Fun Family Games to Play in the Garden

As lockdown eases, the kids are loving seeing cousins and friends outdoors again. We grownups are enjoying our alfresco chats and cuppas too! With garden playdates the new normal, we’ve been thinking of our favourite outdoor activities to keep the kids and their friends entertained!

Here are some of our ideas!

Hopscotch – all you need is chalk and an object to throw. We have enjoyed playing hopscotch together during the lockdown as it’s great for a bit of fun exercise, practising numbers, aiming and balancing!

Treasure Hunt – Why not make up a little treasure hunt with clues.  If you’re feeling extra creative, turn your clues into riddles. You could even have them make the treasure by painting rocks!

Sack Race –Give each person taking part a pillowcase and they’re all set. Yes it creates laundry, but it’s guaranteed to get some giggles!

Egg and spoon race – small water balloons are a great alternative to eggs smashing in your garden! Or, you could do what schools do, and use potatoes!

Ten Pin Bowling – all you need is a standard set of children’s plastics skittles, if you don’t already have some you can get a set from all the usual places.  If you don’t have skittles you can always use paper cups or even empty toilet rolls!

Biscuit Decorating – grab some digestives or get your bake on earlier in the day. Mix some icing and lets the kids go mad with sprinkles, mini marshmallows and icing pens..

Garden Olympics or Football Tournament – With July bringing the Euro 2020 tournament, it’s a great time to set up your own Football tournament or Garden Olympics! Pick a country to represent and dress up in their colours. You could also try one of these events:

• Garden Sprint
• Garden distance run
• Sack race
• Triple Jump
• Long Jump
• Discus – try using a frisbee!

You could buy cheap medals for the winners!

Go on a bug hunt – set the kids up with a checklist and see what minibeasts they can find!

Make flower perfume – Grab a bowl and mix water and flowers in the garden.

Nature Mandala – Make faces and patterns using bits and pieces from the garden.

Cardboard Castles – Build a cardboard castle from old boxes or your recycling and paint it.

Chalk – You can have so much fun making chalk drawings on the patio or garden wall. We used to draw tracks and villages for the kids to have adventures in!

Magnifying glass: I grabbed a few of these cheap last year, and slung them in my bag for woodland walks. They were really popular, and the kids loved finding bugs and flowers to examine under them. They are always fun in the garden too

Rock painting: Paint pens seem to be the cleanest way to do this, but regular paints work too. They make great markers for a vegetable patch!

Bark rubbing: All you need are a few sheets of paper and some crayons. Press the paper over some bark, leaves or stones, then rub over them with your choice of crayon.

Paint with water: Grab a paintbrush and a pot of water, and create away! Great for practising letters. You could also mix it with some soil, or crushed flower petals to add colour.

Make a Fairy Garden: This can be as easy or complex as you like. You’ll need twigs, moss, a container (an old tub, a broken flowerpot or something like a teacup would do), stones, little bits and pieces, seashells if you have any. The children could even make fairy furniture like bridges or ladders using twigs and string, or beds and chairs from lolly sticks.

Put on a play: Our kids love putting on plays or making videos of each other. Let them make their own script and perform their masterpiece outdoors!