75 games
Checked October 2026

Superhero Camp Games

Opens on superhero week, with ocean week and space week in the menu and no hero named.

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X-Ray Eyes: Name the Bumps Under the Sheet1. A guessing game. Out of sight, a counselor lays eight things from around camp on a table and covers them with a thin sheet.2. Cabins come up in turn and look at the bumps for one minute, hands behind their backs.3. Each cabin writes down what it thinks is underneath. Lift the sheet. A point for each thing named.Youngest player: age 6. Players: 5 to 40. You need: a sheet, eight things from around camp, paper and pencils.
Rooftop Tightrope With a Citizen on a Tray1. A balance relay. Lay a rope on the grass in a long curve.2. Each camper walks the rope heel to toe while carrying a soft toy on a tray or a paper plate, held in one hand.3. A dropped citizen is put back at the spot where it fell. Hand the tray to the next camper at the far end. The team with the fewest drops wins, not the fastest.Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 30. You need: a rope, a tray or a plate, and a soft toy for each team.
Sidekick Shadow, One Beat Behind1. The mirror game, with a delay. In pairs, one camper is the hero and one the sidekick.2. The hero moves slowly across the field: a walk, a leap, a pose. The sidekick does every move one beat later, a step behind.3. On the whistle, swap jobs without stopping. Counselors point out the pair that looks most like one person and an echo.Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 40. You need: nothing.

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Superhero week 25

Academy Circuit, a Stamp at Every Station 1. A station circuit, run as hero training. Set six stations around the field: leap a row of cones, crawl under a low rope, throw at a target, walk a line on the ground, carry a full bucket, sprint. 2. Cabins start at different stations and move on at each whistle. 3. A counselor at each station stamps the camper's hand or card. Six stamps make a hero license, and every camper who finishes gets one. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 12 to 60. You need: cones, a rope, a target, a bucket and a stamp or a marker.
Beat the Villain's Timer: Three Locks 1. A three-part team challenge against a kitchen timer set for five minutes. 2. The cabin must open three locks in order: untie a rope with five knots, stack ten cups into a pyramid, and find a key buried in a bucket of sand. 3. Everyone must touch every lock. A cabin that beats the timer resets the locks for the next cabin, with knots of its own. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 5 to 40. You need: a kitchen timer, a rope, ten cups, a key and a bucket of sand.
Cape Snatch, Recharge in the Phone Booth 1. Tail tag, with capes. Every camper tucks a bandana loosely into the back of their collar, so that most of it hangs free. 2. On "go," campers pull one another's capes and drop them on the spot. No holding on to your own. 3. A camper with no cape picks one up, runs to a hoop marked as the phone booth, tucks it in and comes back. After five minutes, anyone who never lost a cape takes a bow. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 8 to 40. You need: a bandana for each camper and two hoops.

