Family Fun in Your Own Backyard

This spring, we’re all experiencing something new for the first time… together. Welcome to a world where social distancing is suddenly part of our daily dialogue.

Fresh air, quality time, and exercise are vital for families at this time.

Here are some fun ways to have fun in your own backyard!

Scavenger Hunts:

These can be done in your own backyard, on a walk through the neighborhood or at home:

• A – Z: Try to find one thing starting with each letter of the alphabet.
• 1-10: Try to find one ball, two acorns, three squirrels, and so on. The kids can take turns making the list.
• Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Try to find a set number of animals, vegetables (plants), and minerals (non-living things).
• Spell your name hunt: Search for an object starting with every letter in your name.
• Create-a-hunt: Give every member of your family 10 index cards or slips of paper. Have them write a different object on each paper. Then, put all of the papers in a bowl and take turns drawing them from the bowl. Once each person has a new set of 10 (randomly selected), start a race to see who can find their 10 objects first.

Backyard Arts and Crafts:

• Collect objects like leaves, acorns, and rocks to make a collage or diorama.
• Paint rocks and decorate your garden with them.
• Plant a garden and make signs for your vegetables and herbs. Painted popsicle sticks can make excellent garden markers.
• Make a flag for your swingset, treehouse, or deck. Design a family crest and paint or sew a flag using scrap material.

Fun and Games:

• Obstacle Course: Use backyard toys, jumpropes, hula hoops, old tires, or recycled materials to create your own backyard obstacle course.
• Circus Time: Encourage the kids to put on a backyard circus. Use the swingset, balance beam, balls, and toys to perform. Youtube is a great resource for simple magic tricks you can perform at home with cards and coins.
• Reader’s Theater: Have the children re-enact a favorite fairytale or story. Then, tell the same story in a different genre. For example, perform classic Jack and the Beanstalk, then Jack and the Beanstalk spooky style, or Jack and the Beanstalk sci-fi.
• Old Favorites: Dust off the old croquet set, volleyball net, badminton, and baseball. Play sports together as a family.

Firepit Time:

• Roast S’mores for dessert. Try new combinations, for example replace the graham cracker with a cookie or the Hershey Bar with another favorite candy.
• Bring out the guitar or sing acapella and spend time singing favorite songs together as a family.
• Tell stories of your childhood. Spend time telling your kids about your favorite childhood memories or things you enjoyed. Get to know each other better.
• Read together. Bring a flashlight to the campfire, or start before sunset, and enjoy a book together.
• Make up funny or spooky stories together. Pick up where you left off last time and see how big your story can become.

Family Dinner Outside:

• Make it a tech-free dinner time with a family meal at the picnic table.
• Have a family potluck. Each member of the family prepares one dish toward the main meal and everyone shares. Older sister might grill the burgers, while brother makes a salad, mom makes some vegetables, and dad bakes a dessert.
• Grill everything. Make kabobs or grill your favorite meat and vegetables. Enjoy a meal straight from the backyard grill.
• Finger food dinner. Wash your hands first, and then serve only finger foods for dinner at the picnic table.

On the Driveway:

• Tic-Tac-Toe: Play tic-tac-toe, hangman, and other classic pen and paper games with sidewalk chalk.
• Racetrack. Using sidewalk chalk or masking tape, create roads, highways, and intersections with stoplights for imaginative play with toy cars (hotwheel style) or bikes (for kids to ride).
• Basketball: Challenge the kids to one-on-one, or a classic game of H-O-R-S-E.
• Jumprope: Do you remember the old jumprope games from the school playground? Teach your kids how to jumprope to Rockin’ Robin and Mary Mack.

Take It Outside:

• Play Twister on the lawn.
• Take a favorite boardgame (when it isn’t too windy) and play it at the picnic table. Games like Scattergories or Yahtzee work really well.
• Have a backyard Nerf war or water war if it’s warm enough.
• Set up the tent and sleep in the backyard.

Enjoy Nature:

• Take photos of animals in nature and then practice drawing them in a scrapbook.
• Learn how to identify backyard birds. AllAboutBirds.org is a great resource to learn the names and habits of birds.
• Once you’ve learned about birds, try learning to identify the trees where they live. www.arborday.org/trees/whattree/ is a useful website.
• Use the telescope for a bit of nighttime stargazing. NASA has a terrific app to help identify stars and constellations and learn more about the space program.
• Collect and identify local rocks. Our favorite resource for rock hounds is: geology.com/rocks/.

Find what you love, and do it again. Many families connect through shared collections or games. Make it a tradition to shoot hoops together, stargaze, sing, or collect rocks. Your kids will always have fond memories of the time you spent together enjoying your own backyard.

Kristina Light’s family loves to eat outside when the weather is nice, and they are thankful to enjoy a nice backyard full of great memories.