Playground games make outside play even more fun. Children should get about an hour of physical activity every day. If your kids are looking for playground activities to keep them occupied, try a few of these easy ideas.
Cooperative
Cooperative playground games let kids work together to accomplish a goal. There are a few different cooperative games that kids can enjoy in an outdoor play space:
- Skin the Snake: The kids stand and pass their right hand under their legs and hold the left hand of the kid behind them. The last kid crawls under the kids’ legs in front of him or her, and everyone slowly follows. When the last kid crawls through, the kids should all be standing in a line.
- Rise Up: The kids get in a circle with their arms around the shoulders of the kids next to them while sitting cross-legged. Everyone in the circle tries to stand up at the same time, using each other for support.
- Hula Hoop Challenge: You need a hula hoop for this one! All the kids stand in a line holding hands, with two kids holding hands through a hula hoop. The kids must pass the hula hoop around the entire circle over their arms and bodies without letting go of any hands!
Classic Fun
You don’t always need equipment to have a ball on a playground, but it can offer more variety. Kids can easily play the following games with a few friends:
- Tag: One person is “It” and must chase the other players and lightly touch them. You can play where the last person left becomes “It” next, or whoever is tagged becomes “It” and must tag another person to pass the title.
- Hide-and-Seek: The person who is “It” covers his or her eyes and counts to 20. Everyone else hides on the playground, and “It” must find them. The last person found becomes “It” in the next round.
- Hens and Chicks/Sharks and Minnows: Choose two safe zones about 10 yards apart. One person is the hen or shark and stands in the middle. The goal is for the chicks or minnows to run from one safe zone to another while the hen or shark tries to tag them. Every tagged kid becomes a new hen or shark and must try to tag the chicks or minnows. The last one untagged becomes the new hen or shark.
- Four Square: Four kids each stand in a different square and hit a ball clockwise into the next person’s square. The ball can only bounce once, and each kid must hit it out of their square. If they fail to hit it or if the ball bounces twice, that kid is out. Each kid moves up one square, and a new kid comes in at square one.
- Spud: Each kid has a number. One kid who is “It” throws a ball in the air and yells a number. That number must catch the ball and yell “Spud!” while the other kids run away. When the ball is caught, the kids must freeze. The kid with the ball can take four steps and try to hit another kid with the ball. If the ball hits, the kid who was hit gets an “S” until it spells “Spud.” The kid who was it or the kid who threw the ball is now “It.”
Create a kids playground where imagination and physical fun reign supreme with products from Backyard Fun Zone. Contact us online or call us at 1-616-785-7383 today located in Comstock Park, MI.
Image Credit: Zyn Chakrapong, shutterstock