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Superhero week, continued

Catch the Cat in the Blanket 1. A catching game for teams of four. Each team holds a blanket by its corners, stretched tight. 2. A counselor on the climbing frame or a step tosses soft toys, one at a time, in different directions: cats that have fallen from a tree. 3. The team moves together to catch each one in the blanket. Ten cats a team. Count the rescues. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 4 to 32. You need: a blanket for each team and ten soft toys.
City Alert: Flood, Quake, Blackout 1. A call-and-respond game with three alarms. On "Flood," everyone gets both feet off the ground on a bench, a log or a painted line. On "Quake," everyone holds on to a partner and sits. On "Blackout," everyone freezes with eyes shut. 2. The caller mixes the alarms faster and faster. 3. Nobody is out. The last camper to respond calls the next three alarms. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 8 to 60. You need: nothing.
Climb the Skyscraper Lying Down 1. A photo game. Lay a long rope straight on the ground and chalk or tape windows beside it. 2. A cabin lies down along the rope and poses as heroes climbing a tower: hanging from a ledge, pulling a friend up, waving from a window. 3. A counselor takes the picture from above, from a bench or the top of the slide. Cabins vote for the picture that fooled them most. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 5 to 40. You need: a long rope, chalk or tape, and a camera.
Crack the Number Code to the Lair 1. A code hunt. Write a message as numbers, with 1 for A and 2 for B through to 26 for Z. The message names a place at camp. 2. Each cabin gets a copy and decodes it. 3. At that place waits a second coded note, and at the next a third. The third leads to the lair, where a counselor in a bad disguise hands over the prize. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 5 to 40. You need: three coded notes for each cabin, and pencils.
Crack the Vault: Three Dials, Higher or Lower 1. The higher-or-lower game, with three numbers to find. A counselor writes down a secret code of three digits. 2. Cabins take turns guessing the first digit and are told only "higher" or "lower." When it is found, move to the second. 3. The cabin that finds the third digit opens the vault: a box with something inside for the whole unit. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 5 to 40. You need: a box, paper and a pencil.
The Floating Beam 1. A team challenge often run with a tent pole. Six to ten campers stand in two facing rows and hold out their index fingers. Lay a light pole or a broomstick across the fingers. 2. The team must lower the beam to the ground. Every finger has to stay touching it, from underneath only. 3. The beam tends to rise. Let the team stop, talk and try again as often as it likes. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 6 to 40. You need: a tent pole or a broomstick for each team.
Four Powers Medley Relay 1. A relay with a different power on each leg. Flight is run with arms straight out. Strength is walked with a ball held overhead. Stretch is crossed in the longest steps the camper can take. Speed is a plain sprint. 2. Teams of four decide who takes which power. 3. Each leg goes out to a cone and back. Run it twice, and let teams change their line-up in between. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 8 to 40. You need: a ball for each team and cones.
Grapple Line: Hook the Cone and Reel It In 1. A ring toss in which the ring comes back. Tie a rope to a plastic hoop. Stand a cone six steps from the throwing line. 2. A camper throws the hoop so that it drops over the cone, then pulls the rope to drag the cone home across the line. 3. Three throws each. A cone that tips but comes home still counts. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 2 to 20. You need: a plastic hoop on a rope, and a cone.
Invent a Hero in Three Passes 1. A pass-along drawing game. Each cabin starts with a sheet of paper and writes a power at the top. Pass the sheet to the next cabin. 2. That cabin adds a weakness and passes it on. The third cabin adds a costume made only of things found at camp. 3. The sheet goes back to where it started, and that cabin draws the hero and introduces them to the unit. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 9 to 60. You need: paper and markers.
Keep the Villain Talking 1. An improv game for the whole unit. One camper is the villain and must explain an evil plan for thirty seconds without stopping. 2. Before starting, the audience gives three words that have to appear in the speech, such as pancake, canoe and sock. 3. Behind the villain, two heroes mime untying the mayor. If the villain stops talking or turns around, the rescue fails. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 8 to 60. You need: a stopwatch.
The Mayor's Message, Run and Whisper 1. The telephone game, as a relay across a field. Spread each team out in a long line, ten steps between campers. 2. A counselor whispers the same message to the first camper of every team. That camper runs to the next and whispers it once, and so on. 3. The last camper runs to the mayor and says it aloud. Score two points for the first to arrive and five for the message that arrives whole. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 10 to 40. You need: nothing.
