Children's imagination really has no limits, and therefore games and competitions in nature should be special for them. Any adult can envy their inventions. Children can come up with a game out of nothing, but it won’t necessarily be safe. To avoid this, you should prepare in advance and select several interesting activities that your child will enjoy and will be safe.
"Smart Thief"
To play you will need: a ball, a rope, 15-20 small objects (coins, pebbles, shells, small children's toys, candies, nuts...).
The rope is tied to a tree branch so that it hangs down evenly. A ball is tied to the rope below. This must be done so that there is no more than 2 centimeters between the ball and the ground. All small objects are randomly placed under the ball on the ground. This completes the preparatory stage.
Next, one of the players approaches the ball, takes it in his hands, steps back 2-3 steps, lifts it high above his head and pushes it forward with all his strength. While the ball is swinging, you need to collect all the wealth laid out on the ground as quickly as possible. And, of course, the ball should not touch the player. After which the total number of collected items is calculated. Then the items are returned to their places and all players go through this procedure. The winner is determined by the number of items collected.
Important: if the ball still touches the player during the theft, then his entire score is reset to zero.
Games for 4 outdoors in summer:
who will reach the bull first
The Bull is chosen from the players. He stands with his back to the other participants. The bull shouts: “I stand on a high, high, high... mountain.” (the word “high” can be said as many times as desired). After the signal word “high,” other players can walk or run until they hear the word: “Mountain!” This is a signal that you need to stop. Whoever continues to move returns to the starting position. Whoever gets to the Bull first will win and become the next Bull.
walkthrough game with balls
First, the start and finish are determined. Children stand in groups of two and hold a ball between their heads. On command, players head to the finish line. On the way back, they squeeze the ball between their stomachs or backs. If the ball bursts or falls, the pairs start again. The players who return to the start first win.
quick command game
The players are divided into two teams. Each participant is given two newspaper strips for the race, with the help of which they must run from start to finish. As soon as one child returns, the next one can start. The fastest team wins the race.
pawn shop game
To play, you will need a long jump rope, which two children can swing. The remaining players are looking for an item as collateral. It could be a stone, a small ball, a hairpin, a bucket... The pledges are placed on one side of the rope, the players stand on the other. As soon as the rope swings, the first participant jumps and tries to collect his deposit. At the same time, he asks the player what he needs to do for this. For example, jump on one leg 10 times, squat, etc. If he fails, he will have to leave the deposit and try again later. Whoever completes their task can take the pledge and win the game.
game hunter and hares
One of the participants becomes a hunter, the rest become rabbits. The hunter must catch the hares. The one who is caught must stop and not move. He becomes a quiet rabbit. If the silent rabbit is touched by another rabbit, it can continue playing. The hunter will have to not only catch hares, but also protect the quiet rabbits.
water fight
Participants are divided into pairs. Teams line up behind the goal lines. On the field between them there are inflated water balloons, which need to be transferred to another line of the field (towards the enemy). Balloons that do not burst can be raised again. The winner is the team that is the first to move all the balls into the enemy's rows.
ping pong on the street
To play you need barrels (small children's buckets) and any ball, maybe even a tennis ball. The players' task is to shoot all their balls into the opponent's barrels.
street racing box
To play this game you will need old shoe boxes with holes for your feet. The players' task is to cover the distance in unusual shoes.
accurate slingshot
Players use slingshots to try to knock down the boxes and gradually destroy the entire pyramid. The most accurate team wins.
basket with balls for children
Players use foam sticks to throw balloons into plastic baskets.
"Twist the rope"
For the competition you will need an unusual set: a ball, a rope, a net. We put the ball in a net, tie a rope to the net, and tie the rope around a tree. Next, we unite the children into two teams, each of which is placed on different sides of this tree.
The essence of the game is to kick the ball hard and wrap a rope around a tree. Each team takes turns striking: the first - in a clockwise direction, the second - counter-clockwise. It is logical that the stronger the blows, the more revolutions are obtained.
There are no restrictions on the number of hits, which means the game continues until one of the teams winds the entire rope around the tree in this way.
Treasure Hunt
Prepare for the picnic in advance and make a map of the area where the fun will take place. Mark obstacles on it and sign what you need to do to get a hint where to go. Children can jump over sticks, which are not actually sticks at all, but entire abysses, crawl through the jungle, look for markers on trees, jump over bumps that can be easily made from paper circles, sneak along a cliff on a thin ribbon, and in the end find a bag of soap bubbles, for example.
"Hot Ember"
For this game you will need a ball. He can be anything. The number of participants is at least four. But the more people involved, the better.
