Fun Outdoor Family Games

Family Basketball

Whether you have a basketball hoop in your backyard or you visit a local court that is open to the public, shooting hoops is a great way to spend time with your family outdoors. You can hold a pickup game with three to five players per team, or play a game of HORSE with two or more players.

Frisbee Golf

Throwing a frisbee is something that you and your family can enjoy anywhere there's open space. To play frisbee golf, you take turns choosing "holes," which are objects you have to hit with the frisbee. You keep score by counting your number of throws per "hole." If you're lucky, you can find an actual frisbee golf course in your area.

Hacky Sack

Playing hacky sack is a fun outdoor activity that children, teens, and grown-ups can enjoy together. Basically, everyone stands in a circle and takes turns gently kicking a hacky sack to each other. The goal is to keep the sack off the ground. You can use other body parts besides your feet to keep the sack in play, just not your hands.

Hide-and-Seek

When playing this game outdoors, be sure that youngsters know the boundaries and establish a signal that means "game over, come out of hiding." If very young children are playing, pair them with adults to ensure their safety. There are many varieties of hide-and-seek you can try: – Sardines: When you find someone, they join you in searching for the others,

Hide-and-Seek

but you have to stay together. – Ghost in the Graveyard: You usually play this at night when it's dark. The ghost hides, and when you find the ghost, you yell, "Ghost in the graveyard!" The ghost tries to tag the other players before they reach the base. – Flashlight hide-and-seek: The person who is "it" has to shine a flashlight on a person to officially "find" them. This is usually played in the dark.

Jump Rope

Holding a jump rope competition is a great outdoor activity that children and adults can enjoy together. You can try some double dutch games or rhymes to see how long each player jumps without messing up, while two other people hold the ends of the rope and swing it.

Marco Polo

Whether you have a swimming pool in your own backyard or choose to visit a public pool, playing Marco Polo is a great family water game. In this game, one person closes their eyes and tries to find the others by saying, "Marco." The others must respond by saying "Polo," and the tagger follows their voices to tag them. You can play a variation of this game without water by setting backyard boundaries and walking around.

Hula Hoop Contest

Hula hoops are cheap and easy items to score at most local stores. Grab a few and challenge your family to a hoop-off. Start a timer and get hula-ing. Record the time at which the hoop finally falls to the ground for each person. The family member who keeps the hula hoop moving the longest wins.

Family Tag

You can put together a friendly family game of tag in your own backyard or in any other location where there's room to run. The main goal of tag is for one chosen tagger to touch all the other players until only the winner is left untouched. There are endless varieties of tag you can try, such as: – Freeze Tag: When a person is tagged, they must freeze in place. To get unfrozen, they have to be tagged by another player.

Family Tag

– Tunnel Tag: When you are tagged, you stand still with your legs apart. Another player can crawl between your legs to free you. – Everyone's It Tag: Everybody in the game is "it" and tries to tag others below the knee. If you get tagged, you sit out until the person who tagged you gets out. Then you're back in the game.

Family Tetherball

While some outdoor game equipment requires a large yard, it's possible to install a tetherball pole in even tiny areas. Tetherball is made from a ball, like a volleyball, tied to a rope that's tied to a pole. Players stand on opposite sides of the pole and hit the ball to each other. The goal is to hit the ball so that the rope wraps all the way around the pole.

Family Tennis Match

Playing tennis is a great outdoor activity for families of all sizes, as it is possible to play with as few as two people, or as many as eight. You'll need tennis rackets, balls, and a court to play on. Your local school, fitness center, or park may have public tennis courts you can use.

Homemade Hopscotch Match

If you have a sidewalk or concrete patio, all you need to get a game of hopscotch started is some chalk. You'll need to draw a long series of squares that connect to each other. You can have one square followed by two squares centered on the first square, but you never draw more than two squares side-by-side. Add a number to each square in order, starting

Homemade Hopscotch Match

with one. Take turns tossing a rock at the hopscotch game; then, you have to hop on one foot for single squares and two feet for double squares until you get to where your rock landed.

