger Hunts. Whether they play alone or with others, just give a sheet to each child with a list of objects to find and let them run wild. Scavenger hunts can include nature hunts, treasure hunts, clues to decipher for the next clue, compass directions, and themed hunts.
2. Sardines (Night game). Why stop having fun just because it's dark. Grab a group of kids and head out for a game of Sardines. Like Spotlight Sardines has people hiding that must be found but it reverses the rules. Instead of having everyone hide and one person look for them, Sardines has one person hide and everyone else look for them. Make sure that the boundaries are firmly established so the person who is hiding knows where they can and cant hide. Also establish some rules, like, no one else's caravan. Everyone closes their eyes while the selected person goes and hides. After counting to 100 everyone goes out looking for this person. Torches are allowed but may not be necessary. When someone finds IT, they don't announce it but subtly join them in their hiding place. This continues with anyone spotting IT joining the growing number all trying to keep hidden. When there is only one person left who has not found the group they become the next person to hide. Call everyone back and go again.
4. 44 homes. Choose a person to be IT. If your group is large you may need to choose 2 or more IT's. Allocate an area where players can hide. Allocate a base. IT closes her eyes and counts to 44 while all other players run and hide. The objective is for the players to return to the home base without being caught. If caught they need to return to the far edges of the game or are eliminated or can join IT in catching others, depending on how you want to play. First person back to base is the winner and becomes the new IT for the next game.
5. Frisbee golf Gaining in popularity this game is an excellent way to have a quiet round with your kids without having to leave the Park. You will need a frisbee for each player. This game will work best if you can move away from other caravans. You don't want to be hitting your neighbours in the head with a frisbee or smashing into their mobile home. Take turns choosing an object. It could be a tree, a bin, a building, a stream, a concrete platform etc. Objects can be anything from 20 to 200 metres away. Once players agree on the area. Take turns throwing your frisbee. Like golf, whoever is furtherest from the target takes the next throw. Continue in this manner, counting how many turns it takes you to hit or land in the specified target. Keep score, alternating who chooses the next target object.
6. You're dead. (Not for children) This game is a fantastic game for large groups of 20 or more and works even better with numbers of 30 or 40+. It is suitable for high schoolers and above. It is a game that can last for days, even a whole week. In this way no set time is given to the game but it is continuously played throughout the holiday. A coordinator is needed to write down everyones name in a big circle with a line drawn from one to the next. Using another sheet of paper write down everyones name and give out the slip of paper to the person whose name is being pointed to on the original paper. In this way two people are not trying to 'kill' each other. The objective of the game is to kill as many people as possible while remaining alive. You can only kill the person who is on your slip. You kill a person by finding them alone and whispering your dead to them. If you can do this without any witnesses that person is dead and out of the game and you collect their slip(s). The person they were currently pursuing is now your next target. The coordinator might be needed to decide on disputed kills. Game continues in this fashion until their is only one person left, or if the holiday finishes before everyone is dead, whoever has the most kills (slips of paper) wins.
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