Everyone stands in a circle. One of them is appointed as the driver and placed in a circle, blindfolded. He will have to give commands to the others. He begins by declaring: “Keep the potatoes from the fire, take care of your palms.” After that, the rest of the players quickly throw the sports equipment to each other in a circle, as if they had grabbed a really hot potato. And when the driver unexpectedly says: “Stop!”, the one who still has the ball in his hands is “burned,” that is, he lost and leaves the game. And so on until only one of the most persistent remains. The winner becomes the driver.
Calm games for girls and boys of school age
Getting schoolchildren interested in building monsters or singing songs is problematic.
They like noisy competitions in the air. But here too there is a way out. It is easy to entertain schoolchildren by conducting various quests. It’s so interesting to look for treasures or solve intricate riddles.
Treasure hunters
You can organize a general game or team competition if there are many children in the company.
Parents will have to thoroughly prepare for such entertainment, but it is worth it. Both boys and girls love to look for treasures. Even adults and teenagers are happy to join the children.
We draw the road to the treasured treasure on a map - a regular A3 sheet.
At each point indicated on the graphic image, a small surprise should await the participants - they must complete a certain task, and there will also be instructions for the further direction of movement.
Hints should force children to complete the next task. For example, find a boulder in a clearing and take 15 steps to the southeast from it.
What is a boulder? Where is the very southeast? This is where adult tips and props may be needed.
If you already indicate the cardinal directions, then provide the children with a compass.
Choose the difficulty of the task depending on the age and interests of the children. And at the end of the path a treasure awaits them. It can be buried or hidden under a bush in a box.
For a picnic, a prize in the form of camping souvenirs or sweets intended for all guests would be appropriate.
Lottery
Everyone will like the game without exception. After all, children are waiting for rewards. But to get the coveted prize, you will have to become a real tracker for a while.
You need to look not for the gifts themselves, but for the numbers by which the prize draw will take place. The numbers of the prizes being played can be written on Kinder surprise boxes, balls, and chestnuts.
The main thing is to hide them in different places: under bushes, in the grass, in a hollow.
Make extra supplies so that there are enough prizes for all the children.
Keep in mind that some people can find five numbers, while others can find none. To do this, prepare consolation prizes.
Searches by list
At the beginning of the competition, children receive pre-prepared lists, which indicate what they must find. Such lists need to be prepared in advance.
And you can specify anything you want in them:
• flower; • pebble; • round; • red; • long; • odorous; • ringing; • with the letter M;
You can complicate the task by writing riddles or drawing puzzles instead of specific objects. Children will first need to figure out what needs to be found, and only then go on a search.
Moreover, the place to search for suitable items is not limited.
Spend a little time planning fun entertainment and your guests will be incredibly grateful.
After all, a picnic is not only barbecue and snacks, but, above all, communication and fun.
"Pigs Don't Dance"
This game can be called entertaining and intellectual. She will also need a ball and a good vocabulary.
All participants stand in a circle and pass the ball to each other. This can be done either in a circle or in random order. The difficulty lies in the fact that the first player must name any noun, the second - an adjective that would fit the meaning of the first word, and the third - a verb, so that it also fits logically into the sentence. If, for example, at the end you get the phrase “The big pig is dancing,” then the player who said the word “dancing” is eliminated, because this does not happen. It is important to pronounce the words quickly - a maximum of 3 seconds is given for the answer. While the participant is thinking, others are counting out loud. The most resourceful one wins.
Quiet games for children: tic-tac-toe on the grass
A game familiar to everyone from childhood takes on completely new shapes in the fresh air. No, we won’t draw leaves or familiar figures. Let's create a real “theater of stones.”
You need to find 9 medium-sized stones, they will act as cells. We lay them out on the grass in standard three rows. But instead of “crosses” and “toes”, you can use any natural material.
These can be cones, acorns, sticks, and even flower buds.
As a last resort, take smaller stones, but you will have to figure out how to put distinctive images on them.
The preparatory stage is completed. We invite friends and children to play an ancient game that helps develop memory and thinking.
"Zoo"
This game is a little similar to the previous one, but there are significant differences. Firstly, there is a driver who stands in a circle of other participants. Secondly, there is no need to form phrases here.
At the beginning of the game, the driver says: “We came to the zoo and saw what is here...” Then he throws the ball to one of the participants, saying “beast.” The participant must quickly name some animal and return the ball to the driver. Next, the driver throws the ball to another player and says “bird,” and he quickly says the name of a bird and returns the ball. The third player gets the word “fish”. The words “beast”, “bird” and “fish” can be named in any order and even several times in a row. The one who answered incorrectly, hesitated, or named the animal that another player named is eliminated from the game.
