Warm weather will be here soon, which means a lot more backyard adventures for your kids. It can be expensive trying to find the perfect toys for your backyard, but most kids really don’t need a lot of toys to entice their imagination when they are outside playing. These ten activities will help kids have the time of their lives in the wonderful spring weather while keeping up with your budget. With any luck, you will find it easier than ever to get your child outside and playing without having to bride or entice them to go out.
1. Mud Station
Most young children love to play out in the mud, which is why a mud station is a perfect way to satisfy this urge. You can easily make up a simple table using old household items, but if you want to go all out, you can make a complete mini kitchen for your little ones. There are lots of tutorials online to help you do this at a very minimal price, so make sure you have fun with your project. The mud station will allow children to create mud pies, sculptures, or simply a mess. The mud station can easily be hosed off so kids can use it again and again. It might actually help to keep some of the mess off of your child. Of course, you can also use an old apron to keep them slightly cleaner.
2. Stepping Stones
When building motor skills, one of the best ways to do this is to provide children with steppingstones. There are numerous options on the market right now, but they tend to be on the pricier side of the spectrum. Stepping stones are one of the easiest things to make at home though. You can cut old logs to create varying shapes and then secure them to the ground. You can also work with ceramics to mold your own stones. Apart from that, you will find that you can even make household items out of things you find around the house. For instance, an old bucket makes for a great leap upward, while a flat rock can be used to go from one obstacle to the next. You can even spice things up every time your child uses the stepping stones so they don’t grow accustomed to the movements.
3. Obstacle Course
Stepping stones aren’t the only thing you can add to your yard. You might consider making up an entire obstacle course. This will allow you to keep your kids active and excited about going outdoors. The obstacle course doesn’t have to be anything expensive either. You can use items you already have around the house including pool noodles and old tires. Your creativity is the limit with these challenges, which is what makes the obstacle course even more exciting. You can check out ideas online if you’re not sure how to focus your energy. However, after setting up a few obstacle courses, you may come up with ingenious ideas that you will want to share with the world too.
4. Sports
One of the easiest ways to keep kids active is to toss some sporting activities in the backyard. This is easily done as you can find sporting goods almost anywhere. One of the easiest setups is a simple basketball hoop. You can fasten a hoop to almost anything. Even if you don’t have a hard surface for bouncing the ball, kids can still shoot hoops and play games based around this. Another easy thing to add to the yard is soccer accessories. You can keep it simple with just a ball and some toys to use to mark the goal. You can also add a baseball mitt and baseball, a football, and other similar sports to the backyard. If you’re really feeling adventurous then you can create a space for badminton using a simple net. This can also be upcycled for volleyball games and more. If you really want to go all out, you can create games like pool noodle hockey or pool noodle baseball.
5. Bubble Games
If you have really small kids in the home, then you can’t go wrong when it comes to bubbles. You can do so much with bubbles too. There are lots of bubble toys you can enjoy like bubble mowers and bubble machines, but there are also many things you can make at home. For instance, you can toy around with making giant bubbles with different things from around the house. This can be a great science lesson too. Of course, if you’re not feeling very creative then you always just have fun blowing bubbles for the kids to play in or to blow themselves.
6. Giant Board Games
When it comes to family bonding, nothing says fun quite like board games. Board games offer an easy way to have fun for the entire family, but it is a little hard to play most board games outside, especially during the springtime. You can, on the other hand, make giant board games. They’re very simple to do and can help you have a little fun as you work together to recreate your favorite options. One of the most common giant games to make is Jenga. This game can be made from cardboard or scrap wood. You can also make giant scrabble pieces out of the same materials, which is perfect for early spellers. Other than that, you will find that checkers, or even chess, make great outdoor games for the whole family.
7. Scavenger Hunt
Kids love to look for treasure, which makes a scavenger hunt something that is easy and fun to do any day of the week. Look around your backyard and add some items on the list for your child to find. You can even find items to make the activity even more fun. For small children, you might want to print out pictures of the items they’re looking for while older children will thrive with fun clues. Scavenger hunts can be changed by the day too, which will allow you to easily keep kids busy all season long.
8. Chalk Fun
A lot of kids love to show off their creativity, which is one thing that makes chalk a lot of fun. Kids can enjoy drawing just about anything with a wide assortment of colors. You will also find that this activity is a great way to entice children to practice their name, alphabet, numbers, and early spelling. Chalk doesn’t have to be limited to drawing though. Kids can also play games using it. Hopscotch and Tic-Tac-Toe are only a few of the great chalk options. If you are low on ideas you can also look online to find everything that you need.
9. Cloud Watching
If you need a calming activity for your children, then cloud watching is definitely the way to go. This activity will help kids to slow down and admire the beauty of the sky. It will also help children to feel more confident about their creativity as they use their imagination to spot shapes in the clouds. Of course, as children work on cloud watching, they can easily turn around and draw their favorite shapes with chalk or inside on paper. You can even use cotton to create the images. This is a great time to inspire children to learn more about the various different types of clouds.
10. Climbing Wall
Kids that have a lot of energy will definitely benefit from a climbing wall. A climbing wall is perfect for even small spaces, which might be one of the biggest draws for this activity. There are many kits you can buy to make up a climbing wall too that aren’t very expensive, which is helpful if you’re on a budget. After you get the kit, all you need is something to place the items on, which might be your biggest issue. Of course, you can also turn the wall into a climbing tree, as the climbing pieces can easily be secured to a tree too. Climbing walls are a great way for kids to improve strength, problem-solving, and so much more while also getting in the exercise they need to be healthy.
Building up a wonderful backyard can bring a lot of happiness to your household. Of course, you don’t have to spend a small fortune to make the yard one of the best places for your children to play. These ten activities will help to bring plenty of childhood joy while allowing you to truly enjoy the fresh air in your own backyard.
