Getting through school in January and February can really be a challenge and despite your best efforts, perhaps you didn’t get the kids outside as much as you wanted to in those colder months.
Now that Spring is almost here and those cold afternoons are interspersed with some lovely warmer days, why not make some of these fun DIY Outdoor Family Games and get everyone off the screens and outside to play.
How do you make a fun game at home?
It’s not too hard to make several types of outdoor toys and games perfect for playing outside. Here are two super easy ideas for fun DIY games to make at home that the kids will love using simple everyday supplies you should have at home or in your craft supplies.
DIY Homemade Bubble Solution-
Items needed:
- 2 Cups of Water
- 1/4 Cup Dawn Dishwashing Detergent
- 1 Tbsp of Corn Syrup
Mix that all together and, voila, you now have homemade bubbles for a fraction of the cost of buying them in the store. If you don’t have any bubble wands handy, you can DIY your own with pipe cleaners, or use cookie cutters, or even a straw. You may need double the glycerin or corn syrup if your dish detergent is “Ultra”.
Homeschool moms, if you are looking to turn this fun DIY project into a lesson about surface tension*, check out this post on surface tension and making bubbles at Home Science Tools.
*A Few Tips– If you don’t have corn syrup, you can also use glycerin, but don’t try to make it without the Corn Syrup or Glycerin because the bubbles won’t stay together. Also any liquid soap will work, but Dawn or Joy (non-Ultra) generally yields the best results.
DIY Homemade Chalk
Items needed:
- Cornstarch
- Water
- Paper Towel or Toilet Paper Roll
- Wax Paper
- Food Coloring (if you want to make separate colors)
Simply mix equal parts of cornstarch and water in a small bowl until you get a thick, smooth, consistency. Add a few drops of food coloring. Prepare your toilet paper roll by lining the inside with a small square of wax paper before pouring your cornstarch slurry into the toilet paper roll. Cover the molds with wax paper and let sit for 12 hours. After 12 hours peel away the toilet paper roll, and enjoy your homemade chalk.
This is the simplest and easiest way to make chalk at home.
What can you do at home outside?
After the kids have tired of playing outside with their DIY homemade bubbles or DIY homemade sidewalk chalk, try some of these great ideas for DIY outdoor games.
More DIY Outdoor Game Ideas
- Get active and create vibrant art at the same time with this stomping bubble wrap painting ideas from The Soccer Mom Blog.
- Let your kids get dirty and enjoy some sand play with these ideas from The Curious Frugal.
- Got teens? A Heart Full of Joy has 15 Great Outdoor Night Games for Kids and Teens you might want to check out.
- Here’s a few DIY Yard Games made from plastic bottles from Fun-Learning-Life blog.
What If You Aren’t Crafty or Can’t Do DIY?
Okay, so if you have read through this whole post on DIY Outdoor Games saying to yourself, yeah, but I’m not crafty. I hear ya. I can handle the bubbles and the chalk, but anything that requires a lot of artistic skill causes my eyes to glaze over. Enter the lovely world of ETSY! 🙂
I found several great DIY Outdoor Games that were DIY’d by someone else. You might just want to order one of these.