25 Outdoor Games for Kids

‘There’s no place like the Outdoors!’

It’s true. Whether you’re taking a walk in the park or simply lying on the verdant grass, nothing quite beats the feeling of ‘being outside’.

Add to that the physical, social and emotional benefits that children imbibe when they play outdoors, of course! At Kangaroo Kids we believe that outdoor activities are perhaps the best possible way for kids to learn plenty about the world they live in. To that effect, we have carefully compiled herein, a list of the 25 Best Outdoor Games for Kids.

Ready to explore the different types of outdoor games your child will not only enjoy, but also learn some invaluable life lessons from?

Let’s hit the ‘play’ button, and discover the different types of ‘outdoor play’!

 The Best Outdoor Activities: Top 25 Outdoor Games for Kids

You probably might not know each name of the outdoor games listed here, but you can rest assured, all of them ‘hit the spot’ when it comes to providing unbridled excitement for your kid in the outdoors!

Presenting the top 25 Outdoor Games for Kids.

  1. Backyard Obstacle Course
  2. Simply use any of the items you have in your own house, to create a cool obstacle course for your kids, in the environs of your own backyard! This is one of the types of outdoor games that will keep your kids coming back for more.

    Bonus: All that jumping and crawling, will help improve their ‘agility’.

  3. Duck-Duck-Goose
  4. This is the classic game of ‘tag’, but with a twist!

    How to Play

    All the kids must sit around in a circle. The ‘tagger’ moves around patting each child on the head and saying ‘duck’ or ‘goose’. If they say ‘duck’, the child whose head has been patted needs to do nothing. If they hear ‘goose’, they must try and touch the ‘tagger’, before moving back to their position. The ‘tapped’ tagger has to sit in the middle of the circle.

  5. Red Light, Green Light
  6. This one’s a great game to improve kids’ patience and attention.

    How to Play

    One child stands with their back to a wall, and calls out ‘Green Light’ to signal the other kids to move towards them. When they say ‘Red Light’, the other kids must freeze in their positions. If the kids in the frozen positions move, they are ‘out’ of the game!

  7. Hide and Seek
  8. A classic, this one’s a game for the ages.

    How to Play

    One of the kids has to be ‘it’, and count  till 100 with their eyes closed as the other children hide. When they are done, they must find the hidden kids!

  9. Passing the Parcel
  10. Who can forget this endearing game from our childhood days?

    How to Play

    Children sitting in a circle have to pass a parcel as the music plays. When it stops, the child with the parcel in their hand is ‘out’!

  11. Hopscotch
  12. Yet another outdoor game, your child will not get enough of!

    How to Play

    In the driveway, use chalk to draw the ten ‘hopscotch’ squares. Then toss a bean bag into one of the squares. This is the one that your child has to skip over, as they make their way through this course, counting as they go along. Without falling, of course!

  13. Into the Demon’s Mouth
  14. For all those kids who love ‘tossing’ games!

    How to Play

    Have your kids draw the face of a large ‘demon’ on a piece of card paper. Then cut the demon’s mouth out and place the cardboard up standing, with some support. Hand over some bean bags to your child, and let them have a ball as they try to toss them into the demon’s mouth!

  15. Freeze Tag
  16. This one’s the classic game of tag, with a ‘cool’ twist!

    How to Play

    When they are playing tag, the child that has been tagged has to freeze in place. They can only move again, when one of the other children ‘unfreezes’ them!

  17. Sardines
  18. Now, this one puts a fun spin on the classic ‘Hide and Seek’!

    How to Play

    In this game, only ‘one’ child hides, and the others have to set out to find them. The child that finds the hider, must join them in hiding. The last person to find them loses the game and becomes the first hider in the next game.

  19. The Dog and a Bone
  20. Team games are the coolest!

    How to Play

    Children are divided into two teams of four or five each, and the teams stand at least two meters apart, facing each other. A small object like a ball is kept in the middle of both teams, for each round. Taking turns, one player from each team must attempt to get the object before the other can grasp it, and then return back. The team with the most objects in the end, wins.