Homemade Four Square

Four square is a fun group game that's easy to make on your driveway or flat patio. You can use chalk or tape to make the giant square that is split into four equal squares. You use one ball, like a kickball, for the game. Players take turns hitting the ball to each other while staying inside the four squares. When someone gets out, they leave their square, everyone rotates, and a new player enters the game.

Homemade Horseshoe Match

It only takes a few minutes to set up a game of horseshoes in your backyard. You can buy plastic or metal horseshoe sets, or you can make your own. You'll need two strong stakes placed anywhere from 20 to 40 feet directly across from each other. When you put the stakes in the ground, about 20 inches should stick up. Teams take turns tossing horseshoes at the stakes.

DIY Miniature Golf

While you can visit a miniature golf course to play this game, you can also create a simple version in your backyard. Use plastic cups placed on their sides to create the "holes." Keep the cups in place by driving a nail through the side of the cup that's touching the ground into the soil. Grab some toy golf clubs, real golf clubs, or even hockey sticks, and try to hit small balls into the cups. The player with the lowest number of strokes wins.

DIY Giant Jenga

Jenga is a wooden board game where small wooden blocks are stacked, and you try to remove them without knocking over the stack. To create your own Jenga set, cut 54 blocks from 2 x 4 wooden boards. Each piece will be about 10.5 inches long. Stack the blocks on the ground in rows of three, alternating which direction the blocks face on each layer.

DIY Outdoor Pictionary

Take your Pictionary board game outside and use chalk to play. You can draw out the game board on your driveway, patio, or sidewalk and use natural items like rocks as game pieces. Players can use the chalk to draw out their clues and erase them with water when they're done.

DIY Giant Pick Up Sticks

Use long, thin wooden dowels to make your own version of the board game Pick Up Sticks. You should paint an equal number of sticks in five different colors. All the sticks get dropped in a pile. On a turn, you try to pick up any stick without moving any of the other sticks. If you succeed, you keep the stick and go again. If you fail, your turn is over. The player with the most sticks at the end is the winner.

DIY Bean Bag Toss

This game incorporates hand-eye coordination with math skills. Set up five plastic bowls in front of the person tossing. The closest bowl should be labeled with a low number, one for young kids and 25 for older children. Continue labeling bowls with higher numbers, moving them further away from the bean bag tosser. Create bean bags or find small items

DIY Bean Bag Toss

to toss into the bowls. Have kids keep track of their numbers and add them up to see who wins.

DIY Frisbee Tic-Tac-Toe

It's easy to make a giant tic-tac-toe board on a hard surface with chalk or ropes. You could also use a marker to draw the grid on a big sheet that you can set in the yard or spray paint the board on your lawn. Use frisbees as your game pieces. Using marker or tape, make "x's" and "o's" on the frisbees. Players will take turns tossing frisbees onto the tic-tac-toe grid in hopes of getting three squares in a row.

DIY Giant Lawn Dominoes

Recreate dominoes for outdoor play by making rectangles out of wood or cardboard. Check out a standard domino set to see how many pieces you should make and how many dots need to go on each piece. Players will take turns attaching their dominoes to other dominoes in the playing area by matching the number of dots.

DIY Backyard Checkers

You can make a homemade Checkers board in your backyard using a tablecloth and some paper plates, chalk and stones, or even spray paint and frisbees. All you need is an 8 x 8 grid using two alternating colors and 12 checkers of each color.

DIY Backyard Scrabble

You can use square wood tiles, ceramic tiles, or cardboard squares to make your own outdoor Scrabble game. There are 100 tiles in a game of Scrabble, and each features a letter of the alphabet. Players will take turns spelling words on the lawn using their letter tiles. You can even print out Scrabble score sheets to help you keep score.

DIY Backyard Twister

Apply chalk to your driveway or spray paint in your yard to create a giant outdoor Twister board. You'll need to create a 4 x 6 grid of circles. Each row of six should be a different color. You can recreate the spinner on a piece of cardboard. Players have to place their hands and feet wherever the spinner says while trying not to fall on the ground.

