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Whether you’re celebrating a big summer event or just want a little fun in the sun, these awesome outdoor games are great fun to play in the backyard or at a nearby park with the whole family.
Outdoor Game Ideas
Fun
1. Scavenger Hunt
The great outdoors is the perfect place for your next scavenger hunt. Make your own creative list of things to find, or print one out online.
Split up into teams, and the first team to find all the items on the list wins!
2. Giant Jenga
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Want to have an enormous amount of fun? Then giant Jenga is a great game choice for your next outdoor festivity.
Buy a giant version online, or if you consider yourself to be handy, make your own blocks. Spice the game up by writing drinking rules on the blocks.
3. Slip ‘n Slide Kickball
Regular slip ‘n slide can be a hoot… but mix it with kickball, and you’ve got double the hoot going on!
The setup takes longer, but the reward is worthwhile. You will need: 4 slip ‘n slides, 1-4 blow-up pools, and a lot of dish soap and water.
The rules follow those of standard kickball. However, your home base (or all bases if you choose) will be the blow-up pools, and instead of running to the next base, you dive and slide.
4. Bumper Bubble Ball Soccer
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Hop online and get yourself some bumper bubble balls. This game can be played with two big or small teams (3-10 people).
The rules are essentially the same as regular soccer, except for no out-of-bounds, penalty/free kicks, yellow/red cards, or slide tackles.
Classic
5. Cornhole
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No list of outdoor games is complete without this classic. Find a nice flat surface outside for your boards, and position the boards facing each other with around 27 ft in between them.
Pick your teams and bags (4 for each team) and chuck the bag in the hole – the team with the most throws into the hole wins!
6. Tag
Can adults still play tag? Of course!
Enjoy some frantic fun playing this childhood classic in the backyard. You can either play in teams or choose to make it every person for themselves.
7. Badminton
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Peek in your dusty garage, and you will most likely find a badminton set lying around somewhere, or you can order a brand-new set of racquets and a net.
If you don’t have a net, you can simply play without one. Play one-on-one or divide into pairs, and enjoy this fast and furious racquet game.
8. Limbo
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How low can you go?! Hopefully lower than your competitors, or you’re out!
Get yourself an adjustable limbo set, and prepare for plenty of laughs and shuffles in the sun. Whoever touches the stick is eliminated.
9. Horseshoe
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A fun family vacation is one that consists of playing a competitive game of horseshoes on a sun-kissed lawn.
Some places have pits designed for this game, but you can easily order your own horseshoes set to play.
The goal of the game is simple: aim for the stake opposite of you and count the points to win.
For Small Groups
10. Outdoor Glow in the Dark Bowling
Once the sun goes down, grab 10 filled plastic water bottles and add 2-3 activated glow sticks to each bottle. Use a ball and try and knock down all the water bottles.
11. Beer Pong
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Who doesn’t love a good game of beer pong? Buy a beer pong kit or make your own with big buckets.
Choose your teams, have your drink on the side, and start throwing.
12. Truth or Dare
Perfect for a small and intimate group, truth or dare forces you to get to know the people around you — and the lengths they are willing to go to.
Light a cozy fire outside and start asking away.
Read more: 100+ Best Truth or Dare Questions
13. Tug of War
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A true test of strength, tug of war brings people together or tears them apart – quite literally.
While the game is usually played with a big team, small teams are also possible and sometimes even more desirable.
14. Boules
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Also known as Pétanque, Boules is a game often played outdoors in small teams.
Toss a jack at least three feet from the starting circle and choose who will go first.
Standing inside the circle with both feet on the ground, each team will take turns throwing the Boules and trying to get them as close as possible to the jack.
Whoever’s Boules are closest to the jack gets the points. Repeat until one team reaches 13 points.
For Large Groups
15. Flunky Ball
It’s time to get Flunky! Split into two teams and stand across from each other in a horizontal straight line.
What you need: a drink of choice, a ball, and a water bottle placed in the middle of the two teams. The objective is to hit the plastic bottle with the ball.
