11 Unbelievably Awesome Backyard Games for Kids

We all want to relive a part of our childhood when we have kids. Gadgets and technology have now taken over outdoor play, and kids are often glued to screens. Parents face the dilemma of reducing screen time for their children and are looking for ways to keep them busy. Your backyard could be a great place to engage your kids in various fun activities and games that will keep them active. Soak up the warm sunshine and let your kids go berserk with these outdoor yard games.

Video: 5 Easy and Fun Backyard Games for Kids

11 Best Yard Games For Kids

“I am bored”, a common phrase that parents hear regularly. “Can’t you stay away from technology for some time of the day?” a question that most disgruntled parents ask kids. For parents, who really want to take their kids away from technology, we have a solution for you. Here are some DIY fun backyard games that involve the whole family and your kids will love it. Play every game from throwing balloons and running around to having scavenger hunts in your backyard.

1. Dot-to-Dot

A travel-friendly game, this can be amended to create a fantastic children’s yard game.

What You Will Need

• A large piece of upholstered fabric (size- 20 cmx30 cm)
• Chalk Pen
• Fabric paint of any colour
• An eraser
• Toothpicks
• Flowers

How to Play

• Make the preliminary dots with the chalk pen on the upholstered fabric about 1.5 inches apart.
• Colour the dots with some fabric paint by dipping the eraser in the paint and colouring the dot.
• You need 2 players to play the game.
• Each player has to have a handful of toothpicks and a bunch of objects like flowers or twigs that should be different from the other player’s items.
• On their turn, each player lays out a toothpick joining two dots.
• When one finishes the fourth side and completes a square, the square is theirs. The player needs to place their object to claim it.
• The game continues until all the squares are complete and the player who has more items in the squares, wins!

Helps kids to learn patience and get closer to nature.

2. Tic-Tac-Toe

Another travel-friendly game, this one can be a lawn game with a twist.

What You Will Need 

• Plain Shower curtain
• Duct tape
• An equal number of Frisbees in a different colour

How to Play 

• Use duct tape to draw the grid on the shower curtain.
• Get two players to play against each other at a time.
• Players have to stand behind a line and aim to throw a Frisbee of one colour to earmark a square.
• Players then follow the rules of tic-tac-toe and the first one to achieve a sequence horizontally, vertically, and diagonally wins.
• If the disc lands outside the board or on a square that is already occupied, the player gets another turn.

Play it and witness the fun that your entire family has while playing this game.

3. Water Blob

A perfect yard game for toddlers- it is ideal to let your toddler enjoy playing with a water blob on a hot day.

What You Will Need 

• Plastic sheeting or painter’s plastic (a 10×25 foot roll cut down to 10×20)
• Ironing board and an iron
• Parchment paper
• Duct tape for sealing the hole of the hose

How to Play 

• Roll out the plastic sheet and fold it into half or the size you want the water blob to be.
• Lay out the ironing board flat on the floor and turn the iron to the hottest setting.
• Cut the parchment paper keeping its length at 2 meters.
• Fold it into half lengthwise and draw a line. The line should be 2 inches from the fold.
• Open the parchment and place the plastic on it (the edge opposite to the fold, starting from the corner). Align the plastic to the fold of the parchment.
• Fold the parchment back over it.
• Now use the hot iron to slowly melt the plastic by running it across the line of the parchment paper.
• Let it cool for a few seconds before removing the parchment.
• Continue the process to seal all the other edges.
• Now make a tiny hole in the folded end of the plastic.
• Place a hose in it a little deep and fill up the water blob.
• Seal the hole with duct tape.

Get your kids to dance on it and spray water on them to cool them down.

4. Ring Toss

Looking for backyard party games for a summer birthday party. This one will bring back the memories of going to a fair.

What You Will Need 

• Rings
• Bottles of different shapes and sizes

How to Play

• Line the bottles in a pyramid or triangular shape.
• You can line them in any manner you wish to.
• Get the kids to line up a few meters away from the setup.
• Ask them to aim and toss the rings to land perfectly on the bottle.

