Games are one of the most effective ways to pass time with your family. They enhance bonding, encourage great health, and help squash any disagreements between family members.
There are plenty of physical activity games to play with your family in the garden. This can prove especially beneficial in situations where parks are not opened yet or movement is restricted. Therefore, we prepared some exciting physically active games to play with your family in your garden.
Ball Scramble
Ball scramble is a fun and intensive game that will keep you and your family laughing throughout.
The game is played by placing a rope across your play area. The rope will act as a center line. Divide your family members into two groups with each team going to one side of the rope. Now gather small balls and sponges and place them evenly on each side of the rope such that each team’s side has an equal assortment of balls on their side.
The balls can be made from sponges, socks, and actual small balls. Just make sure they are safe for kids and pets. Take a watch and set it at 2 minutes. Your phone or alarm clock will work just fine here.
As soon as the time starts the objective of each player is to toss as many balls as they can from their side to the opposing side within the 2 minutes. Once the timer stops, the team with the least balls wins the game.
Ball scramble is fun and safe for kids of different age groups as well.
Freeze Dance
As the name suggests, freeze dance involves a lot of dancing. It is safe for people of all ages and includes lots of laughter and fun.
Freeze dance is also a great activity game that will encourage people to stay active. The only difference here is that the music is timed and each player has to freeze as soon as the music stops.
To play, have a source of music and someone from the team to start and stop the music. Their job is to start and stop the music at their own time.
Once the music starts, the rest of the family members are supposed to dance, the crazier the dances the better. The music controller will then stop the music abruptly. The rest of the players are expected to freeze as soon as the music stops. Anyone caught moving after the music stops is out of the game.
Family Races
Who in your family is the fastest?
One great way to find out is by organizing races within the family. This is especially great if you have older kids because they can keep up and won’t likely get hurt or too tired.
Variations are encouraged in this game because a straightforward race can be boring. Some of the variations include:
Potato Spoon Race
The potato spoon race is simple, it is also a variation from the conventional potato race we’ve known for so long.
Players race against each other while balancing a potato on a spoon. The spoon can either be held by hand or using the mouth. If it is safer for you and your family to hold the spoons by hand, the better. The person who finishes first without dropping the potato wins the race.
A great variation for this is using a scarf or rope to tie two participants together. The scarf is tied on their legs and they have to run together while they balance a potato each.
Sack Race
The sack race involves running in burlap sacks. Players get inside these sacks and race each other towards the finish line. The one across the line first wins. Players can also pair up inside the sacks and attempt to race their opponents.
Jumping Jacks
Jumping jacks are not only good for fun times, but they are also a great form of cardiovascular activity among other benefits. Your family will get to exercise and have fun at the same time. You can decide to do a jumping jacks race and see who crosses the finish line first. You can also try and see who can jump the highest.
Bowling
You don’t need to go to a bowling alley to experience the fun game. You can easily recreate it in your backyard and have as much fun as possible with your family.
You will need a big ball and some items you can use for pins such as water bottles. The idea is the same as the conventional bowLing. Roll the ball and knock off as many pins as possible. You can use masking tape to track the path of the ball. You can also include bowling with other gigantic yard games and have as much fun as possible.
Another great variation with masking tape involves using the tape to mark different sections on the group where the balls will stop. Each spot will carry different marks. The idea is to knock over the pins and get the ball to stop at the spot with the highest points.
Water Games
Water games are a fun and exciting way to bond as a family, especially during the summer. Instead of taking a lazy dip in the pool, you can include some games that involve water.
Some of the games include:
Cup-to Cup
Cup-to-cup is a water racing game. You will need two buckets and cups.
- Line up your family members such that they are sitting in front of each other while facing one bucket.
- The bucket should be full of water. The other bucket should be positioned behind the last player. It should also be empty.
- The idea is for the first player to dip a cup into the bucket and pass it back over their head.
- The next player should pick the now full cup and pass them over their head to the next player.
- This should go on until the last player pours the water into the empty bucket.
- They will then pass the empty cup forward and repeat until the empty bucket is full.
You can divide your family members into two groups and the first team to fill the bucket wins.
Sponge Toss
Sponge toss works the same way the cup to cup. The only difference is that this time, you use a sponge and the players stand next to each other in a line.
The idea is to dunk the sponge and let it soak as much water as possible. Then pass the sponge to the next person. This should go on, as fast as possible until the last player squeezes the sponge in the empty bucket.
Conclusion
Regardless of your motivation to play with your family, the decision has nothing but great outcomes. The good thing about these games is that they are not hard to play, neither do they require too much preparation.
