6 Easy and Fun Picnic Games for Kids

Picnics are a great way to spend the weekend with the family. It encourages everyone to experience nature and get some fresh air. While picnics can have a completely different meaning for grown-ups, kids are active and won’t be happy just sitting around. For this reason, we’ve come up with a few fun games that can not only help keep them entertained but also tire them out.

Picnic Games for Children to Keep Them Engaged and Entertained

You can expect a lot of loud laughter and giggles. Here are some outdoor games for kids that you could have on your picnic include

1. Relay Race

Are your kids just bursting with energy? Use this game to tire them out relatively quickly. Try doing this just before you are leaving so that they feel they have done a lot before they come back home.

Your Child Will Need

• A baton (this can be substituted for a large stick)
• At least four players
• A stopwatch

How To Play

• Set up a start, a middle and a finish line.
• If there are four children, make them into two teams with two members each.
• Tell the children from the teams to place one member each at the start and middle points.
• When you shout “GO!”, the children from the start line need to run with the baton/stick and pass it to the team member in the middle.
• Once the second team member gets the baton, he has to reach the finish line.
• The one that reaches the finish line the quickest, his team wins!
• This can be repeated a couple of times.

2. Slipper Kick

This is a game a fun game that can be played on casual picnic days.

Your Child Will Need

• Slippers
• Measuring tape

How To Play

• Choose a location which has ample free area. Make sure there are no people nearby.
• Ask the kids to throw their slippers as far as they can using only their feet.
• Use a measuring tape to see who can fling it the farthest.

3. Pass the Water

This game can be played when there are more than 10 people.

Your Child Will Need

• 2 Buckets per team
• A large source of water

How To Play

• Make teams of at least 5 kids each and make them stand in such a way that their shoulders are touching.
• The objective of the game is to pass water from one bucket to the other. However, the catch is that they must use only their hands to transfer the water.
• The water must be passed by hand from one team member to another before it reaches the second bucket. If any of the team members does not help, the whole team is disqualified.

4. Frisbee

This is a great game to play for smaller picnics. This can be played with two people or more, and if you have a dog, it becomes a bonus!

Your Child Will Need

• Frisbee
• Obstacle-free area

How To Play

• For two players, they need to stand at a slight distance from each other. The distance can be increased if the kids are experienced frisbee players.
• For more than two players, make sure that all the players are equidistant from each other. For instance, three kids can stand in a triangle; four can stand in the form of a square and so on.
• If you have a pet dog and the picnic spot is pet-friendly, you can bring him along! If he catches the frisbee from the kids, they will have to chase him to get it back. 

5. Book Cricket

Why play regular cricket when you can play book cricket? This is one of the better picnic games for kids under 5 as it preps your kids up for regular cricket. Most kids under 5 would not be able to hold a bat, and this is a good solution for that.

Your Child Will Need

• Large Notebook
• Table tennis ball

How To Play

The rules are similar to actual cricket except for some minor changes.

• There is no sixer that can be hit. Create a boundary such as surrounding trees beyond which if the ball goes, it becomes out. This way, other people at the picnic spot are not disturbed. The difficulty level of the game can be increased by shortening the boundary to a smaller distance.
• If the picnic spot as grass, then the ball cannot be bounced. This way, you can watch on the kids without them venturing too far.

6. Scavenger Hunt

If you’re looking for picnic games for kids under 10, a scavenger hunt works better as it bound to keep them occupied.

Your Child Will Need

• List
• Bag
• Watch

How To Play

• This would entail dividing the children into equally sized groups. Make sure that there is some equality in their temperament. This means that the bigger kids can’t be bunched up together.
• Hand over a list of the items to be recovered to each of the groups along with the bag. The items can be placed by you beforehand. Another approach is to put items on the list that might require some searching. For example, you could put a dried leaf which is exactly 6 centimetres as an item.
• Give proper instructions to them about not destroying public property.
• Since everyone has a phone these days, ask them to take a video/picture of the object. This can help as the item may inadvertently fall out of the bag.
• Give them a stipulated amount of time to look for the items on the list. The team that is able to recover the most objects

Games during picnics are fun and is a good opportunity for kids to move around. Make sure that you don’t make the rules or points too complicated. Keep it simple, and they’re sure to have a blast!

Also Read:

Top Fun Balloon Games for Kids
Amazing Memory Games for Children
Simple and Easy Ways to Entertain Kids
Best Games to Play At The Park for Children