Want to get your kids off their electronics and outside this summer? Here are five ideas for easy, no-equipment classic backyard games you can play together as a family, or your kids can play with other kids from the neighborhood!
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Sardines
Hide-and-seek in reverse! One person hides and the rest of the players try to find them. When someone finds the hider, they join them in the hiding spot. Whoever is the last to find the group in hiding gets to hide first next!
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Secret Dancer
One person is dubbed "the detective" and goes inside. Once the detective is inside, the group picks a "secret dancer." The secret dancer performs a dance move for everyone else to start copying. The detective gets to take one guess at who the secret dancer is. With every wrong guess, the secret dancer changes up the dance move and everyone keeps copying! Once the detective figures out who the secret dancer is, a new detective is picked!
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Dizzy Tag
Tag with a twist, literally! Each player spins around in circles for 30 seconds and then whoever's "it" has to catch as many people as they can!
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Scream 'Til You Drop
Give those kids a chance to use their outside voices and allow them (and you if you want to play too!) to vent some pent-up frustration! Have kids take a BIG deep breath and scream as loud as they can for as long as they can while running. Once their scream runs out, they have to drop to the ground — the more dramatic the fall the better! Whoever gets the farthest wins.
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Ghost in the Graveyard
Designate a home base as the "safe spot." Choose one person to be "the ghost." The ghost hides while the rest of the players stay at base and count to 50. The players then search for the ghost. When someone finds the ghost, they yell, “Ghost in the graveyard!” Then everyone tries to run back to base before the ghost tags them. If the ghost tags another player, that person becomes the new ghost. If the ghost doesn’t tag anyone, the last person back to home base is the ghost.
