Outdoor Party Activities for Kids

Kids love the outdoors on a hot day, so if you’re planning a party for kids, consider an outdoor extravaganza. Outdoor parties are best during the warmer months, but you can try them on slightly cooler days as well. Whether you organize a picnic party, a scavenger hunt, a treasure hunt, or a day of water-filled fun, kids of all ages and your party guests will love the outdoor party you’ve planned.

Picnic Party With A Lot Of Fun Activities

Younger kids, especially toddlers and preschoolers, will love picnic summer parties and a backyard party. Just bring along plenty of old sheets or tablecloths to spread on the ground, and prepare typical barbecue food, such as hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken, corn on the cob, and salads.

As activities and extra fun for a picnic party, make a marching band and sing “The Ants Are Marching One By One,” build picnic baskets from shoe boxes and a strip of cardboard and decorate them with craft supplies, or play a classic outdoor party game of “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing a…” with each person adding one more object to the list.

Scavenger And Treasure Hunts Are Fun Party Games

Older kids who can travel through the neighborhood on their own (or who can be driven places by a chaperone) will enjoy scavenger hunt parties and treasure hunt parties with a hidden treasure. For a scavenger hunt classic party game , make a list of vague items that groups of kids must find, such as “something purple,” “something more than 100 years old,” “a stone,” and “man-made object.”

If you give the kids digital cameras, they can take pictures of their finds; otherwise, they’ll simply need to confirm that they visited each place. The first team to complete the entire list wins, and the party finishes with plenty of food and fun outside as the kids discuss their travels.

Alternatively, kids can go on a treasure hunt, following hint after hint until they finally find a large treasure (such as a box of some exciting party favors). This will take plenty of preparation beforehand. You also can make the end of the treasure hunt land them at the special location where the party will take place.

Water Fun For Young Children

Pool parties are a great idea for outdoor fun for older children. But if you don’t have a pool in your own backyard, you can still throw a water party that kids will enjoy on a hot summer day. Fill up several kiddy pools for younger children on a grassy area; attach a sprinkler to your hose – or several sprinklers, if possible; start a water balloon fight with intricate rules; and fill up plenty of water guns and other water toys. Let the kids loose in their bathing suits and watch how much fun a bit of water and a squirt gun can add to a party. When the kids start winding down, you can give them watermelon, Goldfish crackers, Popsicles, and other water-related foods, along with a cake shaped like a swimming pool.

Face Painting And Tag Are The Best Games

By teaming up with other adults to pool clean T-shirts and water-soluble paints, a face painting party becomes fun for the kids and the parents. The face painting can provide a fair way to divide teams for a game of tag, so no child feels unwanted. For example, make the teams flowers versus animals or spots versus stripes.

Solar Oven Picnic Competition For A Kids Party

A party where the kids get to make their own food guarantees an unusually messy party. By showing the kids how to make solar ovens out of pizza boxes, the party becomes a learning activity. The New Mexico Solar Energy Association website recommends using this project to teach children about solar energy and energy conservation.

Add to the competition by giving prizes for the most artistic meal, fastest cooking, most unusual-looking solar oven, and strangest combination of ingredients. All this requires is picnic tables with a variety of ingredients in dishes with serving spoons, rolls of aluminum or tinfoil, clean, empty pizza boxes, and a sunny day. Having an example solar pizza oven made helps get the kids started.

It only takes cutting the pizza box top to lift as a lid and lining the inside of the box with the shiny side of the foil facing in and the lid with the shiny side facing out. Adding a sheet of black paper to the inside of the box on the bottom helps hold heat, and sealing the outside edges with plastic wrap keeps heat in. Dollar store prizes and fresh whole food ingredients such as tortillas, brown rice, shredded cheese, and grated vegetables make this an inexpensive party.

Egg Toss Target Practice

Hosting a messy egg toss classic game goes smoothly by collecting out-of-date eggs from stores and other parents. Placing tarps over the fence and on the ground makes clean-up easy. Having the little kids help make bulls-eye targets to hang on the fence gets them involved in the game. Giving prizes to kids who hit the bull’s eyes gets the kids into the competition. Water balloons make an enjoyable game variation for hot weather. Adding water balloon slingshots gives the kids a chance to work on their aiming skills.

Toilet Paper Mummy Game Is A Fun Activity

With a few rolls of inexpensive toilet paper, it is simple to get any group of kids laughing. This fun game involves dividing the kids into pairs. One kid on each team wraps the other up as a mummy in the toilet paper and the fastest mummy maker gets a prize. Letting the teams trade places gives all the kids a chance to win. Using a stopwatch determines the fastest mummy maker of the two groups.

Outdoor Party Games For Children For Lots Of Fun

Outdoor games is a great way to have some fun and provide the perfect entertainment for spring and summer children’s parties. Outdoor games also provide an active alternative to stationary party activities, such as watching movies or playing video games. Plan a variety of games so that you can keep the party going if one game proves unpopular with the children.

Annie, Annie Over

In Annie, Annie Over, a barrier between the two teams adds suspense to the game. Set up that barrier by hanging a large sheet over a clothesline. Divide the players into two teams and have one team stand on each side of the sheet. Give one team a beach ball or soft playground ball to start the game. That team throws the ball over the sheet and warns their opponents by calling out, “Annie, Annie over!”

If the ball hits the ground before a member of the opposing team can catch it, the team throws the ball back over with the same warning call. If a member catches the ball before it hits the ground, however, then the team can sprint around the sheet and attempt to tag members of the other team. The other team must sprint in the opposite direction around the sheet to reach safety. Tagged players must join the team that tagged them. Continue playing until one team has tagged and absorbed all players.

Tacos And Bridges Is A Simple Game

This fun outdoor game is a variation on musical chairs will keep children moving. The game requires a number of players not divisible by three. Select one player to be the caller at the start of the game. All players must walk or run around the playing area until the caller calls out “Tacos” or “Bridges.” Players must then scramble to form a taco or bridge with two other players.

If the caller says “Tacos,” two players must hold hands to form the shell, and a third player must stand between the others to form the taco’s filling. If the caller says “Bridges,” two players must put their hands together above their heads to form an arch, and a third player must crouch beneath the arch to form the water. Just as one player cannot find a chair in musical chairs, one player will not be able to form part of a taco or bridge in this game. That player becomes the next caller.

Elbow Tag Is A Great Game

In this variation on the classic tag, the “it” player chases only one player, but that player constantly changes. Have one player volunteer to be “it” and another to begin the game as the free player or the player after which “it” must chase. The remaining players must pair up, link arms, and scatter around the playing area. These players cannot move. When the game begins, the free player must run away from “it.” The free player can designate a new free player at any time by linking arms with a pair. The player on the other side of that pair becomes the new free player, and must avoid being tagged by “it.”

Games break the ice and add to the fun of a party. At a party for kids, games that make a mess will be a hit. With some planning, you can host a memorable kids’ party. The simple ingredients offer inexpensive amusement. Let them make a mess and have fun. Use a few tricks to make clean-up a breeze.

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