DIY Hook and Ring

Hook and Ring is simple to play and easy to create anywhere. You need a space where you can anchor a hook to a tree or the wall of something. Then you need to attach a long piece of twine with a ring at the end above the hook (by several feet) or to the ceiling in between the hook and starting spot. The game's goal is to pull the string and ring back and let

DIY Hook and Ring

it glide over to the hook, getting both to connect. It is harder than it looks to master this seemingly easy task, and so much fun to try repeatedly.

Homemade Ring Toss

All you need to create this classic carnival game in your own yard are some bottles, a ring, and good hand-eye coordination. Glass bottles can break, so if you are using them, make sure they are in a sturdy case where they cannot tip over. Plastic bottles are an option, but you will want to weigh each one down by filling it with water, gravel, or sand. A pool ring will work just

Homemade Ring Toss

fine for the object that gets tossed. Draw a line to stand on and see who rings the most bottles.

DIY Giant Kerplunk

Kerplunk is an old kid's board game making a comeback thanks to the DIY giant versions. You'll need some wood, chicken wire, wooden dowels, and plastic balls to make this homemade backyard game. Players will take turns pulling out dowels while trying not to let any of the balls drop.

Red Rover

When holding a large family gathering with members from several generations, a game of red rover might be the perfect activity. You'll need two large teams of people who are standing side-by-side in line and holding hands. The teams stand facing each other with about 20 feet between them. One person at a time tries to break through the other team's human chain. Just

Red Rover

be careful not to clothesline Granny and send her flying.

Wheelbarrow Races

There is truly nothing funnier than watching Uncle Pete and Aunt Martha try to hustle down the lawn wheelbarrow style. This classic game is perfect for family reunions. Silly races like these tend to bring out people's competitive sides. Here's to hoping the only injury anyone suffers from this game is pulled muscles from laughing.

Sack Race

Holding an old-fashioned sack race is a great way to have some outdoor fun with your loved ones. You can use burlap sacks or pillowcases for the race. Make a starting line and a finish line. Players will stand in the sack and hop from the starting line to the finish line.

Obstacle Course

When it comes time to gather the masses, consider setting up a fun DIY obstacle course for family members to try to conquer. Time each participant as they move at lightning speed through the funny and challenging parts of the course. Think about passing out a trophy to the family member with the best time.

Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts are fun for people of all ages and are an excellent activity to incorporate into a family gathering. Set up clues throughout your neighborhood or property and break the family up into pairs, teams, or take the game on individually. See who solves all the riddles fastest.

Family Reunion Talent Show

Why not hold a talent show in your backyard? Give everyone time to think up their talent and practice their routine. Use a deck space as a stage or create a makeshift one out in your yard. Set up chairs and see who really got all the talent genes in the family.

Egg or Water Balloon Race

An egg or water balloon race is certainly something that most people will want to keep outdoors. All you need is a steady hand, a couple of eggs that you can part with (or water balloons), and a spoon (a small one for eggs or ladle sized for water balloons). Split the family members up into two teams and see which team can move their egg or water balloon

Egg or Water Balloon Race

across the finish line in a relay race style format. The winning team gets bragging rights for the remainder of the evening.

Kickball Game

Playing kickball as a family is a great way to increase coordination, get some exercise, and practice teamwork. If you have four bases, plenty of players, and a kickball, then you can create a game of kickball. Game play is similar to baseball; only players kick the ball instead of hitting it with a bat.

Touch Football

Large groups can play a safer form of football by using two hands to touch the person holding the football rather than tackling them. If you have a flag football set or even bandanas, you could also play flag football. Teams take turns trying to get the ball into their end zone. This game is a great addition to fall family fun.

Volleyball Game

If you have room to install a net in your backyard, playing volleyball is a good outdoor activity for family gatherings. You can use a badminton net or make a net by hanging a string between two trees or poles. You might even find a volleyball court at your local beach to use.

