Parks are ideal places to go because of the wide-open spaces they offer. They are perfect for different fun activities for individuals, partners, and even large groups. Have you been planning games to play at the park? Fortunately, we got a lot of ideas to share with you.
Whether it is an obstacle course, a race, jumping ropes, relays, or any incredible challenge, there is a specific type of park that you can go to. To get started, let us enumerate some of the best games and activities to play at the park for your family, circle of friends, or company team building.
What Kinds of Games You Can Play At the Park?
There are many public parks to visit around in every city or state. While some kids are fine with swings, slides or monkey bars on these places, you can have a variation in implementing the activities. This way, you can avoid boredom or prevent them from going somewhere.
Here are the amazing gaming ideas to try:
1. Hiding Games
If you are with a group of energetic kids, why don’t you consider playing a traditional hide-and-seek game? You can do it with rules in tagging. When any of the players have established a home base, another player must cover his eyes. Together with the rest of the kids, they must count from 1 to 10 and start hiding elsewhere.
The seeker will start looking for the players. If he finds or sees one and has tagged the hider before making it to their home base, that hider becomes the new seeker for the next round.
You can also make a variation that involves a player hiding. For the rest of the players, they should count to 10 with their eyes covered. Once a seeker finds the one player hiding, he will join him in such a hiding spot. This game ends when all the players end up finding the same hiding spot.
The third suggestion for hiding games is to hide an object, preferably a small one, in any corner of the park. Make sure that it is not that easy to find. Let the rest of the kids find the object. The hider should give some clues on the location of the object from the seekers. As soon as the seeker finds that small object, he can hand it over to the hider.
2. Captain of the Ship
In this game, you can be the leader or the Captain of the Ship. This means that you can give orders. For every child who will get mistaken will either become a shark or leave the game, pursuing the rest of the players to keep them out of that game.
Once you have finally established the base as the ship, see to it that the players will be able to understand your orders. If you like, you can let the players do other tasks. It can be grabbing their partner and dance on a love boat. You can ask them to lie down hitting the deck on their stomachs. If not, the players sticking up one of their legs while lying on their backs and so on. The last part is that the players will run to the captain’s quarters.
3. Tag Variations
If you have been playing the traditional hide and seek and Captain of the Ship games, then you can try another game. These are the tag variation types wherein kids can play tag with the seeker who chases runners until someone is tagged. The player who has been tagged becomes the new seeker. However, there can be another variation you can make – by making the traditional game extra challenging.
How do you do this? It is by letting the seeker keep his one hand right on a spot of his body where he has been tagged. Then, he will run after other players making it quite difficult for him to run. If you want a frozen tag, this means that every time the seeker tags a player, that person should freeze whatever position he is in during that time. He will be able to move again after another player crawls through his legs. After a player has been frozen, their game ends.
On the other hand, you can turn the tag into a group effort. You can do this through blob tagging. In this variation, the seeker joins hand with other players who have been tagged. They will form a long chain of players (seekers) chasing other players. You can have a big team, forming a blob, chasing others. This game concludes once a blob absorbed the remaining players.
Tips for Planning Outdoor Games
Thinking about games to play at the park will keep your family together while having fun at the same time. But, the most important part of taking your family, especially your kids, outside for some recreations helps them learn a lot of things.
The key is to plan carefully on how you will make everyone enjoy the day despite their different preferences. Here are the crucial factors you should know when considering an outdoor play for your kids and family.
The Essence of Outdoor Plays
You may not be aware, but these games played outdoors to bring a myriad of benefits not only to the adults having fun but to the growth and development of the children.
First, playing outdoors gives them the chance to have adventures and explore their natural environment. They can play fun games, express themselves, build their self-confidence, and test their physical limits.
Second, these games are messy – more mess means more thrill and fun!
Third, kids who are often playing games outside have more freedom and more space for bigger movements. These can be kicking, throwing, running, jumping and other physical activities.
Performing these activities is beneficial for every child’s fitness, physical development, and overall health state.
