Camp Actions are things you can do during a long rest that make the most of your time--while adventurers need their beauty sleep, there's always a few spare hours during a Long Rest you can spend in one of the following ways to better prepare yourself for the harrowing times to come.
A long rest is 8 hours, and most adventurers require 6 hours of sleep. This leaves 2 hours of light activity in which to take a camp action from the following list.
In dangerous places it is a good idea to have characters stand watch while others attempt to get a good nights' sleep. Taking a watch ensures creatures can't surprise the camp.
A crafting character can use this 2 hours to put towards Crafting during a long rest. See Downtime-Crafting.
Requires a campfire and Perception checks are done at disadvantage
A special form of crafting that can be taken with a Cook's Utensils. You and all willing creatures (willing to eat your cooking) regain an additional Hit Die from the long rest when it is finished.
If you are proficient with Cook's Utensils, creatures regain additional hit die equal to your proficiency bonus.
Requires a campfire and Perception checks are done at disadvantage.
Adventurers can make extra preparations for the following day by performing an activity that hones an ability for the challenges ahead (e.g. working out for Strength, stretching for Dexterity, studying for Intelligence, etc).
After you finish the long rest, you gain a Preparation die, starting as a d6. Each time you make an ability check related to your chosen ability score, roll the Preparation die and add it to the result. The Preparation die decreases by one step each time it is rolled until depleted for the day (d6, d4, d2, depleted).
May require a campfire and Perception checks are done at disadvantage.
After a difficult day adventurers may want to get extra sleep. After a long rest you reduce any levels of Exhaustion by 2 and awake with 1 inspiration.
Requires a campfire, Perception checks automatically fail, and Passive Perception becomes 0.
Sometimes you will have a task that requires your time, but doesn't fit into the above options. For example, copying spells to your spell book as a wizard. When engaging in this task you can put 2 hours towards this activity.
May require a campfire and any Perception check is at disadvantage.