Last year we launched a Please Play Here campaign to encourage people to spend more time outdoors after our research found parents felt their children play outside less than their generation did.
This summer we’ll be hosting the Redrow games as part of our commitment to playmaking, but if you’re in search of ideas for outdoor games to play either in your garden or wider neighbourhood, read on. You can also find tips on how to create an outdoor living space and fifth room garden design ideas to help you make the most of your garden.
What outdoor party games can you play in the garden?
Lots of games we traditionally think of as being indoor activities can be taken outside. In fact, some of the best outdoor garden games are essentially oversized versions of traditional board games. There are also games that require little or no equipment, making them widely accessible and portable so they can be played almost anywhere, including in the play areas and open spaces we create as part of our new communities.
For example, during last summer’s playmaking events at developments including The Grange at Yew Tree Park, Amington Garden Village and Woodford Garden Village, our guests enjoyed playing giant outdoor garden games including Connect 4, Jenga, limbo and noughts and crosses.
There are also lots of outdoor games you can make yourself. The traditional fairground or fete game tin can alley is a great way to reuse empty drinks cans or food tins. Stack them in a pyramid and try and knock them down with a ball or beanbag.
Our top five outdoor games
- Football – in its simplest form, the beautiful game needs just a ball and two players. Our larger developments include sports pitches, while others include multi-use games areas where different sports can be played. Or you could simply use jumpers for goal posts. Walking football is increasing in popularity too, so age or fitness levels are no barrier to joining in. We’re also keen supporters of grassroots football, sponsoring lots of teams in areas where we’re building.
- Tag, tick or tig – the only thing you need for this classic game is a group of friends to play. Variations include freeze tag or pool noodle freeze tag, where one noodle is held per team and they can use it to unfreeze team mates.
- Hide and seek – another classic requiring no equipment, with one person counting while the others hide ready to be found. Sardines works on the same principle but with one person hiding and everyone else searching. As each person finds the hider, they squeeze into the hiding place for the seekers to find.
- Rounders or cricket – these classic bat and ball games are played in teams with minimal equipment.
- Skipping – can be enjoyed solo or as a group, with two people turning the rope. There are lots of rhyming songs to skip to, including those with actions to add to the difficulty level.
What games are played at a garden party?
Once you’ve exchanged on your new Redrow home, we’ll invite you to a welcome party. This is our way of helping build community spirit and gives you chance to get to know your new neighbours.
Our homeowners who met during welcome parties have gone on to form firm friendships, celebrating births, weddings, birthdays and barbecues together.
Whether you’re looking for summer holiday ideas for kids or for ways to keep guests entertained this summer, try these outdoor garden games ideas for all ages and abilities:
- Sports day: Traditional events include the wheelbarrow race – with one person “becoming” the wheelbarrow and the other “wheeling” it across the course; an egg and spoon race to test balance and coordination; welly wanging where the person who throws the welly furthest wins.
- Pin the tail on the donkey or pin the bug on the flower – or other variation to suit your guests. Hang a donkey poster on the fence or attached to a tree, remembering to allow for guests’ heights, particularly children. Blindfold a participant, spin them round and leave them to try and find the donkey to pin the tail to.
- Croquet – a quintessentially British garden game, usually played on a lawn, where a bat is used to push the ball through loops.
How can I make my garden more fun for kids?
Making your garden fun isn’t simply about filling it with toys and games, it’s about creating a space that can be enjoyed all year round and whatever the weather. For example, if you don’t have a beach nearby you could create one with a sandpit, paddling pool and some imagination.
We’ve put together an easy to follow guide to gardening by season. Follow these tips to help make the garden more fun:
1. How do you create a sensory garden?
You can engage the senses by creating a sensory garden.
- Plant colourful flowers to attract pollinating bees and butterflies, while stimulating the sense of sight.
- Flowers and herbs will trigger the nose buds as they release different fragrances.
- A pond or water feature you can dip your hand into on warm day adds to the sensory experience through touch and sound too.
- Add texture to your garden with mulch or gravel pathways for touch and sound.
- Make your own windchimes using glass bottles.
2. How do you make a bird bug hotel?
You can help provide homes for nature by building a bug hotel in your garden.
- Create a frame using recycled pieces of wood or use a wooden box with an open front.
- Position it away from the rain or waterproof the top.
- Divide into sections and fill each one with a different material.
- Hollow stems such as bamboo canes provide somewhere for solitary bees to nest.
- Dead wood is essential for the larvae of wood-boring beetles.
- Straw and hay for invertebrates to burrow in and find somewhere safe to hibernate in winter.
- Roll up a piece of corrugated cardboard and put it in a waterproof cylinder to create a home for lacewings.
- Dry sticks are perfect for ladybirds to hibernate in.
Watch our podcast to discover why we’re asking children who live in our homes to please play here.