You could also use filled bottles or cans of juice, and the one who tosses the ring gets to drink a bottle of his choice.

5. Balloon Catch

Well, everyone has played catch growing up, so try out this version.

What You Will Need 

• Different balls, water balloons, bean bags

How to Play 

• Toss the ball, water balloon, or bean bag from a short distance.
• With each catch, the players have to take a step backwards.
• Continue to toss until you see how far each one gets before missing.

It’s great when played in teams and the team with the maximum catches wins. With water balloons, the first one to get wet loses.

6. Sly Fox

You will need a larger group for this, but it is a lot of fun.

What You Will Need

• Several players
• A large playground or lawn to play

How to Play

• Choose one of the players to be a fox. Get them to face away from the rest of the group.
• The players start from a point and they slowly move towards the fox.
• The fox counts to 10 loudly and slowly. Once they finish they turn suddenly, and the others have to freeze.
• The player who is caught moving has to go back to the start. The one who manages to touch the fox, before the count of 10, becomes the new fox.

7. Nature Scavenger Hunt

A great way to turn nature into a fun adventure ride. It is for those who love the outdoors and want their kids to love it too.

What You Will Need 

• Paper bags
• Printed scavenger list

How to Play

• Include as many things that you can find in your backyard in the list and print it out with pictures (flowers, leaves, twigs, pinecones, rocks)
• Hide the objects and draw a picture of a map to help the players find all the items.
• The first one to collect everything, and the one who has collected most things win.

8. Lawn Bowling

Say goodbye to those expensive bowling arenas and introduce lawn bowling in your backyard. Hunt for some cylindrical-shaped bottles or bowling pins that can be used in the backyard and get started.

What You Will Need

• 10-12 bowling pins or water bottles
• Small sphere-shaped ball

How to Play

• Arrange the pins in any manner (it’s best to arrange them in a triangular shape)
• Get each child to roll the sphere and knock the pins down.

Split the kids into teams, and each time all the pins are knocked, the team gets a point.

9. Stuck in the Mud

A classic game that includes a lot of physical activity.

What you will Need

• Several players
• A large lawn or playground to run in

How to Play 

• Players will decide one person to be “it”.
• The players get five seconds to run away from “it”.
• Now the “it” player must chase the others and tag everyone to win.
• When the “it” players tags a player they are “stuck in the mud” and cannot move.
• Other players can run or crawl to save the players stuck in the mud by touching them.

Even adults can play this game with kids to make it even more fun.

10. Corn Hole Game

An easy to learn, fun, and inexpensive game to practice focus and aim, this one could make your arms go sore. But the kids will love it.

What You Will Need

• A small plank of wood
• Paint
• Small bean bags

How to Play 

• You will need to drill a small hole as large as the size of a large lemon or orange on one end of the plank of wood.
• Paint the rest of the wood with a colour of your choice.
• Get the players to stand a few meters away from the plank and aim at getting the bean bags in through the hole.

A tailgating classic, one can spend hours trying to perfect their aim with this game.

11. Island and Sharks

Perfect for kids and toddlers, this is an inexpensive game that you can play anytime.

What You Will Need

• Newspaper torn into pieces.

How to Play

• Spread and place the newspapers at different places in the backyard. The number of pieces must be one short of the total number of players.
• Players have to choose one person to be “it”.
• The “it” person will have to call out “SHARK”
• When the other players hear “SHARK” they need to find a place on the island (a piece of newspaper).
• Each player must have at least one foot on the newspaper.
• If the “it” person finds someone without an island or foot outside the island, then that player gets to be “it”.
• Keep taking the pieces of newspaper away slowly until there is only one player remaining.
• The last player remaining wins the game.

A great game where everyone is running, screaming and enjoying themselves. It is great to play outdoors.

Outdoor games are a great way of rejuvenating and reconnecting with people and nature. Go ahead and play some of these games in your backyard to get your kids to enjoy the sunlight and spend time outdoors.

Also Read :

Easy One Minute Games for Children
Educational Games for Children
Fun Indoor Games for Children