Mission Briefing: Seven Details, Read Once 1. A listening game. A counselor reads a made-up mission aloud, once, with seven details in it: a color, a number, a time, a place, a name, an animal and a password. 2. Cabins listen without writing. 3. The counselor then asks seven questions. Each cabin whispers together and writes one answer to each. The cabin with seven right writes the next briefing. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 5 to 60. You need: a mission written beforehand, paper and pencils.
One Giant Cape, Eight Flyers 1. A relay in which the whole team runs at once, under a bedsheet. Eight campers hold the edges of the sheet above their heads as one cape. 2. The team runs around a far cone and back without anyone letting go and without the cape touching the ground. 3. Time each team. On the second run, every team tries to beat its own time. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 8 to 40. You need: a bedsheet for each team, a cone and a stopwatch.
Origin Story in Sixty Seconds 1. A skit with a rule. Each cabin invents a hero nobody has heard of and has ten minutes to plan a skit. 2. The skit shows how the hero got their power, lasts one minute and gives every camper something to do. 3. The power has to come from something at camp: the lake, the dining hall, a mosquito. The audience names each hero afterward. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 5 to 60. You need: a stopwatch.
Reflex Test: Catch Both Before the Second Bounce 1. A reaction game for pairs. One camper holds a tennis ball in each hand at shoulder height, arms out to the sides. 2. Without warning, they let go of one ball, or both. 3. The partner, standing an arm's length in front, must catch whatever falls before it bounces twice. Ten drops, then swap. A catch before the first bounce scores double. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 2 to 30. You need: two tennis balls for each pair.
Rooftop Tightrope With a Citizen on a Tray 1. A balance relay. Lay a rope on the grass in a long curve. 2. Each camper walks the rope heel to toe while carrying a soft toy on a tray or a paper plate, held in one hand. 3. A dropped citizen is put back at the spot where it fell. Hand the tray to the next camper at the far end. The team with the fewest drops wins, not the fastest. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 30. You need: a rope, a tray or a plate, and a soft toy for each team.
Shield Bounce Into the Hoop 1. A target toss with a deflection in the middle. One camper holds a trash-can lid or a square of cardboard as a shield. A partner stands five steps away with soft balls. 2. The partner lobs a ball underhand at the shield. The hero angles the shield so that the ball bounces off it into a hoop on the ground. 3. Ten lobs, then swap. Count the balls that land in the hoop. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 2 to 20. You need: a lid or cardboard shield, soft balls and a hoop for each pair.
Shrink Ray Tag 1. Tag in which nobody is out. Two taggers carry foam noodles as shrink rays and tag below the shoulders. 2. A tagged camper shrinks: they go on playing in a crouch, walking like a duck. 3. A shrunk camper grows again when a full-size camper taps them on the head with two hands. Change taggers every two minutes. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 10 to 40. You need: two foam noodles.
Sidekick Shadow, One Beat Behind 1. The mirror game, with a delay. In pairs, one camper is the hero and one the sidekick. 2. The hero moves slowly across the field: a walk, a leap, a pose. The sidekick does every move one beat later, a step behind. 3. On the whistle, swap jobs without stopping. Counselors point out the pair that looks most like one person and an echo. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 40. You need: nothing.
Thank a Real Hero at Camp 1. A delivery mission. Each cabin chooses somebody who keeps camp running: the cook, the nurse, the lifeguard, the person who mows the field. 2. The cabin makes a card that says what that person did this week. 3. The cabin delivers it in capes, at full speed, and leaves before anyone can say thank you back. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 5 to 60. You need: paper, markers and bandanas for capes.
Throw the Net Over the Runaway Ball 1. A catching game with a towel for a net. A counselor rolls a playground ball across the grass: the runaway robot. 2. Two campers, each holding two corners of a bath towel, run beside it and throw the towel so that it lands on the ball and stops it. 3. Each pair has three robots. A ball that reaches the far line has escaped. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 4 to 24. You need: a bath towel for each pair and a playground ball.
X-Ray Eyes: Name the Bumps Under the Sheet 1. A guessing game. Out of sight, a counselor lays eight things from around camp on a table and covers them with a thin sheet. 2. Cabins come up in turn and look at the bumps for one minute, hands behind their backs. 3. Each cabin writes down what it thinks is underneath. Lift the sheet. A point for each thing named. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 5 to 40. You need: a sheet, eight things from around camp, paper and pencils.