Each team will switch off who is throwing and chugging or who is defending. Knocking the bottle over means the throwing team is allowed to chug. They can do so until the defending team places the bottle back up and fetches the ball. The first team with no drink left wins.
16. Charades
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A perfect game for a large group. Have someone act out a phrase while the rest of the team guesses. No speaking or pointing allowed! Have your team guess as quickly as possible.
17. Flip Cup
Flip cup, or often called “flippy cup,” is a known party favorite. Play with as many people as you want, but make sure to split into two even teams.
Everyone has their drink of choice and a red solo cup. Stand across from someone from the other team. Line up the plastic cups in front of each person and fill the cup up 1/4 full.
Start on one side of the table and one by one, each person will chug their drinks and try to flip the cup on the table. The fastest team wins.
18. Would You Rather
Would you rather have all the money in the world and be sad… or have no money at all and be happy?
Sit in a circle and have one person come up with a hypothetical would you rather. After they share their answer, the question is open to the group to discuss and share opinions.
Read more: 100+ Best “Would you Rather?” Questions
19. The Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow
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Made for 8-18 players, this eerie game is perfect for around a campfire. Buy the card game online or create your own.
The moderator gives each player a character. The object of the game: villagers want to kill the werewolves, while the werewolves want to kill the villagers.
While everyone closes their eyes and “goes to bed,” the moderator will wake each character up and ask them questions. The most important question is if the werewolves want to kill anyone.
When everyone wakes up, and before anyone else gets killed, find who the werewolves are and eliminate them.
Suitable for Kids and Families
20. Kick the Can
This game combines tag, hide and seek, and capture the flag all into one. Determine the boundaries of the game and designate a jail for eliminated players.
Set up anything that can be kicked, choose the seeker, and have the rest hide. Hiders try to kick the object without the seeker seeing them.
21. Stuck in the Mud
Stuck in the mud is like tag, except when a player gets tagged, they cannot move.
The only way to be free is if another player (who hasn’t been tagged) crawls through the tagged person’s legs and gets them unstuck.
22. Double Dutch
Popular on playgrounds all over the world, Double Dutch is fun for all ages.
Grab two jumping ropes and have two people hold them while simultaneously turning them in opposite directions.
One or more players then try to jump in between the ropes without stopping them from turning.
23. Bike Ride
Children (and adults too) love simplicity, and what’s simpler than a bike ride? Take a nice ride in nature and stop along the way for a gourmet picnic in the woods.
24. Trampoline Lava Balls
Gather as many balls as you can find (water balloons are also an option) and throw them on the trampoline.
The goal is to run around the trampoline without touching the balls. If you do, you’re eliminated. Play until there is one survivor/winner.
More Games
25. Bobbing for Apples
Who’s ready to get competitive? Set a timer and see who can bob their head underwater and retrieve the most apples.
26. Telephone
While this game often played in schools to get children to communicate clearly, adults could also benefit from a communication brush-up.
Sit in a circle and have one person think of a message to pass along. Try and have the message get to the last person without it being changed or distorted. Difficult, right?
27. Wheelbarrow Race
This one requires no equipment – phew! Pair up and have one person be the wheelbarrow while the other carries the feet. Whichever team reaches the other side first wins.
28. Bingo
Print out bingo cards online or make your own and enjoy sitting outside playing this popular game with friends or family. Think of creative and fun prizes that can be given away.
29. Obstacle Course
The best thing about an obstacle course is you can use anything to create it!
Find random objects and set up a course outside. Create teams, and whoever completes it the fastest wins.
Under bright blue skies and warm summer sun, there’s so much outdoor fun and adventure you can have with a little imagination and the right equipment.
Hopefully, these outdoor games will give you plenty of ideas to entertain family and friends of all ages next time you host a birthday, holiday, or any type of event when the weather is clear and warm.
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Planning some outdoor fun for friends and family? Keep these fun outdoor games for safekeeping by pinning this article to one of your boards.
