Family Fun Activities - Outside Games

Other Family Fun Categories:
Family Vacations
Indoor Activities and Party Games
Water Games

Outside Games

When the days get warmer it’s time to get outside and:

• Have a paper airplane flying contest. My boys like to see who can make theirs go the furthest off our 2nd story deck.
• Fly a kite.
• Play a game of kickball. We live across the street from an elementary school, and use the field and backstop for modified games (according to the number of people in your family) of softball, kickball, etc.
• Throw the Frisbee, a baseball or football.
• Feed the ducks at the park pond.
• Play fly-up.
• Play a game of tag. My kids favorite is to do it on a playground big toy, and the rule is that no one can touch the ground!
• Swing, slide, climb on playground equipment.
• Go for a family bike ride.
• Take a walk together.
• Pull some weeds; plant some flowers.

“Mom, I’m Bored!” What to do in the Summer

The kids will be out of school before you know it and now is the time to make a few plans for the summer. I like to actually get out the calendar and schedule some different activities that keep the summer interesting and a time of fun learning. If I don’t actually schedule things, the summer slips away without spending the time I want to with my children. When making plans to have a great time with your kids, other than get-out-of-town vacations, consider doing the following:

1. Regular trips to the Library
2. Park activities—have a picnic at one, ride the rides at one that offers amusement rides, another may have tandem bike rentals, another a swimming pool, another a giant swing-set, climbing apparatus, etc.
3. Water slides
4. Local historical sites
5. Factories that allow visitors or have tours (we even went to a bowling alley “behind the lanes” tour once)
6. Visit gardens
7. Slip n’ slide (you can just use a wet sheet of plastic)
8. Work in your garden or yard together
9. Go on a bike ride
10. Hike some local trails
11. Have a day on the beach at the ocean, or a lake
12. Visit museums (we don’t live in a huge city so we go to the same ones over and over. There’s always something new to learn!)
13. Climb a mountain
14. Visit your capital building if you live near it, or other government buildings
15. Find out what’s scheduled at the local fair grounds, or convention center
16. Children’s theater—they offer inexpensive tickets to daytime performances where children perform at the local civic theater in our area. My kids and I have enjoyed them for years.
17. Miniature golf
18. Go-cart tracks
19. Roller skating or blading
20. Make cookies
21. Set up a lemonade stand
22. Sell produce from your garden in a wagon around the neighborhood
23. Take a class on rock climbing

Ask around and you will discover things in your area that are great for kids and moms (and dads) that you never knew existed. Many of them free, or very inexpensive. I would mix up the ones that cost money with the freebies, and we’d try to get in at least 2 every week.

Annie-I-Over
If you don’t have a house with a roof low enough to get a tennis ball over and free access to run all the way around it (the house that is), then you’ll need to use the neighbors’ house, a park shelter or rest room, etc. This is one of my kids favorite games. I have a son named Andy and when he was little he thought we were playing his game, just for him, whenever we played it (Andy-I-Over).

Divide into two teams. Flip a coin and let the winner choose whether his team wants to throw or receive a tennis ball over the house first. One team goes to the backyard and one stays in the front. The team with the ball yells ‘Annie-I-Over” and throws it to the opposing team on the other side of the house. The receiving team tries to catch the ball without it bouncing. If they do, all players on the receiving team take off running around the house (some one way and some the other) The idea is to get as many people on your team as you can by throwing the ball and hitting people with it before they get to your spot on the other side of the house. Therefore, the one with the ball should hide it until he/she gets close enough to tap or throw the ball at someone on the opposing team. Since the opposing team has players coming at them from the other side of the house, from both directions, they won’t know who for sure has the ball and won’t know which way to run.

If the person with the ball throws it and misses, others on his team can pick it up and try to hit someone on the opposing team with it before they get to the other side of the house. You can get as many players as possible on your side in one turn. All players who were hit with the ball now become part of that team that hit them. Play continues until one team is wiped out—has no more players.