Ocean week 25

Beach Clean-Up Sort Relay 1. A sorting relay. Tip a pile of clean recycling in the middle of the field: paper, cans, plastic bottles and cardboard. Each team has four labeled boxes at its base. 2. One camper at a time runs out, takes one thing and brings it home to the right box. 3. When the pile is gone, counselors check the boxes. A point for each thing in the right place. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 8 to 40. You need: clean recycling and four labeled boxes for each team.
Clams Catch the Plankton 1. A catching game. Each camper holds two paper plates, one in each hand, like the two halves of a clam shell. 2. A counselor in the middle throws a handful of table tennis balls into the air. 3. Clams catch them by clapping the plates together around a ball. A ball trapped against the body does not count. Play five showers and add up each clam's catch. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 30. You need: two paper plates for each camper and twenty table tennis balls.
Crab Claw Carry With Two Paper Plates 1. A carrying relay. Each camper holds a paper plate in each hand as claws. 2. The first camper picks up a ball between the plates, carries it to a bucket across the field and drops it in. Fingers may not touch the ball. 3. Run back and hand the claws on. The first team to fill its bucket with ten balls wins. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 30. You need: two paper plates, ten balls and a bucket for each team.
Find Your Pod by Sound 1. A find-your-group game, played with eyes closed and at a walk. Whisper one of four sea animals to each camper: whales hum, dolphins click, seals bark and gulls cry. 2. On the signal, campers close their eyes, hold their hands up in front of them and walk slowly while making their sound. 3. Pods link arms as they find each other. Counselors stand at the edges and turn back anyone who wanders. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 12 to 40. You need: nothing.
Fishing Net With a Long Rope 1. A catching game with a rope for a net. Four campers hold a long rope and stretch it out between them. Everyone else is a fish inside a marked square. 2. The fishers try to circle fish by walking the two ends of the rope around them until the ends meet. 3. A fish inside a closed loop joins the rope. Fish may not duck under or jump over. Stop when four fish are left, and they fish next. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 12 to 40. You need: a long rope and cones for the square.
Five Diver Signals, Not One Word 1. A silent challenge. The cabin agrees on five hand signals of its own: look, come here, stop, pick that up, well done. 2. From then on nobody may speak. Using only the signals, the cabin must collect six things that a counselor has listed on a card. 3. The card is shown to one camper only. A spoken word sends one thing back. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 5 to 40. You need: a card listing six things to collect.
The Gull Grabs the Fry 1. The call-a-number game, with a beanbag in the middle as a french fry. Two teams line up on opposite sides and number off, so that each number has a rival. 2. The caller shouts a number. Those two gulls run in. 3. A gull who carries the fry home untagged scores a point. A gull tagged while holding it scores nothing. Call two numbers at once for a flock. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 10 to 40. You need: a beanbag.
Hermit Crabs Change Shells 1. A swap game in the family of musical chairs, with nobody out. Lay hoops on the grass as shells, one fewer than there are campers. Each crab stands in a shell and one crab stands in the middle. 2. The middle crab calls "the tide is changing." Every crab must run to a different shell. 3. Whoever is left without a shell makes the next call. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 8 to 30. You need: a hoop for every camper but one.
Human Battleships on Two Chalk Grids 1. The grid game, with campers as ships. Chalk two grids of five squares by five, lettered and numbered, with a tarp hung between them. 2. Each cabin seats five campers in squares of its own grid. 3. Cabins take turns calling a square, such as "C4." A camper sitting there stands up and calls "hit." The first cabin to find all five wins. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 10 to 30. You need: chalk, a tarp and a line to hang it on.
Jellyfish Catch on a Paper Plate 1. Catch, with a ball that drifts. Knot six long ribbons to a rolled sock to make a jellyfish. 2. Partners stand four steps apart. One tosses the jellyfish high and the other catches it on a paper plate held flat, with no second hand. 3. Each catch earns a step back. Count the steps between the pair after three minutes. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 30. You need: a rolled sock with ribbons and two paper plates for each pair.
Lighthouse and Ships 1. A guiding game. One camper is the lighthouse and stands at the far end, calling "beep" every few seconds. Half the cabin sit scattered on the grass as rocks. 2. The others are ships. One at a time, a ship closes its eyes and walks toward the beep. 3. A rock says "swish" quietly when a ship comes close, and the ship steers away. A counselor walks beside each ship. Swap rocks and ships. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 8 to 30. You need: nothing.
Message in a Bottle: Six Bottles, One Sentence 1. A hunt that ends in a puzzle. Write a sentence of six words. Put each word in its own plastic bottle and hide the six bottles around the field. Make one set for each cabin, on its own color of paper. 2. Cabins hunt for their own color only. 3. With all six words in hand, the cabin puts the sentence in order and shouts it. The sentence says where the snack is. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 5 to 40. You need: six plastic bottles and six slips for each cabin.
