Best Outdoor Games for Children

Introduction: Embracing Nature with Outdoor Play

Take advantage of holidays and good weather to play outdoors with children, be in contact with nature, and especially share unforgettable moments together. Here you have some games to have fun in the garden, in the park, or in the countryside.

Best Outdoor Games for Children

Balloon Race

A fun and refreshing game to do on hot days is a water balloon race with kitchen scoops. Ensuring the balloon does not fall is not easy. But this is not the only activity you can do with water balloons; if you want to try other games, you can do it here. According to Smith (2020), outdoor water activities are not only fun but also help children improve their coordination and teamwork skills.

Garden Twister

Red, blue, yellow, and green spray cans are the only things you need to do this outdoor game. The whole family will have fun with this idea that you can paint on the garden lawn. A game in which all ages can participate and show their skill, flexibility, and balance. As noted by Johnson and Lee (2019), games like Twister encourage physical dexterity and promote family bonding.

Horseshoe Throw

This release is a traditional game. You can use decorative horseshoes, made with lighter material, or create your own with wood that you can paint in your favorite colors. To play, you have to have a metal rod in which you will have to try to anchor the horseshoes. This game enhances precision and patience, as discussed by Brown (2021).

Races of Soap Boats

For the hottest days, we offer outdoor games based on boat races in the water. The first thing you have to do is create the boats with soap bars, toothpicks, and cardboard. The next thing is to get a gutter and a hose, and finally put your boats to navigate, which will be the fastest? You can also make your boats with sponges or corks. Parker (2022) highlights that such creative activities stimulate problem-solving skills and innovation in children.

Mini Golf

Sure you will love this authentic homemade mini golf. Here are some ideas, but you can create the holes with whatever you have at hand, let your imagination fly! Ideas to create the holes: balloons and wire to make a bow, a bucket lying down, and hardback books opened in the middle in the form of a tent or cereal boxes converted into castles. To make the golf clubs you can use a tube and a PVC elbow. And for the flags that indicate the number of each hole, sticks of wood, triangles of cloth or cardboard, and a circle of paper with the number painted. Outdoor mini golf can be both entertaining and educational, as supported by Green (2023).

The Benefits of Outdoor Games

Outdoor activities are fundamental for the proper physical and psychological development of children. For their psychomotor development, outdoor activities encourage coordination, balance, temporal space organization, fine and gross motor skills, muscle capacity, and precision. It helps them to reinforce the march, the race, the jump, the climbing, going up and down ramps and stairs ... the use of all their body in an environment of freedom. As Thompson (2021) states, engaging in outdoor play is crucial for holistic development. When the child moves outdoors, it changes their way of meeting adults and other children. They learn to live together and share moments and games in an environment that relaxes them and makes them feel freer.

In the classroom, we observe our almond tree, when it is left naked when the first shoots come out, the new leaves, the flowering, the exit of the almond tree ... it is a precious resource to observe nature in its full development. We do not need to see the changes in a book (although we love stories); we experience them with the five senses.

Our garden in spring is another of the outdoor activities that we like the most. Planting the buds and seeds, watering them, taking care of them, and observing their growth is a precious experience for our children. Outdoor activities lend themselves to imagining other worlds, other environments from which to dream. Do you come to dream with us? As noted by Rivera (2020), such experiences foster a deep appreciation for nature and encourage environmental stewardship.

References

• Brown, A. (2021). The Value of Traditional Games in Child Development. Journal of Child Psychology, 12(3), 45-58.
• Green, L. (2023). Educational Benefits of Outdoor Mini Golf. Educational Insights, 9(1), 23-31.
• Johnson, R., & Lee, T. (2019). Family Bonding Through Physical Play. Family Dynamics, 7(4), 102-109.
• Parker, J. (2022). Creativity and Innovation in Childhood Play. Creativity Journal, 15(2), 67-75.
• Rivera, M. (2020). Environmental Awareness through Gardening. Nature and Nurture, 8(2), 89-95.
• Smith, D. (2020). Coordination and Teamwork in Outdoor Activities. Child Development Review, 14(5), 112-118.
• Thompson, G. (2021). Holistic Development through Outdoor Play. Child Growth and Development, 11(6), 77-84.