4 Best Outdoor Games for Warm Days
With the holidays behind us and with a new year ahead of us, we’re all looking forward to the promise of spring and the possibility of more outdoor adventures.
Between now and then, we’re sure to have those in-between times, those neither here nor there days when “the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold, when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade," to quote Charles Dickens.
On days like that, head out into the light and enjoy the warmth and the knowledge that there are sublimely hot days ahead. Here are a few ideas of games you can play on those warm days.
1. Tea Party Dress-Up Picnics
Enjoy your backyard with a dress-up date and an elegant picnic just a few steps from your door.
Have your little one out on their favorite dress-up gown, mouse ears or Halloween costume to make the time even more magical. Pack up your favorite foods and a thick blanket, and reclaim your yard from old man winter. If you can bask in the sun comfortably, it’s time for a memorable family picnic.
2. Treasure Hunts
Tie strings all leading from your picnic site to a treasure—maybe a dessert! Wind the string all over the yard so the kids have to duck under and climb over things. Have more than one string pathway to follow.
You can also have different strings leading to different items. You can even start the picnic that way—with strings leading to the different surprise foods that make up the picnic feast. Once every part of the picnic is found, it’s time for lunch!
3. Kickball
The game the kids always look forward to the most at school and camp is kickball. With this oversized ball set, anyone can turn the yard or the local park into a kickball arena. Get some fresh air and exercise with the first game of the season.
It’s baseball with a huge bouncy ball you kick instead of using a bat. How fun is that? And no one gets nailed with a small hard ball or bonked with a bat.
Make up some encouraging cheers and practice good sportsmanship.
4. Disney-Themed Relay Race
Every kid has their favorite Disney movie. If they’ve got the dress-up gear, you can probably guess which relay race they’d like to run.
If Frozen is the hands-down favorite, have an ice relay. Get a couple of buckets of ice and two empty containers on the other side of the yard. Use tongs or spoons to empty one bucket into the other. Whoever fills up their bucket the fastest wins!
If Moana is your family’s fave, use spoons or small cups for your ocean adventure. Here we’re looking for the most water transported from one location to the other. It doesn’t matter whose bucket is empty first, but how much water has survived the trip.
Make sure to bring along your sweaters in case the day turns colder, or if you end up somehow, inexplicably sitting in the shade.