Narwhal Tusk Ring Catch 1. Ring toss, with a peg that moves. One camper holds a foam noodle upright against their forehead with both hands as a tusk. 2. A partner three steps away tosses plastic rings, and the narwhal moves to catch each one on the tusk. 3. Five tosses, then swap. Step back after any round in which three or more are caught. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 2 to 30. You need: a foam noodle and five plastic rings for each pair.
Otters Pass the Clam, Feet Only 1. A passing relay, played lying down. Each team lies in a row on the grass, on their backs, head to foot. 2. The first otter holds a ball between both feet, swings it up and over, and gives it to the feet of the otter behind. 3. Hands may not touch the ball. When it reaches the end, the last otter carries it to the front and the row shuffles down. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 6 to 30. You need: a ball for each team.
Pelican Scoop Relay 1. A scooping relay. Scatter fifty pom-poms or crumpled paper fish in a hoop in the middle of the field. 2. Each camper in turn runs to the hoop with a paper cup held at the chin as a beak, and scoops up fish without using a hand. 3. One scoop a trip. Tip the catch into the team's bucket and pass the cup on. When the hoop is empty, count the buckets. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 30. You need: a paper cup and a bucket for each team, a hoop and fifty pom-poms.
The Pod Crosses the Bay, a Breach Each 1. A jumping relay in which the jumps add up. Each cabin lines up behind a start line. 2. The first camper does one standing jump, feet together, and stays where they land. The next camper starts from that spot and jumps on. 3. When every camper has jumped once, mark where the last one landed. The cabin that has crossed the most bay wins. Small cabins jump twice each. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 40. You need: chalk or a cone to mark each cabin's distance.
Rowers Follow the Drum 1. A rhythm game. The cabin sits in two rows on the grass, facing a drummer, each camper holding an imaginary oar. 2. The drummer beats a bucket. On each beat everyone pulls. A double beat means switch the oar to the other side. 3. A rower caught on the wrong side joins the drummer with a second bucket. The crew wins if four rowers are still in time after two minutes. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 8 to 40. You need: two buckets and two sticks.
Sandpipers and the Rope Wave 1. A dash game with a moving line. Two counselors hold a long rope low and walk it slowly up the field and back down, like a wave on a beach. 2. Scatter beanbags on the ground that the wave crosses. Campers are sandpipers: they run in behind the rope as it goes out, pick up one beanbag and get back before the rope returns. 3. A camper touched by the rope puts the beanbag back. Count the cabin's catch. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 8 to 40. You need: a long rope and thirty beanbags.
School of Fish: Turn When the Leader Turns 1. Follow the leader, played as a close group. The cabin stands in a tight bunch, all facing the same way. Whoever is at the front leads. 2. The school moves across the field. Everyone copies the leader's speed and arm moves. 3. When the leader turns, the whole school turns too, and whoever is now at the front leads. No talking. Try it with two schools that pass through each other. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 5 to 40. You need: nothing.
Seahorse Pairs, Hooked by a Finger 1. A partner slalom. In pairs, campers hook little fingers. 2. Each pair weaves through a line of cones and back without unhooking. 3. A pair that comes apart goes back to the last cone. For the second run, pairs hook up back to back, so that one of them is always moving backward. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 4 to 40. You need: six cones.
Storm at Sea in Sound 1. The rainstorm circle, told as a storm crossing the sea. The cabin sits in a circle. The leader starts a sound and it passes around, one camper at a time. 2. First, palms rubbed together for the wind. Then finger snaps for the first drops, claps on the knees for rain and stamping feet for thunder. 3. Bring the storm back down through the same sounds to silence. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 8 to 60. You need: nothing.
Storm at Sea on a Tarp 1. A parachute game, with a tarp or a bedsheet. The cabin holds the edges and puts a beach ball in the middle as a boat. 2. The caller tells the weather: calm, a breeze, a gale, a hurricane. The cabin makes waves to match. 3. The boat must stay on the tarp through all four. Count how many storms the boat survives, and add a second boat. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 8 to 30. You need: a tarp or a bedsheet and two beach balls.
Surface, Reef, Seabed 1. The leader-says game, with three levels. On "surface," stand tall with arms up. On "reef," crouch. On "seabed," lie flat. 2. The caller says one word and does a different one. Campers follow the word, not the caller. 3. Anyone caught copying the caller swims one lap around the group and rejoins. Speed up until the caller is caught out too. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 60. You need: nothing.
Turtle Hatchlings Crawl to the Sea 1. A crawling relay. Mark a nest at one end of the field and the sea, a blue tarp or a chalk line, at the other. 2. The first hatchling crawls on hands and knees to the sea with a cushion balanced on their back as a shell. 3. A shell that slides off is put back before the turtle moves again. Carry the cushion home and pass it to the next hatchling. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 30. You need: a cushion for each team, and a tarp or chalk.
The Whole Cabin Becomes One Sea Creature 1. Group charades. A counselor whispers a sea creature to one cabin: an octopus, a whale, a crab, a school of sardines. 2. The cabin has thirty seconds to become it, all together as one body that moves. 3. The other cabins guess. The creature must cross a marked line before the guess counts. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 10 to 60. You need: nothing.

