The 10 best outdoor activities for kids
Ages 7 to 10, give or take. Bring a towel.
Ages 7 to 10, give or take. Bring a towel.
We started Zazti so our kids could get moving on rainy stay-at-home days. This list is for the other days.
Ten things to do outside with kids around 7 to 10. Most need a hose, a rope or nothing at all.
Partners throw a water balloon back and forth and take one step back after every catch, until someone gets soaked.
You need: a bag of water balloons and a tap. Kids: 2 or more, in pairs.
Pick up the burst bits when you're done. They hide in the grass.
Rake one giant pile of leaves together, then take turns running and cannonballing into it.
You need: a rake and a lot of leaves. Kids: 1 or more.
Rake it on the grass, not the path, and check it for sticks before the first jump.
Ride to the finish line as slowly as you can, and anyone whose foot touches the ground is out.
You need: bikes, helmets, and chalk for a start and a finish line. Kids: 2 or more.
It's all balance, not speed, so the kid who never wins a race has a real shot.
Freeze small toys in a tub of water overnight, then dig them out in the sun with spoons, salt and warm water.
You need: a tub, small plastic toys, a freezer, salt, spoons and a jug of warm water. Kids: 1 or more.
Freeze it in layers if you can wait a day. Toys at every depth make the dig last longer.
Fold boats from newspaper and race them down a stream, or down the gutter after rain.
You need: newspaper, and a stream or a gutter after rain. Kids: 1 or more.
Gutters run next to cars, so a grown-up stays close.
Paint rocks with faces or bugs, hide them around the park, and leave a clue so another kid can find them.
You need: smooth rocks, and paint pens or acrylic paint. Kids: 1 or more.
Write "keep me or hide me again" on the back, so the hunt goes on after you leave.
Lie on the grass, find shapes in the clouds, and take turns adding one line to a story about them.
You need: a blanket and a sky with some clouds in it. Kids: 2 or more.
Teams pass a dripping sponge overhead down the line to fill a bucket at the end, and the first full bucket wins.
You need: a big sponge and two buckets per team, one of them full of water. Kids: 4 or more, in two teams.
Lay a rope across a line in the grass and pull until one team crosses it (a puddle in the middle makes it legendary).
You need: a long, thick rope. Kids: 4 or more.
Hold the rope in your hands. Never wrap it around a wrist.
One kid walks on their hands while a partner holds their ankles, and the first pair to the fence wins.
You need: soft grass. Kids: 4 or more, in pairs.
The holder walks at the walker's speed. Any faster means a face full of grass.
Start with whatever is lying around. A rope means tug of war, a hose means a sponge relay, and a blanket on the grass means cloud stories. Bikes in the shed? Hold a slow race.
The wheelbarrow race needs only grass and a partner, and cloud stories only a patch of lawn. In autumn, a rake is all a leaf pile jump takes.
Get wet. A water balloon toss, a sponge relay and ice excavation all cool kids down while they play.
The team games: tug of war, the sponge relay and the wheelbarrow race. They work at a birthday party as well as in the backyard.
Ice excavation, the leaf pile and paper boats work even for a 3 year old, with a grown-up close by. The team games are better from about 5.
Need them tired out indoors? Try Zazti's games on a tablet, laptop or phone. Kids play with their whole body in front of the camera, one on their own or two side by side.
Or pick from the 10 best indoor activities, from a blanket fort to hide and seek.