  21. Monkey in the Middle
  22. Now, who wants to be that Monkey?

    How to Play

    The ‘monkey’ must stand in the middle, and try to intercept a ball that is thrown by kids on either side of them.

  23. Simon Says
  24. Yet again, one of the most fun games of all time.

    How to Play

    The kid playing ‘Simon’ must give instructions for the other kids to follow. For instance, if they say ‘Simon Says clap your hands’, all the others have to clap their hands. However, if they utter an instruction without the preceding ‘Simon Says’, the child who blindly follows the instruction is out of the game!

  25. Outdoor Bowling
  26. Who says you only have to go to the ‘bowling alley’ to bowl?

    How to Play

    Use empty plastic bottles, to make for those ‘bowling pins’. Then, give your child a semi-large ball, and have them roll it to see how many bottles they can knock over!

  27. Riding to the Number
  28. This one makes the experience of riding on those li’l scooters, all the more enjoyable!

    How to Play

    In the outdoors somewhere, make circles of chalk with different numbers inside them. Call out a number at random, and see how quickly your little one can pedal to it.

  29. Balancing Challenges
  30. All kids love it, when they are posed with a balancing challenge. Here are some things you can get them to do:

    • Walk in a straight line.
    • Hop from one cushion to the other.
    • Balance on one foot.

  31. Marbles in a Circle
  32. This one is a masterclass in gross motor skills. That is, apart from being loads of fun, of course!

    How to Play

    Each child has to use their one large marble, to knock the other child’s marble out of a circle.

  33. Catch Me if you Can
  34. This game’s another all-time classic!

    How to Play

    One child has to catch the others. The first person who is caught, becomes the next one to catch the other children!

  35. On-The-Move Memory Game
  36. How to Play

    Place some objects on a course for your kids to run alongside. As they move past them, they must keep them in mind for later. That is, when you question them to see if they can recollect the objects they have passed by ‘in order’!

  37. Shadow Tag
  38. Just when you thought that all those versions of ‘Tag’ were exhausted, there’s this one!

    How to Play

    The kids play the regular game of tag, but with a crucial difference: the players have to tag the other kid’s ‘shadow’ using their feet, instead of tagging their body.

    Note: You want to play this on a sunny day that’s conducive to shadow-formation, especially around noon!

  39. Marble Pond
  40. Another cool game with marbles, and significantly different!

    How to Play

    You want to fill a large bucket with plenty of marbles, before filling it with water. The child who pulls out the most marbles in less than a minute, is the winner.

  41. Hungry Snake
  42. All this game requires is a jump rope and an eager child!

    How to Play

    Using the jump rope, create a winding ‘snake’ on the ground. Now tell your child they must jump over it. If their foot touches it, the hungry snake will eat them!

    Note: As your children progress in this game, you want to make that snake progressively longer.

  43. Marco Polo
  44. This is a version of ‘tag’, that’s sure to make a ‘splash’!

    How to Play

    Kids stand in the shallow end of a swimming pool. The ‘denner’ closes their eyes and calls out ‘Marco’. The kids surrounding him shout out ‘Polo’ in turn, moving around the denner. The denner has to ‘tag’ one of them so that they can be the next ‘It’.

  45. Tug-Of-War
  46. There’s no denying the irresistible ‘pull’ this classic game has on children and adults alike!

    How to Play

    Children form two teams, at the end of a large rope. When the game starts, each team has to pull the rope over to their side.

    Bonus: This one’s great for teaching kids about the importance of ‘teamwork’.

  47. Jump Rope Competition
  48. In this one, we use that jump rope for exactly its primary purpose – Jumping, of course!

    How to Play

    Kids take turns competing against each other, to see who can jump that rope the most consecutive times!

  49. Tap on the Shoe
  50. Yet another fun game that involves the ‘elimination of competition’.

    How to Play

    Children must stand in a large circle, and try to tap the shoes of the child standing next to them. Once that child’s feet have been tapped, they must exit the loop. In the end, only one of the last two standing players will win.

At Kangaroo Kids we believe that outdoor activities for children are now more important than ever before. We hope you can get your children to indulge in at least some of the outdoor games for kids we have carefully curated for you here. Pick a name out of the several outdoor games listed here, and begin with that one today itself!