Space week 25

Alien Ambassador and Translator 1. An improv game. One camper is an ambassador from another planet and speaks only in made-up sounds and gestures. A second camper is the translator. 2. The audience asks questions about life on that planet. The ambassador answers in nonsense, and the translator says what it meant. 3. The ambassador may shake their head at a translation, and the translator must try again. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 6 to 60. You need: nothing.
All Aboard the Capsule 1. The shrinking island game. Tape or chalk a square on the ground, large enough for the whole cabin to stand in easily. 2. The cabin gets in and holds still for a count of ten. 3. Redraw the square a little smaller and try again. Everyone must have a foot inside, and nobody is lifted or carried. Stop at the first size that cannot be done. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 20. You need: chalk or painter's tape.
Black Hole Tarp 1. A steering challenge on a tarp. An adult cuts a hole as wide as a dinner plate in the middle of an old tarp. 2. The cabin holds the edges and puts a ball on the tarp. By raising and lowering the sides, the cabin rolls the ball in a full circle around the hole without letting it fall in. 3. Count the orbits in a row. Then try two balls. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 8 to 30. You need: an old tarp with a hole cut in it, and two balls.
Build the Space Station, Module by Module 1. A building challenge. Give every cabin the same pile: boxes, tubes, string and tape. 2. In fifteen minutes, each cabin builds one module of a space station that a camper can sit inside. 3. Then the cabins join their modules into one station, each with a door to the next. A counselor crawls through from one end to the other as the test. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 10 to 60. You need: cardboard boxes, tubes, string and tape.
Chalk Constellations From Ten Dots 1. A dot-to-dot game. One cabin scatters ten chalk dots on the blacktop, anywhere it likes, and walks away. 2. Another cabin joins the dots with lines to make a figure, gives it a name and decides what it is known for. 3. Each cabin presents its constellation to the unit as if the unit had never seen the night sky. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 5 to 60. You need: chalk.
Comet Catch, by the Tail Only 1. Catch, with one rule. Tie a long strip of cloth to a tennis ball inside a sock to make a comet. 2. Campers stand in a circle and throw the comet underhand to anyone across the circle. 3. It may be caught only by the tail. A catch by the ball does not count. Count the tail catches in a row. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 5 to 20. You need: a tennis ball in a sock with a long cloth tail.
Countdown With No Leader 1. A group counting challenge. The cabin stands in a circle with eyes closed. 2. Together they must count down from ten to liftoff. Anyone may say the next number, but if two campers speak at once, the count goes back to ten. 3. No signals and no taking turns in order. On "liftoff," everyone jumps. Then try it from twenty. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 5 to 30. You need: nothing.
Cross the Asteroid Belt 1. A crossing game with rolled balls. Mark a wide lane across the field. Two counselors stand at its sides and roll soft balls across it along the ground. 2. On "launch," a cabin walks from one end of the lane to the other. Balls are rolled, never thrown. 3. A camper touched by a ball goes back to the start and sets off again. Time the cabin until the last camper is across. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 6 to 40. You need: six soft balls and cones.
Dock the Capsule: Four Strings, One Cup 1. A lowering challenge for four. Tie four long strings to a rubber band and stretch the band around a paper cup. 2. Four campers each hold the end of one string. Keeping the strings taut, they lift the cup, carry it and lower it upside down onto the neck of a bottle. 3. Nobody touches the cup. Time each crew, and let every crew go twice. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 4 to 32. You need: four strings, a rubber band, a paper cup and a bottle for each crew.
Glove Box Repairs in Ski Gloves 1. A fiddly relay in thick gloves. Lay out three repair jobs on a table: screw a lid onto a jar, zip a jacket from bottom to top, and clip five clothespins to a line. 2. Each camper in turn puts on ski gloves or oven mitts and does all three. 3. The next camper undoes them, and so on down the team. Fastest crew wins. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 6 to 30. You need: thick gloves, a jar with a lid, a jacket, clothespins and a line for each team.
Mission Control Talks the Rover Home 1. A guiding game with a small vocabulary. In pairs, one camper is the rover and keeps eyes closed. The other is mission control and stands at the edge. 2. Mission control may say only four things: forward, left, right and stop. 3. The rover walks through a field of cones to a marked crater. Touching a cone adds five seconds. Counselors stand in the field to stop any rover that strays. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 4 to 30. You need: ten cones and a stopwatch.
Moon Boots Relay in Shoe Boxes 1. A relay in clumsy boots. Each team has two shoe boxes with the lids off. 2. The first camper steps into them, shoes on, and slides to a far cone and back with slow, long steps, as if in low gravity. 3. A boot that comes off goes back on before moving again. Step out and let the next astronaut step in. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 30. You need: two shoe boxes for each team, and a cone.