Baseball Game

Baseball is another simple game that requires a lot of players. You'll need four bases, a bat, and a ball to play. If you're playing with younger kids, consider using plastic bats and balls. Split your group into two teams and take turns hitting the ball with your bat, then running the bases.

Tug of War

If you're looking for a fun outdoor game for a large family gathering full of competitive members, tug-of-war might be a perfect choice. Each large team stands one behind the other, holding one end of a rope. Teams work together to pull on their end of the rope and try to get the first person on the other team across the centerline.

Family Soccer

All you really need is a ball to play soccer in your backyard or a local park. You can purchase portable goals to set up or designate goals using natural objects, like the area between two trees. You'll want at least three players on each team, so you have one goalie and two active players. Feel free to make up your own version of the rules if you've got a smaller group.

Capture the Flag

You need two teams to play this giant game of tag. Each team will hide a flag, then try to steal the other team's flag. Players who get tagged by the other team go to "jail" and can only get out if they're tagged by a player who's still in the game.

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Fun Outdoor Family Games

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Family Basketball

Whether you have a basketball hoop in your backyard or you visit a local court that is open to the public, shooting hoops is a great way to spend time with your family outdoors. You can hold a pickup game with three to five players per team, or play a game of HORSE with two or more players.

Read more

Frisbee Golf

Read more

Hacky Sack

Read more

Hide-and-Seek

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Hide-and-Seek

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Jump Rope

Holding a jump rope competition is a great outdoor activity that children and adults can enjoy together. You can try some double dutch games or rhymes to see how long each player jumps without messing up, while two other people hold the ends of the rope and swing it.

Read more

Marco Polo

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Hula Hoop Contest

Hula hoops are cheap and easy items to score at most local stores. Grab a few and challenge your family to a hoop-off. Start a timer and get hula-ing. Record the time at which the hoop finally falls to the ground for each person. The family member who keeps the hula hoop moving the longest wins.

Read more

Family Tag

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Family Tag

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Family Tetherball

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Family Tennis Match

Playing tennis is a great outdoor activity for families of all sizes, as it is possible to play with as few as two people, or as many as eight. You'll need tennis rackets, balls, and a court to play on. Your local school, fitness center, or park may have public tennis courts you can use.

Read more

Homemade Hopscotch Match

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Homemade Hopscotch Match

with one. Take turns tossing a rock at the hopscotch game; then, you have to hop on one foot for single squares and two feet for double squares until you get to where your rock landed.

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Homemade Four Square

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Homemade Horseshoe Match

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DIY Miniature Golf

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DIY Giant Jenga

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DIY Outdoor Pictionary

Take your Pictionary board game outside and use chalk to play. You can draw out the game board on your driveway, patio, or sidewalk and use natural items like rocks as game pieces. Players can use the chalk to draw out their clues and erase them with water when they're done.

Read more

DIY Giant Pick Up Sticks

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DIY Bean Bag Toss

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DIY Bean Bag Toss

to toss into the bowls. Have kids keep track of their numbers and add them up to see who wins.

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DIY Frisbee Tic-Tac-Toe

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DIY Giant Lawn Dominoes

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DIY Backyard Checkers

You can make a homemade Checkers board in your backyard using a tablecloth and some paper plates, chalk and stones, or even spray paint and frisbees. All you need is an 8 x 8 grid using two alternating colors and 12 checkers of each color.

Read more

DIY Backyard Scrabble

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DIY Backyard Twister

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DIY Hook and Ring

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DIY Hook and Ring

it glide over to the hook, getting both to connect. It is harder than it looks to master this seemingly easy task, and so much fun to try repeatedly.

Read more

Homemade Ring Toss

Read more

Homemade Ring Toss

fine for the object that gets tossed. Draw a line to stand on and see who rings the most bottles.

Read more

DIY Giant Kerplunk

Kerplunk is an old kid's board game making a comeback thanks to the DIY giant versions. You'll need some wood, chicken wire, wooden dowels, and plastic balls to make this homemade backyard game. Players will take turns pulling out dowels while trying not to let any of the balls drop.

Read more

Red Rover

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Red Rover