Educational Outdoor Games for Kids

Hopscotch

• Hopscotch has been a favorite outdoor game for years. It keeps them physically active and helps them learn to count. There are no supplies needed except a piece of chalk, a rock, and a sidewalk. Before the game starts, draw eight to 10 squares on the ground and number them sequentially. Some kids like to draw a personlike figure with a circle for the head at the top, a square for the neck, five squares in a row for arms, a square for the torso, and two additional squares for legs. Toss a rock or other marker into the square and hop on one foot into each square according to the number landed on. For example, after tossing your rock into the first square, jump over it and into square two; continue until you reach the top of the squares. Turn around, hop back toward the end of the squares, pause to pick up your rock, and hop out of the game. On your next turn, you begin at square two. Continue until you start at all the squares. Be careful not to land in the same square as your marker or land outside of the lines; this causes you to lose a turn.

I Spy

• Children can increase their deductive reasoning skills by playing I Spy. Take the children outside and choose an object to focus on. Give children clues about that object until someone guesses it. You might say, "I spy, with my little eye, a red object with black wheels." Let the children take turns guessing. The child who gives the right answer chooses something to spy next . The game continues until every child has chosen an object.

Minefield

• Minefield teaches children about trust and improves their communication skills. The object of the game is to talk a blindfolded teammate through a set of obstacles. Members of your team must list things that may jeopardize the success of the group: lack of communication, poor listening skills, or anger issues. For each item on the list, place objects such as shoes, balls, clothes, and chairs in the minefield. Each member of the group must choose a partner to blindfold. This person is placed at the end of the field while his teammate stands at the opposite end and talks him through the obstacles. If the blindfolded person runs into an object, they are replaced with a different partner. The winning team is determined by the number of successful crossings. You can enhance learning by asking what each team member learned from the game.