Pass the Alien Egg, Elbows Only 1. Hot potato, without hands. The cabin stands in a circle. 2. A ball, the egg, is passed around the circle held between the elbows. 3. A counselor with their back turned calls "hatch" at any moment. Whoever holds the egg names the creature that comes out and makes its sound. Start again from that camper. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 30. You need: a playground ball.
Planet Hop, the Gaps Get Wider 1. Stepping stones, in chalk. Draw a row of ten circles on the blacktop or lay ten hoops on the grass. The first gap is a small step, and each gap after is a shoe longer. 2. Campers jump from planet to planet, landing on two feet. 3. Mark the farthest planet each camper reaches with their initials. Everyone gets a second try at the gap that stopped them. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 40. You need: chalk or ten hoops.
Preflight Checklist: Add a Switch 1. A memory chain of gestures. The first camper flips an imaginary switch somewhere in the air and makes its sound. 2. The next repeats that switch in the same place and adds one of their own. 3. Go around the circle, each camper running the whole checklist in order. When someone misses a switch, the cabin says "hold" and starts a new checklist from that camper. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 5 to 20. You need: nothing.
Robot Arm Pick-Up: Two Brooms, One Ball 1. A carrying game with tools. Two campers each hold a broom by the end of the handle. 2. Working together, they pinch a playground ball between the two broom heads, lift it and carry it to a box ten steps away. 3. Hands stay at the ends of the handles. A dropped ball is picked up where it fell, with the brooms only. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 2 to 30. You need: two brooms, a playground ball and a box for each pair.
Rover on a Rope Over the Craters 1. A pulling relay. Tie a rope to a cardboard box and put five balls in it as rock samples. 2. Lay foam noodles across the course as crater rims. Each camper pulls the rover to the far cone and back. 3. A ball that bounces out is put back before the rover moves again. The team that loses the fewest samples wins. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 30. You need: a cardboard box on a rope, five balls and four foam noodles for each team.
Run the Star: Five Cones, Five Lines 1. A relay with a route to work out. Set five cones in a large ring and number them. 2. A team of five must draw a five-pointed star with its running: each camper runs one straight line of the star, carrying a baton from one cone to another. 3. Give teams two minutes to plan who starts where. Then time the star. A line along the outside of the ring does not count. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 5 to 30. You need: five numbered cones and a baton.
The Saucer's Beam 1. Tag, with a hoop. Two campers carry a plastic hoop between them as a flying saucer. 2. They catch a runner by lowering the hoop over them from above. No throwing it. 3. A caught camper takes the place of one of the carriers, who becomes a runner. Add a second saucer when there are more than fifteen players. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 8 to 40. You need: two plastic hoops.
Signal Delay: Do the Command Before This One 1. A copy game with a delay. The leader does a move: touch your head. The campers do nothing. 2. The leader does a second move: clap. Now the campers touch their heads. On the third, they clap. 3. Each camper is always one move behind the leader. Anyone who copies the present move steps out for one round and tries to put the others off. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 6 to 60. You need: nothing.
Slingshot Around the Moon 1. A relay with a swing at the turn. A counselor stands at the far end as the moon, one arm held out. 2. Each runner sprints to the moon, hooks elbows with the counselor, is swung around once and sent back toward home. 3. Tag the next runner. The moon swings every runner at the same speed, however fast they arrive. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 40. You need: nothing.
Suit Up Relay: Boots, Gloves, Helmet 1. A dressing relay. Pile a suit at the far end for each team: rain boots, winter gloves and a colander for a helmet. 2. The first camper runs out, puts on all three, salutes, takes them off and runs back. 3. Tag the next. A helmet that falls off during the salute means saluting again. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 30. You need: rain boots, gloves and a colander for each team.
Whose Boot Print? 1. A matching game. Each camper lays a sheet of paper on the sole of one shoe and rubs a crayon over it to take a print. 2. A counselor numbers the prints and hangs them up. The campers sit in a row with their feet tucked under them. 3. Each cabin writes down which camper left which print, then everyone shows their soles. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 30. You need: paper and crayons.
Wind the Galaxy, Unwind It 1. A line game. The whole unit joins hands in one long line. The camper at one end stands still. 2. The camper at the other end leads the line in a circle around the still one, around and around, so that the line winds into a tight spiral. 3. Without letting go, the line unwinds again, led from the same end. Nobody pulls. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 12 to 60. You need: nothing.
Zero Gravity: Nothing Touches the Ground 1. Keep-it-up, with a rule about turns. The cabin stands in a loose circle with a beach ball. 2. The ball must be kept in the air, and nobody may touch it twice in a row. 3. Count the hits aloud. At twenty, add a second ball. A cabin that reaches fifty with two balls in the air may ask for a third. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 5 to 30. You need: three beach balls.

