If a child makes it to jail, however, he or she is safe as long as he is inside the prison. Have children pretend to be gold miners.

Paint very small rocks, gold. Hide them in the sand. Give your children small sifters to sift through the sand looking for gold. You can call this game anything you want. An idea is to use brown and green yarn and call it snakes and worms…. Form two teams with one or two kids on each side as captains. They will tie each yarn piece that is brought to them, to the next yarn piece. The team with the longest finished yarn string wins!

Idea: This game would also be good for a party —and adapted to the inside. All the children line up side by side except the player who is the caller. The caller stands at a distance from the lined up players.

He calls on each player in turn to take a number of steps toward him. The steps allowed are: baby steps, giant steps, and scissor steps like forward jumping jacks. If the player forgets to ask permission after they get directions— and takes steps toward the caller— they are sent back to the starting line.

The first player to reach the caller is the winner and new caller. Idea: Change the name to the season: Teacher May I? Santa, Snowman, Cupid, Leprechaun, Bunny, etc.

A nature scavenger hunt card game. Great for getting kids involved in the outdoors. Pass out an equal number of cards to each player and the first one to collect all their cards items win! Tic-tac-toe can be scratched in the dirt and is more enticing than on paper—Hangman, too. Or just spread a blanket on the grass for Monopoly or Candyland played in a whole new venue…. The game could be considered a reverse form of dodgeball—instead of trying to hit people in the middle with the ball, players attempt to keep the ball away from them.

The basic game is played by drawing a circle on the ground about ten feet in diameter. One person stands in the center the monkey, the piggy or the pickle and the rest stand outside the circle.

This continues until the person who is it catches the ball or gains possession due to a failed catch, etc. Whoever threw the ball last then becomes it, and replaces the person in the middle. Adapted from: wikipedia. Another great idea is to make paddles simply taping tongue depressor sticks to the back of paper plates.

Images by KidActivities. Periodically change the Masters in each group. This is a game played much like pinball. Take a look at some of our other fun throwing games. With points being numbered on board, you can go until a play reaches a certain number of points. Another option is, mark off a certain distance, then ring each peg from the smallest to the lowest from that distance. Once the player accomplishes that distance, you can move back to another chosen distance.

The first player to complete the toss from each distance wins. This is a great cooperation game. For this kids outdoor game it could also be played in a gym make sure the land is flat and there are no trip hazards. They must find their friends, link arms, and then find the rest of their friends. They will have a good time shuffling around and bumping into each other! Be sure an adult is present at all times.

We have more fun games using a blindfold. Can be played outside or inside gym area This game is for 5 or more players and should be played outside or in an open area.

All the children line up on the other side of the gym or field. The first one to make it to the stoplight wins and is now the stoplight. It gets tricky when the stoplight changes, though. Any movement by a child means she is sent back to the beginning. There are several versions for playing this game.

This one is the most basic. This game does not really have an object, but it is fun. One person puts on a blindfold while the others spin him around a few times. The blindfolded person is led around the yard in winding circles, etc. Give each birthday party guest three tries to knock down all the cans.

Don't throw away those empty bleach bottles—transform them into an outdoor catching game for kids! Make a mazelike pathway through fallen leaves, and birthday party attendees can race through it.

Rake a curving path through fallen leaves. No leaves in sight? Use rope or grass clippings and sticks to form the maze. Have kids race together through the maze, or use a stopwatch to time each child. Make a splash at your child's summer birthday party with a fun water game. For each team, string a plastic bucket on a length of clothesline; make the lines the same length to be fair.

With the buckets at one end of the clothesline, arm each team with a hose or large squirt guns. Using only water, the teams must race to move their bucket to the other end of the line. Editor's Tip: Make this fun game for kids even wilder. Arm a team with water balloons to use as obstacles and distractions while the other team tries to push its bucket across the finish line.

Little ones will enjoy this fun twist on badminton. Use homemade foam rackets to keep the colorful balloon off the ground. Nature is calling for a game of tic-tac-toe.

Provide flower heads from your garden, or let children explore your yard for flower heads, stones, leaves, or other bits of nature to use as game pieces. Editor's Tip: Alert parents about your plans for an outdoor party and ask about their children's allergies.

Make sure to have silk flowers on hand, just in case. You may not have a built-in checkerboard in your backyard, but it's easy to set one up for a birthday party. Cut large squares from sturdy poster board, and tack them to the ground in a checkerboard pattern. Use plant stakes or other stakes with rounded tops for safety.

