The weather is starting to get warmer now and summer is just round the corner! It’s so lovely to get outside in the sunshine when it makes an appearance so here are some fun games and activities for the family to play outside.
Giant Snakes and Ladders
This set turns your garden into a giant outdoor game of snakes and ladders! It’s ideal for all ages and comes with four inflatable snakes to place where you choose on the mat!
Get one here
Popcorn Drop
This easy relay race is perfect as a birthday party game or for the whole family to play together. Any number of players can join in, but it’s most fun with four to eight players.
- Create a ‘start’ line and ‘finish’ line. At the ‘start’ place a bag of popcorn for each team, at the ‘finish’ place a bucket for each team.
- Now, you’ll need to make two pairs of ‘shoe’ cups. (For the game you will be attaching these over your shoes a bit like a court jester). Use a pin/ pencil to poke holes in the bottom of some plastic/ paper cups. Push a wide rubber band through the holes and secure by tying it in a knot or with a paper clip.
- To play: Split the players into two teams. The first player straps the cups on to the top of their shoes, using the elastic bands to secure them. Fill each cup with popcorn.
- Ready, set, go! A player from each team ‘runs’ with their popcorn ‘shoes’ the bucket at the ‘finish’ line and empties their popcorn in to it. Then runs back to let the next person in the team continue the relay, until the popcorn bag is empty.
- The team that empties their popcorn bag first wins!
Frisbee Noughts and Crosses
Supersize tic-tac-toe (or ‘noughts & crosses’) is great to play in the garden. You will need frisbees and masking tape to make this easy party game.
- Use the tape to create a 3×3 (squares) grid on the grass or patio.
- Then use more tape to mark which disks are X’s or use different coloured disks to divide the teams.
- Players stand behind line and follow the rules of tic-tac-toe trying to make a line or diagonal of 3 ‘X’s or 3 ‘O’s.
- If the disk lands off the board or in an occupied square, the player can throw again.
Hopscotch
An oldie, but a great game nonetheless. You just need some chalk, a patio or path to draw on and something to throw such as a beanbag or a small stone. You can play alone or with several players.
- Draw out the grid.
- The first player tosses the beanbag/stone into the first square and then hops the course missing out the square with the marker on it. If the player is successful they then toss the marker on to the second square and continue the sequence.
- If whilst hopping the player steps on a line, misses a square or loses balance, their turn ends.
Garden Waterslide
This may be one for the long summer days but you never know, a super warm day may be just round the corner 😉 Set up this water slide in the garden for hours of fun for all the family. If your kids are ‘thrill seekers’ like mine, put this at the end of a garden slide for maximum slipping!!! Race down the slide using the swimming floats or on your tummy.
Get one here
Make your own Tin Can Alley
Collect your recycled tins (with no sharp edges) and make your own tin can alley against a wall, throw either a small bean bag or ball and see who can knock over the most.
Garden Golf
Garden golf is a very easy game which will encourage hand eye coordination.
- You will need a few plastic golf clubs or any type of bat.
- Place 9 or 18 cricket wickets (or any sort of stick as a marker in the ground) and number them using paper triangles.
- If you want to create a really authentic game dig small holes next to the stick and place a plastic cup inside.
- Place objects throughout the course such as granny in a chair, a teddy bear’s picnic or a tunnel to create some obstacles to manoeuvre around.
- Then get the children (the big kids as well) to take it in turns to ‘putt’ the ball from post to post (or into the cups if you have created holes!)
Quoits (Hoop throwing Game)
This game involves throwing a rope or rubber hoop over a distance and landing it around an object such as a plastic peg or stick that is sticking out of the ground. Players take it in turns and the player with the most hoops around the object at the end wins.
Chalk Tracks
If you are lucky enough to have a large patio area or lots of paths, use chalk to draw a roller coaster track or roads around the garden. The kids will love racing the bikes, scooters, skateboards etc around the tracks/roads.
Sensory Garden
Turn your garden into a sensory scene with this huge set. There’s a large selection of windmills, mobiles, windsocks and wind chimes to fill your garden with colour, movement and noise. The kids will love watching and playing with all the different bits.
Get the set
Children’s Croquet
Get this adorable croquet set for the lawn (it can be brought indoors in winter too). A great way to learn how to play croquet.
Get a set here
Let us know any games that you play with the kids in the garden by sharing them on our Facebook Page!
