The great outdoors! Every summer we head outside for a camping trip, or two. It’s always a highlight of our summer. It’s a great chance to relax with some screen free time with family and friends. If you spend time camping, you’re going to want to add this printable outdoor escape room game for camping to your packing list.
Escape rooms are easy to create at home, with DIY ideas such as 40 Escape Room Ideas, but with this escape room game, you can enjoy the same fun of an escape room with without the limit of walls. It’s a great way to keep kids busy on your adventure.
This camping themed escape room game can be printed and prepared before heading outside. The materials required are things commonly packed for a camping trip.
Scroll down to see what all this Outdoor Escape Room includes!
For more outdoor activities check out Outdoor Learning Activities, and STEM Activities with Nature. There are lots of ways to keep kids outdoors and appreciate all that nature has to offer.
If you love the idea of this printable outdoor escape room game, you’ll also love another printable Outdoor Scavenger Hunt.
Outdoor Escape Room Materials
When you go camping, you already have to pack a lot of stuff. I created this game with that in mind. Hopefully the materials listed below are supplies you have to pack anyways for your camping trip. There are a few materials you need to set up the game and I have also listed the materials/locations you will hide the clues.
The materials you will need to prepare your game are:
- Scissors
- Tape
- Marker/Pencil/Highlighters
- Plastic Baggies (optional)
At the camp site, you will need the following locations/materials in order to hide the puzzles/clues:
- Cooler
- Flashlight (One on a phone can work)
- Rocks
- Trees
- Sleeping Bag/Sleeping Area
- Dirt/Sand (Where a clue can be buried)
As you scroll down, you will find each of the puzzles from the escape room game. The product is available for purchase. More information is available here.
The puzzles are best printed in color.
Within the resource you will also find full set up instructions that you can print and take with you to your camp site.
Answer Key
Within the resource, you will also find solutions for each of the puzzles for the camping escape room featured below. The answers are shared below as well, but more photos and pictures are shared in the resource that you can take with you.
Keep reading to find detailed descriptions for setting up your escape room!
Setting Up Your Escape Room
As you set up your escape room and set the puzzles in the different locations, make sure to set boundaries for your players. As with all activities with children, make sure to supervise the whole time this game is being played.
This game will last roughly an hour, but depending on your number of players and their experience with puzzles and escape rooms, it may last longer or shorter.
You can add some music as children work their way through the game and you can have one child, or a group play the game.
With this escape room, as with all escape rooms, not all puzzles will go exactly as planned. You can help players if they get stuck, but allow them to make mistakes and try different things before jumping in an solving a puzzle for them.
Camping Escape Room Clue #1
To start the game, draw a circle in the dirt or sand somewhere on your campsite. Have all players stand together inside of this circle and give players their first puzzle.
You must somehow mark this location, such as the circle in the sand, or a rocks set to make a circle, because players are directed back to this locations in a later clue.
This puzzle includes a picture of a campsite within a grid and coding instructions for players to follow each step.
Players follow the code and end up on the image of the cooler in the picture. This tells players they need to check their cooler for their next clue. Your cooler can be located anywhere on your campsite. It doesn’t have to be located between two chairs as shown in the picture.
Outdoor Escape Room Clue #2
Once players find the cooler, they look all around it, and inside. They will find a printable that includes the instructions to roll the paper and make it 3D. The puzzle rolls and becomes what looks like a flashlight.
Players then have to search around the site for the flashlight. Once they find the flashlight, they will also find their third clue.
Camping Escape Room Clue #3
The third clue can be challenging and players have to be fairly precise, but it is also a really fun and memorable puzzle.
Players are instructed to cut out part of the tent in the picture on the dotted line.
Players go somewhere dark in order to cast a shadow. When the flashlight is lined up and shone on the tent properly it creates a shadow onto the purple section of the side of the page.
Outdoor Escape Room Clue #4
Once players discover the shadow goes onto the purple, they will then search the campgrounds for purple objects (as suggested in the puzzle).
Although there may be several purple things you have with you on your site, generally purple is a less common color seen in nature. If you have several purple items that you don’t want to direct players to, you can remove them before the game.
However, part of the fun is having players search around until they find the right clue. It’s okay if they search different purple items before they find the actual clue. It’s a great way for the group to work on team work!
Finally, they will find some purple strips of paper hanging from a branch. The strips will be laid out as players match up the images from the purple section where the shadow landed on the previous clue. Once lined up, the letters on the purple strips spell out SHORTEST TREE.
Outdoor Escape Room Clue #5
Within the boundaries you set, players will look around and find the shortest tree within this area. On this tree they will also find a bag with square cut outs that make up the next clue.
The puzzle includes a path with letters on it, and pictures of the steps needed to make s’mores.
Hopefully your players have all made s’mores many time while camping and they know all of the steps needed to make this camping treat. Looking at each of the photos in each square, players put the photos in order starting with the materials needed to make s’mores.
Once in order, a full path is created and the letters spell out LARGE ROCK. This sends players to find their next clue!
Outdoor Escape Room Clue #6
Players look around for a large rock on your campsite and then search around, or under it for their next clue, which is a wordsearch.
You will need some markers or highlighters for this camping themed puzzle. Find each of the words in the word search until most letters have been highlighted. You will then be left with a few letters, that weren’t highlighted for any of the words. When these leftover letters are read they tell players to “GO BACK WHERE YOU STARTED AND DIG“.
Outdoor Escape Room Clue #7
As players race back to the start, to the circle on the ground, they realize they were standing on their final clue at the very beginning!
Players will dig down, or uncover the final puzzle.
There are several letters on the final image that are in red. Together these letters tell players where to look for their final prize!
Completion Certificate
Players race to where they sleep once they solve the previous clue. This location can be a sleeping bag or bed, depending on your camping set up. You can leave the clue visible, or hide it in the bottom of the sleeping bag for players to search and look for.
Once they find the final printable certificate, they have completed the game and won!
There is a completion certificate included in the resource that you can print and give to players after completing their game. You can also include a prize or treat that kids can enjoy for the remainder of their camping trip. A package of materials for s’mores is always a great surprise!
The game is a great way to bring everyone together and work to solve all of the puzzles. It makes for a great memory made while camping.
Get the Printables!
All of the printable puzzles featured above are available in the Camping Trip Escape Room product. For more information, or to download all of the puzzles, the certificate, set up instructions and the solutions to each of the puzzles, click the image, or link below.
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