Best Outdoor Yard Games to Motivate Outdoor Play for Your Kids
We’re all familiar with the common refrain exhorted by parents everywhere, “Go outside and play!’ As a parent, you’ll get a lot farther ahead with that request/demand/ fervent desire if you have the right equipment stocked for your kids. Stocking right will insure success when you send them outdoors to play yard games–you might want to join them!
You need appealing, age-appropriate outdoor yard games, toys and equipment. Properly stocked, you will be helping your kids master skills they’ll use forever. Mastery of skills leads to confidence building and self-esteem. Getting the right playground balls will really set you on a roll here.
Younger kids need to work on both small and large motor skills. It’s a good ideal to have different types of balls, in a variety of sizes and textures. Variety impels exploration.
The right sized balls for your children will help them master the art of throwing and catching with precision. Balls that are worthy of your serious consideration include: textured rubber balls, inflatable beach ball, tennis ball, kick balls, volleyballs. This list could go on forever but these are the key ones you should consider stocking in order to create enthusiasm about outdoor yard games in your own yard.
Grade schoolers are beginning to check out ‘real’ sports. Foursquare only begins its popularity at this point. In some cases, adults are still playing this outdoor yard game classic–with a new ferocity never seen as children.
Badminton, volleyball and even bocce ball are good considerations to make your outdoor yard games more enticing for this age group.
It’s also a good time to think about adding a basketball hoop and playing some pick-up games each evening. It’s a great way to check in with your child about their day, become alerted to any impending issues or dramas before they escalate and simple de-stress from a busy day–works for both the adult and the child.
Middle schoolers will likely be getting more seriously into organized recreational or classic sports like soccer or softball but you can help here as well. Games like croquet, badminton and that new European sensation, Speedminton, are very popular with this age group.
One of the best middle school parties our kids attended last year included a night time game of Speedminton, with glow in the dark ‘speeders’ (shuttlecocks) and glow in the dark ‘war paint’ worn by the opposing teams. The kids had a blast and since it was in a neighbor’s back yard–many of the locals came by to cheer and get in the act. Now some of the adults are playing too. This kind of outdoor game play can be infectious good fun.
When you let your imagination start roaming and stock up on the right toys, “Go outside and play!” can take on new dimensions as outdoor yard games move into the 21st Century. These yard games may be classic but they’re keeping up with the times without question.
