12 Coolest Kid Outdoor Games
Now that it’s getting warmer, it’s time to get the kids outside for some sweaty fun. Here are 12 Coolest Kid Outdoor Games to use for your next outdoor function–school field/olympic day, birthday parties, church functions, block parties, family reunions, club meetings, sports team parties, school carnivals and the list goes on and on. These fun games will make your preschoolers to 6th graders squeal with glee as they run around chasing each other. Enjoy!
PRESCHOOL, KINDERGARTEN & 1ST GRADE
1. Hula Hoop Basketball
What you will need:
- 4 hula hoops
- Tape
- Basketball
Directions: Have children take turns making baskets into the hula hoops starting from lowest to highest. Originally from MamaSmiles.com {here}.
2. Bubble Contest
What you will need:
- Bubble solution
- Bubble-blowing tools: drinking straws, funnels, bubble wand, wire loops, and so on
- Marble or other small toy
Directions: Give each contestant a supply of bubble solution and some bubble-blowing tools. Wet the tabletop with bubble solution and have the kids get blowing.
- Who can blow the biggest bubble?
- Who can create the biggest pile of bubbles in thirty seconds?
- Whose bubble lasts the longest?
- Whose bubble is the prettiest?
- Who can blow a bubble within a bubble?
- Who can get a marble or other small toy inside a bubble?
Originally from FamilyEducation.com {here}.
3. Giant Marbles
What you will need:
- Many different sized sport balls
- Rope or hula hoop
Directions: Collect as many different sized sports balls as you can find, then make a circle in the yard with rope or a hula-hoop. Place the balls in the circle and spread them out a little. Standing about 10 feet away, players will use one ball as the “shooter” and will take turns rolling the ball to try to knock as many balls out of the ring as they can without the player’s ball going out of the ring. If a player knocks any balls out of the ring, they get to keep them and roll again. The game ends when all the ball have been knocked out of the circle, and the player with the most balls collected wins. Originally from SheSpeaks.com {here}.
4. Elbow Tag
What you will need:
- Just the kids!
Directions: Divide children into pairs leaving one child who is “It” and one child who will be the first to be chased. Have each group of partners link elbows– and all of the pairs form a large circle, allowing 10 feet of space between each pair. “It” runs after the other “not joined by the elbow” child inside the circle—-as in a traditional game of tag. If the child being chased needs a break–he or she can run to a pair of children and link elbows with one of them. The child in the pair who WAS NOT linked by the chased child –is now “It’s” new target and must break away quickly to avoid being tagged by “It.” Originally from KidActivities.net {here}.
2ND, 3RD & 4TH GRADES
5. Oversized Paper Airplane Contest
What you will need:
- Large paper (Crayola Giant Marker and Water Color Pad) and/or some lightweight poster-board
- Tape
Directions: Have the children make their airplanes in a traditional dart design. With the larger plane size, you may have to do some tweaking and adjustments like taping the nose so that the wings stay closer together, or folding the wings so that they slope upward. Designate a starting line and then one by one have each child take a turn to see whose plane can go the furthest. Originally from AllForTheBoys.com {here}.
6. Water Pipe
What you will need:
- Kiddie pool or large cooler
- 2 buckets or pails
- Plastic cups for each child
Directions: The kids have a chance of getting wet in this fun outdoor water game. Teams race to fill their bucket of water before the other team does! To PLAY: Divide players into two teams, and provide each player a plastic cup. On one side of the yard or playing area you will need to have a large container of water such as a kiddie pool or large cooler full. On the other side of the yard you will need to set up two identical buckets or pails. The teams create a line from the large container of water to their bucket. On the start of go the child closest to the starting container of water fills his or her cups and go and pours it into the next person’s cup as fast as possible. That person pours it into the next person’s cup, and so on until the water reaches the last player who pours it into the teams bucket. This assembly line style race continues until one team fills up their bucket to claim victory. Originally from Queen-of-theme-party-games.com {here}.
7. Outdoor Angry Birds
What you will need:
- Various size boxes
- Something to resemble the pigs — it can be bowls, buckets, stuffed animals or balloons.
- Balls of various sizes
Directions: Stack the boxes in different formations and place the buckets/stuff animals/balloons at different levels to represent the pigs. Draw a line where the player has to stand to represent the sling shot. Each player takes a turn throwing a ball (angry bird) at the boxes to try to knock down the “pigs” (buckets/stuffed animals/balloons). Keep rebuilding and playing until everyone has had a turn. Originally from Al.com {here}.
8. Balloon Badmitten
What you will need:
- Balloons
- Paper Plates
- Craft sticks
- Tape
Directions: Make paddles by simply taping craft sticks to the back of paper plates. Children partner up and use the paper plate ‘paddles’ to hit a balloon back and forth to each other. Originally from KidActivities.net {here}.
5TH & 6TH GRADES
9. Outdoor Twister Game
What you will need:
-
A pizza box-or other piece of cardboard.
-
Craft Knife
-
Large Mixing bowl-or something else that is round
-
Pen
-
1 piece of paper
-
scissors
-
2 jars or bowls
Directions:
10. Bike Photo Safari
What you will need:
- Bikes and bike helmets
- Digital cameras or camera on phone (one per team)
Directions: This party is a picture hunt on bicycles.
Each team of two or three kids gets a safari clues list and a digital camera. The team must use the clue list and photograph the location or item they believe is correct within a determined time limit. When everyone returns, someone reviews the photos on each team’s camera to see how many clues they fulfilled. Photographs of correct locations or items will be judged for artistic quality as well as accuracy. Award prizes in many different categories: most artistic, picture furthest off the clue list, most locations correct, etc. Parents and kids can work together to make a slide show of their digital photos from the adventure, or kids can make an album or scrapbook of the printed images. The party continues with lunch or dinner to celebrate everyone’s creativity in the safari.
Note: Make sure everyone participating wears a bike helmet and understands bicycle safety rules. Originally from FamilyEducation.com {here}.
11. DIY Obstacle Course
Directions: Obstacle courses are always a big hit. It is not as complicated to build your own backyard obstacle course as many imagine. An obstacle course is simply a series of fun task, challenges, or mini games that the children try to rush through as fast as they can. They are usually set up so that as soon as you finish one task you move directly to the next until you reach the finish line. You’ll need to come up with some creative obstacles for the kids, you can get as simple or as complicated as you want with these course ideas. You can use objects that you already have around your house for many obstacles. Here are some examples:
- Set up old tires on their side for them to crawl through, or lay them on the ground for the kids to run through.
- Hang a hula hoop from a tree and the kids must throw a football through it before they can move on.
- Have a pile of balloons ready, the children must pop one by sitting on it to move on.
- Set up a table and hang streamers, balloons, even pool noodles from underneath. The children must crawl under it to get to the other side.
- Lay out a 2×4 piece of plywood on the ground. Have the children walk across it without touching the ground, for older children they must walk across it backwards.
- Have the kids crab-walk from one section to another.
- Have the kids jump in a potato sack from one section of the course to another.
Originally from Queen-of-theme-party-games.com {here}.
12. River Ball
What you will need:
- Ball
- Open space
Directions: Divide children into two teams. One team is at one end of the court, the other team is at the other end. The middle third of the court is the river. One person from the team throws the ball and the other team has to catch it. If they catch it you continue with the game. If they drop it, then the person who dropped it or is the closest to the ball is out. The only way the person can get back in is if one of their team members catch the ball or one member of the other team drops the ball. If the ball goes in the river you are out. Originally from KidSpot.com.au {here}.