Garden games for children: fun ideas

First tips & ideas for great games in the garden

Garten-Spiele | Kinder mit Plastikringen

Children love spending lots of time outdoors. Garden games are a great way to keep them entertained at home, away from parks and playgrounds.Fun and exercise are always top priority – and that in every season. There are many game ideas and classics for the garden. The important thing is that you choose them according to the seasons:

In summer water toys are very popular, while in winter games that help warm up are more in demand. Also, on warmer days additional precautions need to be taken. In addition to protective options like sun sails or small tents, a UV protection is a must-have for shared garden playtime.

Always make sure there is enough fluids, because active play makes you thirsty. You should also take care of small hunger, which is why tasty snacks and treats for in between are worthwhile.

You should choose your garden games according to the following criteria: play duration, number of players, game rules and, above all, according to the recommended age. The duration of play should always be adapted to the age of your little players, as the attention span and understanding of complex game rules are not as developed in toddlers as in older children.

Simple game rules are the basic prerequisite for maximum fun. The more fun, the greater the interest and the desire to play the games again and again. Perhaps you will even expand them from time to time with your own creative rules, to ensure variety.

For example, hopping and throwing games can be varied with different play equipment and water games can be expanded into bigger water battles – whatever you choose, it guarantees lots of fun for young and old.

What are the advantages of playing in the garden?

Garten-Spiele | Vater und Kind spielen fangen

Games are of great importance for child development. They promote various skills such as teamwork and fair play, which are also relevant for later life. By playing actively, your kids learn more about their own abilities.

Also outdoor games as well as movement games are important for children. Especially children between about one and ten years old need a lot of physical activity to strengthen their muscles. Garden games thus provide a mental as well as physical balance to everyday sitting still. At the same time, balance, dexterity and fine motor skills are promoted. Last but not least, your kids gain more creativity through active free play.

Running, catching, hiding or climbing – no matter which activities your children do, they consciously get to know nature and explore their environment./magazine/parenting-psychology/physical-development/sensory-perception-in-childrensensory perception

are stimulated.

Garten-Spiele | Kind spielt mit Seifenblasen

The size of the garden is not decisive for your fun

Garden playhouses, swings and the like usually require a lot of space, which is why a somewhat larger garden is of course obvious here.For garden games, however, the size of the garden is usually irrelevant, because with enough creativity you can turn even the smallest garden area into an adventurous play paradise

.If necessary, you can even integrate your garden furniture as small obstacles into your game/magazine/leisure-creativity/garden-nature/garden-ideas-for-childrengarden ideas childproof, so you can romp about wildly and enjoy the fun to the fullest

.

Now you surely want to get started right away and start the first games immediately. What are you waiting for? On your marks, get set, go!

Browse through the game instructions, which HABA has compiled here, and find the classics that suit you. Thus nothing stands in the way of a fun game afternoon in the garden .

Versatile ball games

Hunter and Hare

Garten-Spiele | Mädchen rollen großen Ball

Required materials:

a soft play ball
a band to mark the playing field

How to play:

First decide who will be the hunter, i.e. the catcher. All others are the hares.
The hunter gets the ball, with which he now tries to hit or catch all the hares. The ball must not be carried while running, but should be passed or dribbled continuously.
If a hare is hit, the roles are immediately swapped. The hunter becomes the already caught hare, who remains standing where he caught the original hare. The hare now becomes the hunter and proceeds in the same way as his predecessor did.
The game ends when all the hares have been 'caught'. The last remaining hare is the winner and may be the first hunter in the next round.

Stop ball

Required materials:

a soft ball
optional: a ribbon if you want to delimit the playing field

How to play:

All players stand in a circle.
One player gets the ball and stands in the middle of the circle.
The game begins when he throws the ball vertically into the air. This is the signal for everyone else to start running and gain as much distance as possible from the player in the middle.
If the player catches his ball again, he shouts 'Stop' loudly.
All others must now stand still and may not move anymore.
The player with the ball now tries to hit one of the others. If he succeeds, the places are swapped and the game starts again.

Pick out children's balls

Throwing game: Ball over the rope

Required materials:

a soft ball
long cord or skipping rope

How it works:

First, stretch a cord or skipping rope in the garden at a distance of at least three meters. The rope should hang well above the heads of all players.
Then divide into two equally sized groups and position yourselves on each side.
Now throw the ball over the rope to your teammates. The ball must not fall to the ground. If it does, the opposing group gets a point. Tip: You don't necessarily have to play against each other. In this throwing game you can also measure how often you as a team manage to get the ball over the rope without incident.