What if the team receiving the ball does NOT catch the ball without it bouncing? Then they have two options. Either they can yell “Annie-I-Over” and just throw it back, or they can “pretend” they caught the ball. In that case they leave the ball on their side of the yard but run around the house to where the opposing team is. Players try to look like they have the ball, faking out the other team. As they (the team who received the ball but didn’t catch it) comes to the other side of the house, the opposing team will want to run to the opposite side of the house to safety before they are “hit” but if they do so when the receiving team really doesn’t have the ball, then they become a part of the opposing team. Instead, players must make sure that the receiving team has the ball before they can seek safety on the other side for sure.

If the receiving team doesn’t “catch” anyone because no one on the opposing team runs to the other side, then the team pretending to have the ball goes back to where they left the ball, and play continues with them throwing it over the house calling “Annie-I-Over.”

Innocent Paint Ball
Paint balling is a beloved … sport could you call it? A calmer version can be played in your own backyard. It’s best if everyone wears dark clothing. Partially fill some socks (can’t have holes in them) with flour, and tie the ends. Divide into teams and scatter throughout the yard, or make boundaries in a park. Each team has it’s own “ammo” (sock pile). You decide the rules, whether it’s free for all until everyone is tired, or if you set a time limit. Determine the winner—well actually the “loser” is easier to determine-- they’re the one(s) covered in flour!

Play Hopscotch!
There aren’t a lot of hopscotch courts around anymore, so get your family together and make your own! Here’s a recipe for sidewalk paint you can make. Draw the court, and teach your kids an old game they’ll love. For a refresher course on the rules of the game go to http://www.streetplay.com/thegames/hopscotch.htm.

Sidewalk Paint
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
6-8 drops food coloring
Mix cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl. Add food coloring and stir. {This paint can easily be washed away with water—use for make-believe roads too.)

Creamy Whistle
Here’s a youth activity that a group played at a summer relay I attended. It would be fun for families too. Buy a can of whip cream and two whistles. Put the whistles on a plate and spray them with the whip cream until they are buried. On the word “go” mom and dad (or brother and sister, or whoever) must push through, or eat through the whip cream, get the whistle in their mouth and blow it—producing a sound. The first one to accomplish this wins. The catch—NO USING YOUR HANDS.

Bowling Soccer
Place a little gravel in five 2-liter plastic soda bottles, and stand them up in a field, driveway, or empty parking lot. Line up the “pins” (bottles) similar to that in the bowling alley with 3 across the back, then 2 in front of the three, and one in the front center.

Each family member takes a turn kicking a soccer or playground ball from behind their line (adjust according to age and skill level) trying to knock down the pins. Score 1 point for each pin knocked down or score like bowling where each gets two tries to get them all down, and extra points for spares or strikes.

Human Bowling
Get some empty boxes and plastic pop bottles together to act as “pins.” Find a small (or, my boys prefer large!) sloping paved area and set the empty containers up at the bottom. Family members take turns sitting on a skateboard (or scooter) somewhere uphill of the “pins.” See who can knock the most pins down in one turn or a series of turns. Riders must keep their hands and feet on the skate board or scooter at all times once they reach the pins. Each player can set up the pins for themselves in a way they think will be most advantageous.

A safe place to do this is in an empty church or school parking lot, on an empty sidewalk, or even down a grass hill in a park.

Pop That Balloon!
This is a great game for little and big. Everyone in the family (or neighborhood) ties one end of a piece of string to their leg and the other end to a blown up tied balloon. String should be about a yard long. When someone says “go” everyone tries to pop the balloons tied to other’s legs while protecting their own. You can’t use your hands. You must pop the balloons by stomping or sitting on them. You protect your own balloon by running away—no hands allowed! We’ve played this game at many birthday parties for our young children, both inside the house (in a large family room) and outside.

An Easter Walk
What a great time to begin doing outside things as a family again. Take a nature walk and let your children share some discoveries with you.

Jesus Christ has had a profound affect on mankind. If you would like to teach your children about Him during your Easter walk, you could make the following parallels, and let them come up with some of their own.

