• 35 games
  • Checked October 2026

Camping One-Minute Games

One campsite challenge at a time, with what to gather, the goal and a 60-second clock.

Camping One-Minute Games

More filters
Show all 35
  1. Bundle of SticksYou need: 8 fallen sticks about as long as your arm and a cord. Goal: gather the sticks, bind them with the cord and knot it. Lift the bundle by the cord alone and give it three shakes. If no stick slides out, it counts. Any knot that holds is a good knot.

Next step Yard games with sponges and hose

All 35 games

Pine cones, sticks and leaves 9

  • Cone Catch, One Step Back You need: a pine cone and a partner standing one step away. Goal: toss the cone underhand to your partner. After every catch, both of you take one step back. Six catches in a row win. A drop sends both players back to the start.
  • Cone on the Back of a Hand You need: a pine cone and a picnic table. Goal: balance the cone on the back of one flat hand and walk a full lap around the table. Two laps win. A dropped cone goes back on the hand where it fell. The other hand stays in a pocket.
  • Elbows Down the Line You need: a pine cone and five or more players standing shoulder to shoulder. Goal: pass the cone to the far end of the line and back. Each player holds it pinched between their own two elbows, never in a hand. A dropped cone restarts from the player who dropped it.
Show all 35 games (32 more)

Pine cones, sticks and leaves, continued

  • Five Kicks, No Ground You need: a pine cone and closed shoes. Goal: drop the cone onto your foot and keep it in the air with your feet and knees only. Five touches in a row before it lands win. Everyone else stands back two steps.
  • Pine Cone Pyramid You need: 6 fallen pine cones of about the same size and a flat rock or a picnic bench. Goal: build a pyramid with three cones at the bottom, two on those and one on top. It has to stand for a count of three with no hand near it.
  • Stick Arrows to the Mug You need: a partner, a camp mug and a handful of short sticks. Goal: one player hides the mug within twenty steps, then lays three arrows on the ground, each made of three sticks, that lead to it. The partner, who looked away, follows them and finds the mug before zero.
  • Stick Teepee You need: 8 straight fallen sticks, each about as long as your forearm. Goal: lean all eight together into a cone that stands by itself for a count of five. Start with three, tips crossed, and add the rest around them. Take it apart and scatter the sticks afterward.
  • Ten Leaves on a Twig You need: a thin, straight fallen twig and fallen leaves. Goal: thread 10 leaves onto the twig, each pierced through its middle, like beads on a string. Hold the twig up level at zero with all ten still on. Use only leaves that are already on the ground.
  • Three in a Row on the Ground You need: a partner, a grid of four lines scratched in the dirt with a stick, 5 pine cones and 5 pebbles. Goal: play tic-tac-toe, cones against pebbles, one piece a turn. The first player to win two rounds before zero wins. A tied round is cleared and replayed.

Tent, bedding and pack 9

  • Boots Laced for the Trail You need: your own pair of hiking boots or sneakers, unlaced down to the last two holes. Goal: put both on, lace every hole and hook, and tie each with a double knot. Stand up and stamp twice at the finish. A skipped hole means that boot is done again.
  • Camp Chair Into Its Bag You need: a folding camp chair, set up, and its carry bag. Goal: fold the chair, slide it all the way into the bag, pull the drawstring and hang the bag on your shoulder. Then take it out and set it up again. Seated in it at zero wins. Keep fingers clear of the joints.
  • Find It by Feel in the Pack You need: a daypack holding 8 things, among them a spoon, a sock, a flashlight, a camp mug and a hat, and a caller. Goal: with your eyes shut, reach in and pull out each thing the caller names. Five right in a row win. A wrong thing goes back in.
  • Jacket Into Its Own Hood You need: a rain jacket with a hood. Goal: fold the sleeves in, roll the jacket up tight from the hem and tuck the whole roll inside its own hood, so that it holds as a bundle. Toss it up and catch it once. If it stays rolled, it counts.
  • Lights On You need: a flashlight with its batteries taken out and lying beside it, cap off. Goal: load the batteries the right way around, screw the cap on and switch on. Then signal three long flashes at the sky or the ceiling, never at eyes. For a race, give each player the same model.
  • Peg Out the Tarp You need: a small tarp or groundsheet with corner loops, 4 tent pegs and soft ground. Goal: spread the tarp flat and pin all four corners, each peg pushed in by hand until only its hook shows. The judge tugs each corner once. Pegs are carried point down, at a walk.
  • Tarp Fold for Two You need: a tarp or a groundsheet spread flat, and a partner. Goal: fold it in half, corner to corner, again and again until it is no bigger than a pizza box, with edges that line up. Neither player speaks. The judge checks the corners.
  • Two Poles, Snapped and Crossed You need: 2 folded tent poles of the kind strung on elastic cord. Goal: snap every section of both poles together, lay the two finished poles on the ground as an X, then fold both up again. Folded and side by side at zero wins. Keep the pole ends low and away from faces.
  • Zip In, Zip Out You need: a sleeping bag laid flat for each team. Goal: the first player takes off their shoes, gets in, zips the bag up to the chin, unzips, gets out and tags the next. Three campers through the bag before zero win. Shoes go back on after the race.