When you spend time outdoors, it lowers the chances of your child’s development of short-sightedness. A short while playing under the heat of the sun is also good for them. It boosts the levels of vitamin D.
Great Ideas To Get Kids Into Outdoor Games
Encouraging your kids to play outdoors is a good idea. As a family, you should know how to spend quality time with one another. Let the kids play, eat nutritious foods, and explore many things around.
But then again, outdoor games do not have to be a great deal especially if you get a spacious backyard at home. Let the older kids come up with improvisation and have their own fun games. For younger kids playing outside, then their gaming area must be safe from outdoor hazards.
As parents, you must know that most of the younger kids like to “help”. It only implies that you are training them to work on daily chores in a fun way. You can work with them and teach them how to water plants and vegetables in the garden, hang clothes, weed, and sweep the driveway.
Spend time with your kids and other family members to visit the playground, oval, or local parks. This is indeed an easy and low-cost option. Your kids will surely have enough space to run around and meet other kids whom they can play with.
If you are walking to the local parks, it is the perfect time to teach the little ones about pedestrian use and road safety. When you walk together, it only shows that you are valuing and enjoying outdoor activities, too. You can also have some transport activities such as riding scooters or bicycles.
As they grow older, it is important to encourage them trying structured outdoor activities such as junior sports.
Fun Outdoor Games to Play at the Park for All Ages
These outdoor activities help the little ones learn about their surroundings. At the same time, they become more comfortable with his environment. Other outdoor play ideas you can have for babies include:
- Crawling through big boxes, under any outdoor furniture, or you can also play on the grass ;
- Finding different street signs, traffic lights, and colored cars;
- Having fun playing on a picnic rug, a blanket or a towel;
- Watching tree branches and leaves move; and
- Listening to the chirps of the birds and the sound of nature.
For toddlers, there are other things you can do to make them appreciate nature while they use their senses very well. At their age, they are focused on exploring their surroundings. It is their way of testing out their physical growing skills. Hence, you can have some outdoor games that are perfect for their age levels:
- Running, jumping, and walking over stones in the path or around trees;
- Chasing and throwing balls;
- Playing in the mud, water, or sand;
- Blowing bubbles (chasing them while they float away); and
- Pulling, wheeling, and pushing different objects and toys.
If you are with preschoolers, your goal is to let them learn and play with other kids around them. You should know that they are fond of make-believes. Let them play and enjoy activities with the following:
- Mud pie making with cooking utensils;
- Playing games like kick-to-kick and hide-and-seek;
- Nature walking;
- Naming the sounds heard around;
- Climbing over fallen big trees;
- Crawling through some tunnels;
- Moving in various ways with scarves, streamers, colorful leaves and flowers; and
- Making a playhouse out of clothes, baskets, or old boxes.
Meanwhile, with school-age children, they like to be involved in structured plays such as sports activities. However, it is still crucial for them to spend free time on outdoor play. They can enjoy the following activities:
- Climbing trees;
- Playing tags; and
- Creating and building using different objects they find around them.
What If They Get Bruises and Bumps While Playing At The Park or Outdoors?
As a guardian or a parent, it is normal to get worried about the kids hurting themselves while playing outdoors. There are many instances when your little ones feel worried whenever they try or see something new.
These emotions are all normal parts of playing outdoors. This is a part of exploring and learning about everything around them. Your goal is to help them find this opportunity and be an encouragement to step out of their comfort zones.
If it means falling, some tears, bruises or bumps, then let them experience these. All you need to do is to keep them away from too dangerous objects or hazards that can cause serious injuries.
Final Thoughts
There are many things you can do as parents or guardians to help them learn, play and enjoy their childhood years. With the help of the tips provided above, you will surely help your little kids become better persons in the future.
What do you think about this article? We hope that we were able to share the best thoughts and ideas about fun games to play at the park and tips on planning these activities. Want to share your opinions about this post? Let us know by writing down your comments. Feel free to share what you have learned from us. Other readers would be happy to learn about these things, especially for first-time parents.