The competition continues until one player remains. He then becomes the next driver.
Nakhodilki
Prepare lists for the children of what they need to find. Give everyone a bag, and the one who brings everything on the list the fastest will receive a prize. Don’t forget about consolation prizes for the rest of the guys, so that no one is offended.
What can you look for?
Dandelions, mother and stepmother, or just yellow flowers, oak and maple leaves, or just tree leaves - focus on the age of the children and their knowledge. And also pebbles, branches, cones, something green and something brown, something wooden and something round.
"Breakthrough"
The game can be quite traumatic, so it should only be played in the presence of an adult. Children stand in a circle, and one child with a ball stands in the center of the circle. This ring should be as tight as possible: the distance between the participants should be 15-20 cm. The task of the central player is to break through the defense, that is, push the ball outside the circle. You can push the ball only with the help of your legs, knocking it out only at ground level. That is, aiming at the heads or stomach is strictly prohibited - the ball must roll on the ground.
The remaining players do their best to prevent the central one from making a breakthrough. But they can only act with their feet. At the same time, closing the circle into a narrower ring is prohibited. The one who misses the ball takes the place of the driver. There is no one winner here. But if you want to create a competitive moment, then you can keep track of losses. Whoever has the fewest is the winner.
Outdoor fun: Hiking lasso
This game is perfect for playing outside. You will need bottles of different heights.
You can take both plastic and tin containers.
Take a variety of bottled drinks with you to the picnic. So use them for outdoor entertainment.
You will have to take rings with you, which will be used to throw on improvised pins.
If there are small children in the family, there will be no problems with such props at all. But you can make rings yourself from wood or stiff wire.
If the idea to organize a game came already at a picnic, then such rings can be easily made from ordinary willow twigs.
Place all the bottles in the clearing or place them in one box. Let them be of different heights, it will even be more interesting to compete.
Determine how many steps you will throw the rings from, or better yet, make a limiting line. Throw the rings one by one and don't forget to count the points.
You can complicate the task by placing the bottles at different heights and assigning them different numbers of points.
"Tail of the Dragon"
This kind of entertainment is perfect when you don’t have any equipment at hand. Unite the children into two teams and line them up in two lines. These will be two dragons. Determine where the dragons have their heads and where their tails are. Place the ranks opposite each other so that the “heads” are face to face at a distance of 1 meter. Next, you announce that there will now be a competition in which the fastest and most dexterous dragon will win. And in order to find out, each dragon must, at a signal, catch the tail of another dragon, but not get caught himself. Only the dragon's head can catch.
All children place their hands on each other's shoulders and, at a signal, begin to move. The team whose tail is caught loses. And two of the team are eliminated - the “tail” and the “head”. The game continues until only one player remains on one of the teams. If this happens, then this dragon is recognized as the weakest.
Games for the company on the street in the summer
Classics
Take a colored chalk and draw a huge rectangle with ten squares and a semicircle. You can replace the traditional square shapes from the classics with butterflies or fish. The player throws a pebble into a square and jumps on one leg. Turning around, he jumps back to the beginning, taking his pebble. Passes the marker to the next player and then rolls the marker to the next number. The participant who touched the line or the stone itself was struck.
Fat bellies
Prepare two large T-shirts. The players are divided into two teams, and two participants are chosen to dress. Balloons are scattered on the ground. At the signal, the participants try to put as many balls as possible under their player’s T-shirt. The team with the thickest belly wins.
Spiders
Using double-sided tape, make a web on a hoop. Players throw newspaper or cotton balls at a target. Whose lumps there are in the “web” will win.
Miner
One of the participants is placed on the sand, the other players place large shells or stones along the contour. The main player's task is to stand up without touching the mines.
Collect glasses
According to the terms of the game, each participant is given 10 plastic glasses and a ball. Players must fit all the glasses into one by inflating and deflating the balloon.
Eating watermelons
The goal of the competition is to eat a sliced watermelon without using your hands.
Go the distance
Teams need to walk the distance, standing in pairs in plastic basins and holding hands.
Fill the cauldron
Each player, before starting the game, collects props for himself in the allotted time, some pebbles, some pine cones, acorns, etc. Then, from a certain distance, they need to “shoot” at the target.
River and shore
For the game you will need a conditional “river”, which is located between two lines (distance about 1 m) and the banks - edges. The participants are on one of the banks. At the leader’s command: “River,” they must jump between the lines, and at the word: “Bank,” they must return back to the edge.