Or chalk up your driveway to create the board. Make big beanbags or use two colors of Frisbee disks for the checkers. Have kids take turns moving their pieces across the board. Set up teams to involve everyone in the fun. Editor's Tip: You can also use large square flooring tiles to make the board. Inexpensive tiles are available at home improvement stores. On-the-go kids will love wheeling and squealing on this obstacle course.

Ask each child to bring his or her favorite set of wheels. It's a good idea to have a few extra vehicles available. To create the course, arrange orange cones or other soft items in your yard or a nearby park. Include curves, turns, and small hills, depending on the ages and abilities of your racers. Fuel the kids' excitement by timing each racer as he or she pedals to the finish line.

To make the course more challenging, set up stations along the way where children must stop to perform a task, such as blowing bubbles. Pumpkins aren't just for the porch! Make the most of the season's harvest with this easy outdoor game of tic-tac-toe. Who's the fastest of them all? Set up an outdoor course and find out! Beat the summer heat with this cool kids birthday party game. Blocks of ice become the base for this pretty painted game. Simply drip washable tempera paint onto frozen ice shapes and get melting!

As the ice melts, it will create cool paint designs. An old-fashioned favorite, pickup sticks gets a gigantic twist when the sticks are as big as the kids.

Paint the ends with bright colors: red, blue, green, yellow, orange, and purple, for example. To start the game, drop the sticks on the ground in a big messy pile, and let the kids take turns picking up a stick.

If a stick other than the one the child is removing wiggles, the child must return the stick and forgo his or her turn. At the end, the player with the most sticks wins. Editor's Tip: Add a challenge to the game by assigning each player a color.

The first player to successfully remove all the sticks of the assigned color wins the party game. All it takes is a few dice to get the party started!

You can make these outdoor dice with wood, but we chose small cardboard boxes—perfect for younger children. Have a little Picasso on your hands? Get painting outside! Set up all the materials kids will need to paint or draw outside in a space surrounded by nature. Let each child create their own work of art inspired by flowers, plants, and nature. Try making homemade sidewalk chalk paint and letting the kids decorate your driveway.

Set up a fun game of DIY disc golf right in your backyard! To create this outdoor game for kids, hang an oversized hula hoop from a branch or clothesline. Try a fun take on the classic game of catch. Have each player throw the disc through the hoop. The first one to complete ten shots wins! Beat the summer heat with a game of squirt bottle tag. The child who stays dry the longest wins.

This summer craft for kids doubles as a fun outdoor game! Have each child create their own paper airplane using construction paper and tape or glue. Once the planes are completed, head outside and see which ones take flight. The paper plane that goes the furthest wins. Keep the kids entertained with the cheap outdoor activity idea. Create an oversized version of one of our favorite classic summer games—croquet.

To make, use wooden dowels to stake pool noodle arches into the ground. Be sure to make the arch tall enough that an inflated beach ball can pass under it. To play, give each child their own pool noodle and see who can get the ball through the arches first. Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.

Save Pin FB More. Equipment tunnel cones hula hoops balance beam pool noodles exercise ladder inflatable tire hippity hoop balls Check Price Instructions The best thing about this activity is that you can be as creative with it as you want! To make this competitive, you can time each student to see how quickly they can go through the course. Activity Softball Throw I remember one of my favorite esports growing up was softball.

This is the easiest outdoor game set-up there is, which is always a win! Equipment softball cones sticky notes Instructions Have a starting point set for the kids to stand on to know where to throw the ball. In the end, then you will be able to see who threw the ball the furthest! Activity Basketball Lay-Up Competition This is another great sports competition that you can include on your outdoor game list! Basketball activities are always a hit with kids and adults! Equipment basketball hoops basketballs stopwatch View Amazon's Price Instructions One person should be at each basket.

A volunteer should be standing at each basket to count how many baskets they make. On the GO signal, the kids will have 2 minutes to see how many lap-up shots they can make. At the end of the 2 minutes, the volunteers will write down how many each child scored, and then the next group would go.

Equipment stopwatches batons Check Price Instructions At one of the schools I taught at, we did the following events: m, m, m, 4xm relay, and 4xm relay. We also did long jump and shot and disc. If you are planning a middle school field day, these events are really fun for the students to be a part of! Everyone not involved is in the stands cheering on their teammates as well! It works on throwing, catching, defensive skills, strategy, and communication!

Equipment 2 gy mnastics mats 2 hula hoops 1 football dodge balls Instructions Split the group into 2 equal teams. Set two gymnastics mats up on each side of the playing area.