Discover skipping & jump ropes

Croquet with small balls

Required materials:

small play balls
wooden mallets, small gates that your balls can pass through (you can also make them yourself from wire)
optional: a ribbon to mark a starting line

How it works:

First set up the gates at even intervals, slightly offset from each other.
Then divide into two teams.
The first player of a group stands at the starting line and strikes the ball with his wooden mallet. The ball should pass through the first gate. If that is the case, the player may continue as long as he does not miss a gate. The gates should be passed through in order.
If the player misses a gate, the first player of the other team is up. He proceeds in the same way as described above, but may also hit the other team's ball (croquet).
The goal is to reach the endpoint and then return to the starting line. Whoever is first back at the line wins the croquet game.

Matching active toys

Creative activities & skill games

O•O hack: Summer painting fun in the garden

Do your kids want to try new summer-fun ideas in addition to paddling pools, trampolines & co.? How about 'painting in the garden'? For that you only need a shower curtain (preferably plain), a clothesline and finger paints. These are suitable for very young artists from age 2. Also, painting with hands and feet doesn't lack movement. With this O•O hack your little ones can let their creativity run wild!

Ein Kind malt auf einer selbstgemachten Leinwand mit Fingerfarben.

How it works:

Stretch the line in a free spot in the garden.
Hang the shower curtain on it with clothespins and weigh it down on the ground, e.g. with stones.
Finger paints and start painting!

Ein Mann hängt einen Duschvorhang an einer Leine als Leinwand auf.

Creative splattering with the non-toxic, washable paints is no problem outdoors.

And the finger paints can also be rinsed off quickly from skin, clothes and the shower curtain. Thanks to the garden hose and washing machine ...

In our example, the children used Mucki Squeaky finger paint. Its wonderfully bright water-based colors are vegan and made in Germany. You can find them, among many other finger paints in our shop.

Download instructions

Drawing with chalk

Required materials:

sidewalk chalk
kneadable sidewalk chalk
even surface of asphalt or paving slabs

How to play:

You can really let your creativity run wild outdoors by conjuring up small or large works of art on the street.
Take some chalk and just go for it.
Whether colorful animal motifs or trying to write whole words and sentences as well as numbers – there are no limits to your creativity.

Chalk for your movement game

Hopping game

Required materials:

sidewalk chalk
kneadable sidewalk chalk
even surface of asphalt or paving slabs
skipping ropes

How to play:

Probably the most popular hopping game is jumping from square to square. To draw these, take some chalk in the color of your choice. With the chalk you draw a square large enough for both feet. This is the starting point.
Above that you draw a smaller square that fits at most one foot. Alternately, draw more squares on top of each other – either singly or in pairs side by side.
Each of the squares gets a number. For younger children who are not yet familiar with numbers, symbols and shapes are the perfect alternative.
The topmost square should again be large enough to stand on with both feet. That is the goal.
Now you can happily start hopping.

Bouncy toy for jumping mice

Tin can throwing

Required materials:

empty tin cans
a ball (soft, juggling or tennis ball)

How to play:

First stack the empty and cleaned tins on top of each other into a pyramid. You can do this on a wall or on a table outdoors or indoors – it depends on where you prefer to play.
Then stand at least one meter away from the cans. Tip: This is the minimum distance for younger children. Depending on age, it can also be three meters from the can pyramid.
Now take a ball and try to knock down as many cans as possible in one go. Each player has three throws per round. Rule of thumb: The harder the ball, the greater your distance from the cans should be.
Whoever manages to knock down all the cans within three rounds wins. Tip: You can also determine the winner by the number of cans knocked over. To do this, count at the end of each round how many cans each player knocked over and add them up. The player with the most fallen cans wins.

Buy dexterity toys

Garden boccia

Required materials:

stones in various sizes
ribbons with which you can mark the starting line and other points
markers & paints to decorate the stones

How it works:

Each player gets two stones. You can also paint them with different colors to mark them as yours.
Stand behind the starting line.
From there a player throws the target stone, which should be larger than your throwing stones. If the target stone lands at a great distance, the fun can really begin.
In turn, try to throw your stones as close as possible to the target stone. Opponents' stones may of course also be knocked out of the way. That makes it even more exciting!
Whoever succeeds may start the next round of boccia.
The winner is the player who, after a number of rounds agreed upon beforehand, has the most hits near the target stone.

Pens & paints for personalized stones

Games for hot summer days: water games in the garden

The lucky fishers

Required materials:

paddling pool
corks
sieves

How to play:

First fill a paddling pool with water and throw several corks in.
Then all players sit in a circle around the filled paddling pool.
Each receives a sieve.
You choose a player who starts counting in his head. Another says 'Stop' and the number at which the counter stopped determines how many corks you should fish out with the sieve.
Once all players have closed their eyes, the wild fishing begins.
Whoever, after a time previously determined by you, manages to fish the correct number of corks out of the paddling pool with the sieve wins.
You play this classic for about ten rounds. Afterwards the most skilled lucky fisher is determined.