Tie a scarf
Two young men need to tie a scarf around the girl’s neck with one hand. The most dexterous ones turn out to be winners. There may be several such triplets.
"Until the thunder struck"
To play, you will again need a ball. Only you don’t have to tie it down. The number of players here is unlimited, but not less than three.
To begin with, a driver is selected and the ball is handed to him. Everyone else stands around him. The ball in the hands of the driver is “thunder”. While it is in the hands, everyone must stand still. As soon as the ball is in the air or on the ground, everyone runs in different directions (the further the better). At the very beginning, the driver throws the ball above him, and until it falls into his hands again, the players scatter. When the driver catches the ball, he loudly shouts “Thunder struck” and everyone stops. Then the driver throws it at one of the players. If he misses, he runs after the ball, and at this time everyone scatters again. If he hits, he changes places with the one who was shot and the game starts again.
Bumps, just not on the forehead
In the pine forest you will find wonderful helpers - cones. With this natural material, which literally lies under your feet, you can come up with many fun games and activities. And even dedicate one of the family walks specifically to cones, calling it, say, “Pine cones holiday.” Imagine waking up on Sunday morning and telling your baby: “Get ready, we’re going with our friends to the forest for a picnic!” “Hurray!” - the cub screams joyfully. And you add in a mysterious voice: “Today we will have Shishkin’s holiday.” Of course, the baby is intrigued, which means the day will be full of mysteries and surprises for him.
So, what games can you play with cones? To warm up, organize a hunt for dads, chasing them a little through the forest with pine cones at the ready. Just don’t throw the pine cones at dad too much - they’ll still fry the kebab... And then you can practice throwing. Where else to do this if not in nature? After all, there is no danger of falling into a chandelier or breaking your mother’s favorite vase. To do this, place a bucket or bowl at a short distance from the children, and let them practice throwing pine cones into it while the adults prepare the fire. Or you can arrange a competition: who can throw a cone the farthest or knock a plastic bottle off a stump with a well-aimed hit. The winner gets the honorable right to be the first to try the kebab. For some time, the little hustlers will be neutralized.
But here is a game that will be interesting to play for both children and adults. Dig three small holes in the ground in a line at a distance of one or two steps from one another. Now move a few steps away from the first hole and try to throw a cone into it. If the attempt is successful, we throw a cone into the second and third holes. Then we repeat the throws in reverse order. If you miss, give way to the next player. To even the odds a little, let the kids throw the cones from a close distance, and moms and dads move further away. The most accurate one receives a prize and the honorary title “True Eye”.
Now let's play tag on a string. As the name suggests, we will need a rope to play the game. Let's tie it to a tree so that it rotates freely, and draw a circle on the ground with a radius equal to the length of the rope. Now let’s scatter several dozen cones inside the circle and put one of the dads to guard the “treasures”. With one hand, dad holds on to the rope, and with the other he tries to “spot” (touch) adults or kids trying to collect cones. Whoever gets caught leaves the game or becomes a “tag” - replacing dad at his combat post with a rope.
After the active games, it’s time to relax a little, sit by the fire and play calm games. Place a few pine cones in an opaque bag and ask the kids to guess how many there are, prompting them with the words “more” and “less.” Whoever guessed correctly checks: pours out the cones and counts them. Or play a little differently: invite each child in turn to determine how many cones are in the bag by counting them by touch. For the little ones, put only 2-3 pine cones in the bag. Then you can play like this. Organize the guys to collect more cones in a pile. Now let everyone bring from the pile as many cones as they can carry in two hands. We are counting the loot. Whoever turned out to be the most “greedy” won.
"Black Mark"
In this game, all participants, except one, stand in one row facing forward. One (the driver) stands a little further away (2-3 meters from the others) with his back to everyone. At this time, one of the players throws a ball at his back. You just need to throw it lightly so that the driver doesn’t get hurt. The driver then turns to face the players and tries to guess who sent him the “black mark”.
If the driver guesses correctly, he changes places with the thrower. If he doesn’t guess, he turns away and everything repeats all over again.
Outdoor entertainment: park bowling
If the picnic is taking place in a park and there are paved paths nearby, you can organize a real bowling alley. To do this, take plastic bottles of the same volume and fill them halfway with water.
These will be the pins, which we place at one end of the path.
We will knock down improvised pins with an ordinary soccer ball, which will always be found in a cheerful company.
Of course, you will have to lift the pins yourself, but this will add a special flavor to the game.
Or you can simply place a person on duty near the pins, who will act as a “lift.”