How this list was compiled: Our suggestions for three theme weeks at a day camp or a summer camp, for campers aged 6 to 14. The wording, the ages and the player counts are ours. The first step of each names the game or the kind of game it starts from, and the entry says what the theme changes. No hero, film, show or brand is named, and no fact about the sea or about space is stated. Campers with their eyes closed walk or stand still, with counselors close by. Licence: own work

How it works

These superhero camp games are for a theme week at a day camp or a summer camp, with campers aged 6 to 14. Most start from a game your campers know.

Read the full guide

Three weeks, three sets

The menu under the button changes the set: ocean themed camp games are under Ocean week, and space themed games for camp under Space week. Each set has 25 games, enough for a different field game, cabin challenge and closing circle every day.

What to collect before Monday

Bandanas, bedsheets, a long rope, hoops, cones, paper plates, foam noodles and beach balls cover most of the three sets. Space week also uses cardboard boxes, so start saving them now.

Let campers invent their own heroes on Monday. Every game works with any hero, and nobody argues about whose is real.

Questions and answers

What superhero games can a big camp group play?

Academy Circuit, a Stamp at Every Station and City Alert: Flood, Quake, Blackout take sixty campers. Cape Snatch, Recharge in the Phone Booth and Shrink Ray Tag take forty, and nobody is out in any of the four.

Which themed camp games need no equipment?

15 of the 75, such as Sidekick Shadow, One Beat Behind, School of Fish: Turn When the Leader Turns, Storm at Sea in Sound and Countdown With No Leader. Under More filters, No props shows them for the week you have chosen.

What can campers do for a theme week on a rainy day?

37 of the 75 fit a hall or a dining room. Try Mission Briefing: Seven Details, Read Once, Origin Story in Sixty Seconds, Surface, Reef, Seabed, Whose Boot Print? and Build the Space Station, Module by Module.