Target practice with water pistols

Required materials:

table tennis balls
empty bottles
water pistols
swimwear

How to play:

First, place empty bottles on a table and carefully place the tennis balls on the bottle openings.
Stand at a distance with your water pistols.
Now try to shoot the balls off the bottles with the water jet from your water pistols.
Afterwards, a little water fight is sure to follow.

Water pistols for wet games

Paper boat blowing race

Required materials:

colored construction paper to fold your little boats
laundry tub filled with water

In preparation for the game, first make your paper boats. Here's how:

Take construction paper in the color of your choice and fold it in half into a double-layer rectangle. The opening should face down.
Fold it again in the middle and open it again so that a center line is visible.
Then fold the outer corners toward and along the center line so that a triangle is formed.
Fold the protruding bottom side up over the folded triangles. Do the same on the reverse side.
Fold the now protruding corners on the left and right sides to the other side. Now you have a large triangle with no excess corners.
Open the triangle formed and place it as a square in front of you.
Fold the bottom tip up. Do the same on the other side.
Now open the triangle again from the bottom, turn it and lay it as a square in front of you so that you can then pull apart the top tip.
And your paper boat is finished. Just shape it a little so that it will float nicely on the water later.

The game instructions:

First fill a laundry tub with water.
Two players always compete against each other.
At the start signal both players should move their paper boats as quickly as possible to the opposite side of the laundry tub by blowing hard.
Whoever achieves this first wins.

Download DIY paper boat

Water balloon ping pong

Required materials:

water balloons
swimwear

How it works:

First fill your water balloons.
Two players initially stand close facing each other and toss a water balloon to each other. Tip: If you are more than two people, stand in a circle and throw the water balloons in a self-determined order.
After each throw, the thrower takes one step back. Then it is the other's turn.
You play the game until you are so far apart that you can hardly catch the water balloons and the probability of getting wet is higher because the water balloons burst. Tip: If you want to increase the difficulty a bit, you can speed up the throwing pace.

Alternatives to traditional garden games for children

The activities for the garden couldn't be more varied. In addition to great games, there are also other activities and projects you can tackle with your children. HABA has therefore gathered two of the most popular topics from which you can draw inspiration for your own play ideas or garden projects.

Whether indoors or outdoors, there's something for everyone. Boredom really won't stand a chance.

Gardening with children

If your children are fascinated by gardening and would love to grab gardening gloves and a watering can right away, then you can plan joint gardening projects.

The best part: Your own garden becomes a true discovery zone. In addition to testing their own abilities, your kids learn knowledge about the animal and plant world, which fascinates them so much.

From what age you can start gardening together and which gardening projects are easy to carry out, HABA has summarized this on the themed page about gardening with children for you.

DIYs for Gardening with Children

Indoor play ideas

No matter the weather, children need enough time and ideas to really let loose. If the weather calls for an indoor game, there are many different ways to defeat boredom.

The best part: Depending on the type of game, you promote both playtime fun and various skills of your child.

HABA has on the themed page about play ideas for at home compiled the best children's games and provided concrete instructions, which you can easily implement. Get inspired for a fun afternoon of games and get started right away!

At-home game ideas

Frequently asked questions about garden games

From what age are children allowed to play in the garden unsupervised?

Basically you should never leave your children unattended. Especially toddlers always require a watchful eye. Older kids from the age of five can move independently through the garden and fool around unsupervised for a few minutes, however the parental supervision should not be neglected.

How can we get our children to tidy up after playing in the garden?

When the game is over, most children have hardly any energy left to put away their toys. It's usually even harder in the garden. Because once they're inside the house, the toys are no longer in sight. But so that your garden doesn't immediately descend into chaos, it's best to agree on clear rules with each other before the games.

For example, you could decide that all toys should be put back in their place, when they are no longer in use. That saves you a huge tidying-up operation at the end of the day.

A additional motivational boost is when you enter into a competition enter. As soon as your kids hear that you want to find out who can tidy up faster, the chaos sorts itself out.

Where can garden games still be played?

If your garden games are not dependent on different pieces of furniture or garden toys, you can also play them at a Picnic in the park or during other outings with your children, maybe on a walk through the forest play.

Garden games are also great for children's birthdays. Whether you actually try them out in the garden or would prefer to test them in the park or on playgrounds, etc., is entirely up to you. In any case, you will have lots of fun.