3 Fun Backyard Games to Play with Family and Friends

Are your kids saying “I’m Bored?” 

Are you needing to ‘de-stress’ a little? 

Here’s an idea for you: Take your kids to the backyard and play a GAME together.

Playing with your kids lowers your stress level and strengthens the bond with your kids!

Here are 3 games to play:

1. Select one person to be Mr. or Mrs. Fox. This person will stand with his or her back to the rest of the players.
2. All other players line up on the other side of the yard/field. The players take turns asking Mr. Fox what time it is. The fox will then respond with a time, such as 3 o’clock. The players must then take the same number of steps forward (in this case, 3 steps). These steps may be as large or small as the players wish, no matter how close they get to the fox.
3. Whenever the fox decides, she or he may yell in response to the question, “It’s LUNCHTIME!” When this happens, the fox will turn around and begin chasing the players with the intent of tagging one.
4. The players should run back to the starting line where they are safe. Once the fox tags someone, that person becomes Mr. or Mrs. Fox.

Optional Twist: Similar to Sharks and Minnows, after each round, the person who gets tagged JOINS the first Mr. Fox. The number of foxes chasing players increases until there are no longer any players. Then it’s time to start the game with a new fox!

See my kids playing in the video below!

Thanks for the game idea Homefront Magazine.

1. Two teams line up opposite each other.
2. The first team agrees to call one player from the opposite team, and chants, “Red Rover, Red Rover, send (player’s name) on over!”
3. The person called runs to the other line and attempts to break the chain (formed by the linking of hands).
4. If the person called fails to break the chain, this player joins the team that called Red Rover. But, if the player successfully breaks the chain, he may capture either of the two players whose link was broken by the dash, and bring them back to his original team.
5. Teams take turns calling out Red Rover and challenging a player on the opposing team.

Alternately – if they break the chain, they join hands with that line. We played this version in the video below.

1. “It” holds the ball and all the other players circle around him. 
2. “It” then throws the ball straight up in the air while calling out a name. 
3. While the player is catching the ball, all other players scatter and get as far away as they can from the person catching the ball. 
4. The player whose name was called must catch the ball and yell “SPUD!” 
5. The players who are running away must then stop in their tracks when they hear the word SPUD.
6. The player with the ball takes 3 steps in the direction of any person, then tries to throw the ball and hit one of the other players. 
7. If the player hits someone, then that player he hits becomes “It,” if he misses, he is “It.”

Variations: 

• If a player who’s name was called catches the ball without letting it bounce, they can then throw the ball in the air and call another name. Then that player must run back and try and catch the ball. 
• If the person takes 3 steps and misses someone, they can take 4 more steps and try and hit another player.  

Here’s a video of all three games. Stay tunes for some silly scenes at the end!

Click here to see 55 activities to do with your kids in quarantine!