• Water—think of the time Jesus turned the water to wine.
• Branches—when Jesus entered the city the first day of the week when he was crucified the people waved palm tree branches signifying their love and acceptance of Him.
• Wood—the cross was made of wood.
• Something prickly—his crown was made of thorns.
• Something dead—Jesus died.
• Stones—it was a huge stone that was rolled in front of the tomb where Jesus’ body laid.
• Something living—Jesus rose again on Easter morning nearly 2000 years ago, and still
• lives today!

Peanut Butter Everywhere
My son wanted a peanut butter sandwich every day for lunch. It didn’t matter if he was in first grade or twelfth, he shied away from hot lunch, and homemade meat sandwiches. Occasionally I would ask him if I could make him something different, but he’d say, “no, just peanut butter please.”

I heard of a fun game not too long ago that peanut butter lovers could definitely get into. Divide the family into two teams. Put an old shirt on a player from each team. Smear the shirts with peanut butter (lots of it). Take a loaf of bread and throw slices at the peanut butter, trying to make them “stick” to the shirts. The person wearing the shirt cannot use their hands but can move from side to side, or turn around, to help get the pieces stuck in any way they can. Players can get as close to the peanut buttered person as they’d like, but cannot touch them—the bread must be “thrown.” When the bread is gone, or 2 minutes is up, count to see who has the most pieces stuck to them and that team wins.

Ball Games
I don’t know what it’s like at your house but we have always had dozens of balls around—all kinds. My kids just love ball games: maybe it’s genetic because some of my fondest childhood memories are playing ball games with family and friends.

Wall Ball
All you need for this one is a rubber playground ball and a wall, such as those you find on the playground of elementary schools, or just use the side of the school, or other building that has no windows and can’t be damaged by the ball! A garage can work if it’s a tall one and the eaves don’t interfere.

Play with two players against each other or with several, each one being for himself. Mark off an end line about 15-20 feet from the wall (adjust as you need), and side lines extending out from the wall (give yourself about 10 feet across to play on). If the ball goes beyond the line on either side or at the back then that person who last hit it is out.

Play proceeds with someone serving by hitting the ball making sure it bounces before hitting the wall. Players take turns hitting the ball until someone gets out by missing their turn, not returning the ball properly with the single bounce, or the ball landing outside the court lines. The ball must always bounce only once before it hits the wall. When the ball comes off the wall it can bounce before a player returns it, or it can be hit directly off the wall, but must always bounce ONCE after the player hits it and before it hits the wall.

If there are just two players, play until someone reaches 11 points. If there are several then play until all players are out but the one winner.

Stop that Ball
Everyone stand in a circle with their legs in a wide straddle, and with the side of the foot against the side of the players feet on either side. Keep your hands on your knees at all times unless stopping the ball.

Use two balls, such as soccer balls or something about that size. The object of the game is to throw one of the balls between the legs of any player before they can stop it with their hands. Each time the ball goes between someone’s legs, they get a point scored against them. Lowest score wins.

It is against the rules to “hit” the ball. Rather a person must “catch it” and then attempt to “throw” it under the legs of another. Don’t forget to keep hands on knees until a ball is coming your way.

Try putting a player in the center with a ball. The center player tries to roll the ball through the legs of those in the circle. Any player that allows the ball to go through their legs changes places with the one in the middle.

How Many Flags?
Bike riding together can be a lot of fun. Plan a family trip to the park, or schoolyard where you’ll enjoy some lunch or a ball game together, but get there by peddling.

Or...make a game out of your bike ride. Divide the family in two. One group heads out one way and the other goes another way. Everyone has to be back at home within 20 minutes (or 2 hours—whatever suits your family best). The idea is to count the number of American flags you see while out on your little adventure. Do it on the 4th of July if you want to see lots, otherwise any day will do. The losers are the ones who find the least number of flags and they get to dish up root beer floats, or ice cream sundaes and serve the winners first.