Are you looking for ways to keep your kids entertained and active this summer? Look no further than your own backyard! There is a plethora of activities you can create in your own living space that can keep bored kids happy all summer long!
Raise the Stakes
If you don’t feel like making it a competition, that’s completely up to you. But we all know how much fun kids have when there is a clear goal or some type of stakes involved, so feel free to make it an Olympics style day if you want! You can create teams and keep score, or just keep it as teams simply to keep the games even. As long as the kids are having fun, the sky is the limit to what you want to do for your specific group of kids.
The Games
The same goes for what games the kids play too. If you know your kids enjoy baseball, then have them play! Make a smaller infield within your own yard, and use patio cushions for the bases or even towels that you can easily wash afterwards. You can use wiffle bats and balls in case your kids are a little younger, or to deter any stray balls from breaking windows. To really keep it interesting, you can even do a water balloon baseball game, although be prepared to get soaked! Your kids would not necessarily run the bases, but if they hit the water balloon baseball well enough for it to break, that’s a home run!
A good game to play that is super easy is Frisbee! It can be team based or each child can take a turn, and they can get eliminated if they cannot catch the Frisbee. You can even do a round of throwing the Frisbee to make a certain distance, marked with a hose or other long yard tool you may have laying around. Each kid can take a turn throwing it and making it over the hose, otherwise they get eliminated until it is a showdown!
You can even create a small hurdle challenge depending on what backyard items you have around the yard. You wouldn’t want anything too high for your kids to jump over, so even a small box or crate would do. Set up a few boxes or items about five to ten feet apart, depending on your kid’s ages, to make it a little easy on them! If they are older, you can always increase the difficulty both in the distance between the hurdles and how high the items are too.
Enjoy!
No matter what Olympic game you decide on, it will be a hit for sure and help curb any extra energy your kids may have!
Katie Kyzivat