Are you beginning to make your summer bucket list yet? How about adding some DIY outdoor games to play in the backyard or when camping?
Kids love games…
Kids love rocks…
Combine the two and you have a winning combination!
Creative, inexpensive, and fun
Games don’t have to come in a box and they definitely don’t need to be battery operated to be enjoyable. In fact, the best games are sometimes the simplest. I think we all remember playing games outdoors as children with little more than simple natural materials, companions (siblings, friends, parents…), and our imaginations.
Here are 10 simple DIY outdoor games you can make yourself with stones found in your backyard. Perfect to make with the kids this summer!
10 DIY Outdoor Games You Can Make with Rocks
1. DIY Tic Tac Toe with Rocks (on Thrive 360 Living)
2. Painted Rock Dominoes (This was on Childcareland Blog, and although the link is no longer active you can use the image above for ideas on how to paint stripes on rocks that kids can match end to end.)
3. Quick Rock Dominoes with a Paint Pen (this was from Clever Thursday. Although the link is no longer active, you can see from the photo how to use a white paint pen on darker rocks to create your own set of natural dominoes.)
4. DIY Outdoor Checkerboard (on DIY Del Ray)
5. DIY Outdoor Chess Game (on My Heart & My Home)
6. A Nature Treasure Hunt (on Red Ted Art)
7. Rock Toss with Chalk Shapes (on Smile and Wave)
8. Tin Can Rock Toss (on Simple as That)
9. Make a simple rock memory game (on Spell Outloud). Or try this other version of a rock memory game (with free printable) on Handbook of Nature Study…
10. I just had to include this rainbow hopscotch (on Happiness is Homemade) because it is so seriously awesome. But of course, you can also just draw a hopscotch with chalk then play with a pebble marker. Use pebbles from the backyard or make your own special melted crayon rock markers.
And if you’d like to have some more clever rock-related fun idea up your sleeve for indoor activities, check out these three posts:
- Art with Rocks: 18 Ways to Use Rocks in Kids Art
- Making Learning Fun (With Rocks!)
- 5 Story Stones Ideas: Storytelling with Rocks
Which games will you try this summer?
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13 Comments
Katie Harding
May 22, 2014 at 11:39 amWhat an awesome list! My boys would go crazy for all of these, thanks for sharing! Looking forward to the summer and getting outside more!
Terese
May 31, 2014 at 5:39 pmThank you….now I know what to do with the children on Monday :)
Alex Jeffery
June 6, 2014 at 4:40 pmThese will be the perfect games to play with the Grand kids when they come to stay on vacation and I know they would love to help paint the rocks. Thanks Jean, great ideas!
Pat Luth
June 16, 2014 at 9:42 pmGreat idea for all parents ! Love it !
jade
July 10, 2014 at 2:29 amCool rock art
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October 4, 2014 at 11:33 amI’m the coordinator for children church and these games would be great for them. Plus I’m a counselor for our tits as well. It would be great.
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April 12, 2015 at 10:26 pmLove the color match domino game. It inspired me to do an upper case/lower case matching game for my preschool class. Thanks for sharing the great ideas!
Timo Paade
October 18, 2020 at 7:00 amQuoridor is another great game that is really a thinking game like chess and can be played with rocks and branches if you draw a board onto sand for example.