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Forget the video games and TV shows -- when the weather is good, it's time to get out and move with these outdoor games for kids. You'll combine exercise with fun, and maybe even improve some skills for competitive sports.
These games are great outdoor activities because they don't require supervision, expensive equipment or regulation playing fields. Kids can gather a few items from around the house, and they're set for hours of fun.
In and Out Game
Set up cones or bags, and learn to make fast turns while you're running.
Color Finders Race
Be the first to find the most colors in this sidewalk game.
Swing the Statues
Hold your pose, and you'll be a winner in simple, active game.
Look on the next page for a way to improve your throwing skill while you pick up pine cones. Just gather fallen pine cones from your lawn and make a game of it.
Pine cones
Baskets or buckets
Step 1: Gather as many cones as you can in two large buckets or baskets.
See how accurately you can toss the pine cones. How many did you sink? How many missed? Try from different distances. When you're done, you can tell mom and dad that you did your chore -- and had fun, too!
Need to master quick turns for a competitive sport like football or soccer? Keep reading to learn how the In and Out game can help you. Swerving in and out of the lineup in this outdoor game for kids can help you dodge your opponent's defensive press the next time you play a competitive game.
Six stationary objects (cones, sandbags)
Playing field
Step 1: Arrange six items roughly 10 feet apart on a long playing field. The items could be cones, sandbags, backpacks -- anything that won't blow away or hurt you if you wind up zigging where you should have zagged. Try it at an easy jog. Try it a little faster. Try it at an all-out run.
Before you know it, you'll be ready to dodge the defense in football, soccer, or any other game.
Read the next page for a sidewalk game that will have you racing to find the most colors. Get ready, get set! This mental challenge of this sidewalk game is hard to resist.
Sidewalk
Egg timer
Stopwatch or watch with second hand
Step 1: Sit outside on a sidewalk with a friend. Make sure you each have a piece of chalk.
Step 3: As soon as you say "go," start searching for as many colors as you can find. Anything in plain sight counts, from tree bark (brown) to hubcaps (silver).
Step 4: Each time you see a color, write its name on the sidewalk with chalk. The player who lists the most colors in one minute wins.
Look on the next page for a outdoor game for kids that you can win by standing perfectly still. Exercise your imagination! But play this easy outdoor game on grass or sand because it involves falling down.
Open playing area with soft surface
Three or more players
Step 1: One at a time, a player chosen as "It" takes each other player by the hand and swings him or her in a circle.
Step 3: When all players have been swung and released, "It" becomes an art critic, walking among the statues and "critiquing" each one. The "statues" must stay frozen -- no smiling or laughing! A statue that fails to freeze is out. The ones who stay statuesque are the winners.
Step 4: Choose a new "It" for the next round.
A variation: After swinging all the statues, "It" chooses a category -- such as zoo animals, cartoons, kitchen tools, or famous people. Players must remain in their positions, but they may move any arm or leg they're not using to support their weight to try and resemble something in that category.
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