Rope, cord and carabiners 9

  • Bundle of Sticks You need: 8 fallen sticks about as long as your arm and a cord. Goal: gather the sticks, bind them with the cord and knot it. Lift the bundle by the cord alone and give it three shakes. If no stick slides out, it counts. Any knot that holds is a good knot.
  • Coil the Rope, Hang It Up You need: a rope about as long as six steps, lying in a loose heap, and a branch stub or a hook. Goal: coil the whole rope into even loops over your hand and elbow, wrap the tail around the coil to hold it, and hang it up. It has to hang as one coil for a count of five.
  • Everybody Up on the Rope Ring You need: a strong rope tied in a ring by an adult, who tests the knot, and eight or more players around it on level grass, holding on with both hands. Goal: all lean back until the rope is tight, then sit down together and stand up together, three times, with nobody letting go. A slow count out loud keeps the group in step.
  • Gear on the Line You need: a cord tied at shoulder height, 5 carabiners and 5 things with a loop or a handle: a camp mug, a hat, a lantern, a water bottle and a stuff sack. Goal: clip all five to the line in the order the judge calls them out. All five hanging at zero win.
  • Hoist the Snack Bag You need: a branch a little higher than you can reach, a cord about as long as eight steps with a rolled sock tied to one end, and a small stuff sack. Goal: throw the sock over the branch, tie the sack to the cord and haul it up until it hangs above head height. Everyone else stands behind the thrower.
  • Lace the Tarp Edge You need: a tarp with eyelets along one edge and a cord longer than that edge. Goal: thread the cord through every eyelet in turn, over and under, from one corner to the other, and pull it through until both ends hang even. The judge counts the eyelets. A skipped one is threaded again from there.
  • Mug on a Zip Line You need: a cord tied on a slope between two trees or two chairs, a camp mug on a carabiner and 3 marshmallows in the mug. Goal: clip the mug to the top of the line and let it slide to the bottom without losing a marshmallow. Three clean runs win. Raise or lower the top end to change the speed.
  • Ten Carabiners, One Hand You need: 10 carabiners in a heap. Goal: clip them into a single chain using one hand, the other in a pocket. Lift the chain by its top link at zero. Ten hanging in a row win. Bracing a carabiner against your leg is allowed.
  • Towel Line Between Two Trees You need: two trees a few steps apart, a cord and a damp towel. Goal: tie the cord between the trees, with any knots you like, tight enough that the towel hangs on it without touching the ground. The towel has to stay clear for a count of five. Untie the line afterward.