One student from each team will go stand on the opposite sides mat bench. The goal of the game is to get your team on the bench before the other one does. To get over to the bench, they must throw a ball over to their teammate on the mat, and they must catch it. Once someone makes it on the bench, they can help catch balls too. If they step off the mat, they have to return to their side. When someone catches the football on the mat, the person who throws it goes to the mat and can bring a friend!

If anyone has a hard time throwing that far, I have put hula hoops out on each side that students can go into to throw the ball, only one person in the hoop at a time.

Equipment jerseys cones yard spray paint optional View Amazon's Price Instructions Create a playing area by setting up a rectangle of cones. This will be the starting line, finish line, and boundary lines during gameplay.

Choose 2 kids to be the sharks. They will stand in the middle of the playing area! Then, on the go signal, they will try to run to the side without getting tagged. If they get tagged, they turn into seaweed. Play will continue until all players get tagged by the sharks or the seaweed! Equipment water balloons bucket large wooden spoons cones View Amazon's Price Instructions The players should be split up into even teams.

On the GO signal, the first person in line will pick up a water balloon and place it on a spoon. They will walk down to the cones and back, trying not to drop the water balloon. When it breaks, a volunteer will bring them a new one where it popped. Once they make it back to the beginning, they hand the spoon off to the next person, and the relay continues! Equipment A large bucket of water sponges Instructions You are trying not to be tagged in this game, but most kids will want to be!

One player will start with a sponge. When a student gets tagged, they will grab another sponge and join the tagger! The last player standing becomes the new tagger for the next round. Activity Water Balloon Volley Teamwork and water?! Sounds pretty awesome to me. The only difference is, is that you use a water balloon instead of a beach ball! The class will be split up into 2 teams, and each team will get a parachute that everyone will hold onto.

The other team attempts to receive the balloon by moving where it will land to catch it. Activity Fill it up This is a classic field day game that is used around schools across the world! Equipment 2 sponges 4 buckets water Instructions The players will be lined up in a straight line in-between each bucket. The first person in line will be given a sponge. On the GO signal, they will dip their sponge into the bucket of water. They will pass the sponge down the line to all the people, and the last person in the line will squeeze the sponge out into the bucket at the end of the line.

That last person will run the sponge back up to the front of the line, dip the sponge in the water again, and pass it down the line. The team that reaches the line on the bucket at the end first wins! Activity Beach Ball Blaster Beach ball blaster is sure to be a hit! This is also a great one to use on field day or for some end-of-year classroom fun!

Equipment large beach balls super soakers cones Check Price Instructions There will be around kids at each beach ball. Each person will get a super soaker.

On the GO signal, the goal is for the teams to work together to shoot the ball with the water gun to make it move. They are trying to be the first team to get their beach ball to make it over the finish line! All of the kids will form a circle, and they will pass the potato until someone gets splashed! To play again, you just have to put in another water balloon. Activity Cup to Cup Want the kids to get soaked?

Cup to cup is the BEST game! Equipment plastic cups buckets water Instructions Break the students up into 2 equal teams and line them up in a straight line. The first person in line will dip their cup into a bucket of water. This will continue throughout the line, and the last person will dump the water in another bucket. The team that has the most water in their bucket, in the end, is the winner!

Activity Water Balloon Baseball Baseball is one of my favorite outdoor games to play with the kids. This is a fun twist to the game that kids will LOVE! The balloon can be pitched, or they can choose to hit it off of a batting tee.

Once they swing and the balloon pops, they will run to first base. The second person in line will then go, and each player will keep advancing on the field. Once a player gets to home plate, they will stand back in line, and if there is time, everyone can go again! Believe it or not, kids still love Duck Duck Goose! Equipment plastic cups water Instructions All the players will sit in a circle.

The person who gets splashed tries to run to tag them before they sit down in their spot. Sign me up! Kids will love the building aspect of this game as well as knocking their buildings down!

Equipment Super Soaker water guns plastic cups small tables water Instructions Players will form several lines depending on how many tables and super soakers that you have available.

There should be a line where the player is shooting the water gun from. A volunteer will set up a small tower of 6 cups for the kids to knock over with the super soaker. They will get 30 seconds to try to knock the tower over. When the cups get knocked over, they will be set up for the next person. A water balloon toss is never a bad choice when you are picking some fun outdoor activities.

Equipment water balloons Instructions Each player will get a partner and a water balloon. They will stand a few feet away from each other to begin, and they will toss the water balloon back and forth to each other. After they both successfully catch the balloon, one player will take a step back.

They will keep doing this until they drop their balloon and it pops. When it pops, they will get another balloon and start close again. Final Thoughts and Conclusions Outdoor games are exciting to plan! Now, get outside and play! Leave a Reply Cancel reply.