Games to take hiking & camping & travelling

[emma_melbourne]

I'm taking my nearly 5 year old daughter on a hiking camping trip over the Christmas holiday, and I'd love advice on games that are not too heavy or too much pack room.

Annoyingly so many websites don't list weights on items. I've bought a few games today that I think will be good in general for travel:

Pendleton backgammon (roll up)
Approx 30 cm x 30 cm open, and rolls up like a mini rug roll to 30 cm x 7.5 cm diam. (So not super-tiny but will fit in my concealed long pocket of my pack)
One website says it's 230 grams and another says it's 140 grams, so I'm unsure on the weight, and will update when it arrives and I've had a chance to weigh it:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Pendleton-Bac ... 1452172579

It's perhaps a little heavy but I think will be worth its weight in gold if it is bucketing down for a period with rain, to have something to do in our wee tent.

Mini chutes and ladders (travel size)
Says it is 15 cm x 15 cm and no idea of weight. Will weigh it once it's here.

Any other ideas for weight games? I thought I'd take mini glow stick bracelets and mini bubble blowing stick bottle with me also.

I know a lot of hikers take out a set of playing cards as they are reasonably light.

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[Ms_Mudd]

We take a deck of cards, I was happy enough with the weight of them, but then my 11yo son won a mini deck of cards in a high end bon-bon last Christmas, even better!

Your daughter will be a bit young, but we did get a game of scrabble on my phone, my kids have been playing the game at home for a few years. We are now at the point I can no longer easily beat them We do have an actual travel scrabble as well and yes, I have also carried that.

I got a lightweight crocheted frisbee from wildearth (no affiliation) a few years ago too, it folds and also packs nicely in with my cookset and makes a fine funny looking hat They still sell them. It doesn't hurt when it hits you either- bonus.

This will sound silly, but a knife that is age appropriate is good. My guys have learned the hard way, but no serious injuries, how to handle knives and are very sensible with them. They feel a sense of pride and responsibility in carrying them and supplying them for tasks around camp if I 'can't find' -wink wink- mine. I carry skin glue in my first aid kit just in case.
Mostly the kids just make spears, whittle, build shelters out of leaves etc

[CraigVIC]

My daughter is older (11), but I take a regular deck of cards for 'go fish'. Soon I'll be taking my youngest (6) and will switch to a Uno set for that.

Glow sticks are great as long as the time of year suits (if their bedtime is before sunset it can be a drama to keep them up)

I get sick of hide-and-go-seak long before my kids do when camping.

[Neo]

Rory's Story Cubes is a little pouch with 9 dice. Each face has a picture so when you roll them all you get a random set then make up a story to suit.

[emma_melbourne]

Oooh thank you everyone for your suggestions.

@Ms_Mudd What do you suggest as an "age appropriate" knife? Is there a particular brand or type you suggest?

And thank you @Ms_Mudd for suggestion of mini pack of cards. Good idea.

Thanks @CraigVIC for the Uno suggestion. Yes she's probably better suited to Uno than regular cards at 4 turning 5.

And thank you @Neo for the suggestion of Rory's Story Cubes.

I am googling for all those ideas now. Much appreciated.

Best,

Emma

[emma_melbourne]

Oh and this one might amuse the Ultra-lighters...

A snakes and ladder hankie!

https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/5502120 ... ame-hankie

[Moondog55]

In the same vein I have seen banadannas with chessboard prints. I seem to recall Paddys selling foam mats printed with chess and backgammon games too in the distant past, and there is Zilch and poker dice

https://grandmaideas.com/zilch

[Mookie]

My kids love this travel game of "quirkle" which only weighs 150g.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com ... L._AC_.jpg

[Ms_Mudd]

Snakes and ladder hankie- what a fantastic idea! I would think about that for myself really, could pack it in my cook kit rather than my teeny bit of chux.
We are probably heading off this week, weather permitting.

As for knifes, there were no particular brands that seemed safer than others, we just trawled the internet and purchased, Factors that are important for us is easy open/close function that can be achieved safely with little hands. Nothing too pointy at the end etc.
Both of my boys have started with very simple swiss army knives and yes, both cut themselves very early on with it. Best to get used to it at home where you can easily patch up, after their initial injuries, they got a lot more respect for their tools and it hasn't ever happened again that they have cut themselves. My eldest son is now in the infantry and gets trusted with things much sharper without incident after a memorable Christmas day with his first knife. My daughter was far more sensible with such an implement and until this weekend just gone had never cut herself,but did so when she was whittling a stick.

My youngest has a Victorinox sentinel single blade at the moment, it is very chunky, but has a grippy type handle and is easy for him to operate on his own. The shape of the handle offers some protection to his hands when he is chopping. My daughter who is 12yo is running a teeny ultralight knife, a gerber LST that weighs 17g. I have been using the slightly larger version of it myself for the last 2 or more years. It is very sharp though although very minuscule. She has only moved onto it recently from a chunkier knife- I suppose it is a bit like Duplo for toddlers and then the finer/smaller lego once they have mastered that?

I forgot your daughter was more on the four side of things than 5, so maybe something smooth, blunt and more 'spoon' than actual knife, I think some of the online camping stores have little kiddies versions of such. Something very safe but that could be called on to manage nothing more than soft cheese in camp would be the ticket. My kids were probably 6-8 with their first 'real' knives.

[Neo]

Opinel make a kids pocket knife with a blunt tip, one has a classic timber handle, the other synthetic with a whistle:
https://www.dragonflytoys.com.au/produc ... LaEALw_wcB

https://www.earthtoys.net/products/juni ... ag_organic

[Aardvark]

Pass the Pigs

[emma_melbourne]

BACKGAMMON & CHESS / CHECKERS BANDANAS

48 grams and designed for hiking:

https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/6877427 ... backgammon

TRAVEL BACKGAMMON WITH BANDANA

https://thecompassgoods.com/products/bandana-backgammon


SNAKES & LADDERS & OTHER GAME BANDANAS

https://www.fishpond.com.au/c/Books/q/Galison+bandana


BACKGAMMON SCARF

https://www.redbubble.com/i/scarf/Backg ... 4871.B15PI

[Petew]

Sleeping queen's. Both our girls loved it when they were younger.

[Eremophila]

On sale at Aldi today:

https://www.aldi.com.au/en/special-buys ... ard-games/