Camp kitchen and marshmallows 8

  • Canteen by the Mugful You need: a bucket of water, a camp mug and an empty canteen or a narrow-necked bottle standing on the ground five steps away. Goal: carry water a mugful at a time and pour it in until the canteen overflows. One hand on the mug, none on the canteen. Play it where a wet patch does not matter.
  • Four Mugs on a Stick You need: 4 enamel or plastic camp mugs on the ground and a stick as long as your arm. Goal: hook the mugs by their handles, one at a time, with the stick alone, until all four hang on it. Carry them to the picnic table and set them down without a clatter.
  • Marshmallow Chimney You need: 8 large marshmallows and a camp plate. Goal: stack them one on top of another into a single column. Six high and standing for a count of three wins. Use one hand, and square each marshmallow up before the next goes on.
  • Marshmallow Into the Mug You need: a partner with a camp mug, standing four steps away, and 10 marshmallows. Goal: toss the marshmallows underhand, one at a time. The partner may move the mug but not their feet. Five caught win. The ones that hit the ground go in the trash, not in a mouth.
  • Nest the Cook Set You need: a nesting camp cook set, taken apart and scattered on a blanket: pots, a pan, bowls, mugs and the lid. Goal: fit every piece back inside the biggest pot, put the lid on and fasten the strap or the bag. A piece left on the blanket means opening it up again.
  • Six on a Stick You need: a clean chopstick or a blunt roasting stick, and 6 marshmallows on a plate. Goal: sit down, hold the stick in one hand and thread all six on without the other hand touching a marshmallow or the plate. Hold the stick up level at zero. Stay seated while the stick is in your hand.
  • S’more Stack in Mitts You need: oven mitts or thick gloves, 6 graham cracker squares, 3 pieces of chocolate and 3 marshmallows. Goal: wearing both mitts, build three stacks: cracker, chocolate, marshmallow, cracker. All three standing at zero win. Nothing is toasted, and the stacks are shared out after the game.
  • Trail Mix Sort With a Spoon You need: a mug of nut-free trail mix with three kinds of pieces, such as raisins, cereal rings and pretzel sticks, a spoon and 3 bowls. Goal: move 8 of each kind into its own bowl using only the spoon. A piece in the wrong bowl is spooned back out.

How this list was compiled: An original list of October 2026: 35 one-minute challenges made from what a campsite or a camp cabin already has, written for this page and copied from no television show and no other list. Camp games are passed around freely, so a game here may be played elsewhere under another name. No game uses a fire, a stove, a knife or an axe; tent pegs are pushed in by hand, the thrown line is weighted with a rolled sock, and only fallen cones, sticks and leaves are used. Nothing is eaten while the clock runs. The tip about marshmallows states what the American Academy of Pediatrics’ choking prevention page says (https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/injuries-emergencies/Pages/Choking-Prevention.aspx, read 2026-10-13). No game has been stopwatch-tested: every target (six cones, ten carabiners, five caught) is a starting point for the host to raise or lower. Licence: own work

How it works

These 35 camping one-minute games use what a campsite already has: pine cones, tent pegs, rope, a canteen, a bag of marshmallows. Minute to Win It, the TV game show, also gives contestants 60 seconds a challenge; this page is not connected to it.

Read the full guide

Camp one-minute games from the gear pile

Tent, bedding and pack holds 9 games and Rope, cord and carabiners 9. Camp kitchen and marshmallows has 8, and nothing is eaten while the clock runs. No game uses a fire, a stove or a knife.

For a cabin group or a wet day

Pine cones, sticks and leaves holds 9 for the ground around the site. Works indoors, in a cabin or a tent holds 19 that need no trees and no soil. Not one of these targets has been timed, so treat each number as a first offer.

  • The American Academy of Pediatrics lists marshmallows among foods that can cause choking, and says to keep high-risk foods from children until age 4.
  • Tent pegs are pushed in by hand, carried point down and counted back into their bag.
  • Use fallen cones, sticks and leaves only, and scatter them again afterward.

Questions and answers

Which one-minute games for camping need no extra supplies?

Pine Cone Pyramid, Stick Teepee, Ten Leaves on a Twig and Elbows Down the Line use only what lies on the ground. Boots Laced for the Trail and Find It by Feel in the Pack use gear every camper brought.

Which games suit a whole cabin group?

Pairs, teams and the whole group holds 9. Everybody Up on the Rope Ring takes eight or more at once, and Zip In, Zip Out and Elbows Down the Line run as races between cabins.

What can we play in the tent when it rains?

Nest the Cook Set, Six on a Stick, Lights On, Jacket Into Its Own Hood and Ten Carabiners, One Hand all fit on a sleeping bag. Marshmallow Chimney needs a plate that sits flat.

More tools

Show 8 more

Browse Acting and Drawing