What are Good Outdoor Games to Play?

10 Great Outdoor Games for Kids

The days of simple parties where balloons, music, and a cake with candles were enough are long gone. In 2019, fun birthday ideas are at a whole new level. You need these 10 great outdoor games for kids to get moving and enjoy their special day.

Kim and Kanye set the bar high with a "kidchella" themed party, featuring bouncy houses, a Ferris wheel, and several music stages. While you won't have the same budget as the Kardashians, take inspiration from their intuitive ideas and create a party with good outdoor games to play.

If you're arranging a summer party for your kid's birthday bash, what outdoor games can you play? Read on for the 411 on which outside games your kids will actually love!

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Outdoor Games Kids Will Love

We all know the math. Kids + Birthday parties = Chaos!

Instead of expecting kids to sit around, drink tea, and chat like adults, prepare some cool games that will burn all their pent-up party energy. We've chosen 10 outdoor games that will have your guests giggling from beginning to end. Are you ready? Let's get this party started!

1. Hop Your Way to Victory

Try a traditional sack-race to get the kids moving. Give each child a good quality burlap bag or king-size pillowcase. Line them up in a grassy area and have them hop their way to victory down a marked path.

To mix it up a little, decorate the plain sacks. Make it more challenging and make the marked path curvy. Even if you just do it the old-fashioned way, it'll get a lot of laughs on the way, Scout's honor!

2. Make Your Birthday Party Pop

Balloon stomping is one of the best group games for parties. What's a party without balloons popping?

Before the party starts, prepare by blowing up at least one balloon per guest and a few extras just in case. Tie a long string or ribbon around the end of the balloon so that it is long enough to tie around the children's ankles.

When the party gets started, tie a balloon around the ankle of each child. The aim of the game is to pop everyone else's balloon while protecting your own. The last kid with an intact balloon wins.

3. Jump to It

Let the kids blow off a little steam before you sit down to open presents. One of the best outdoor games for kids, is an outdoor bouncy house. Hiring a bouncy house is an exciting treat for the kids! It really is fun for all ages (even big kids!)

From bouncy houses and inflatable water slides to blow-up climbing walls and bouncy bungee runs, knowing which one to choose boggles the mind. Do your research to find out more about the options and you'll find the perfect match for your big outdoor birthday bash.

4. Treasure Hunt

Treasure hunts have been around a long time, but they're still one of the most interesting outside games for kids to play. Adapt the hunt depending on the ages of the guests and the style of the party. Be sure to offer prizes and other birthday party favors for the winning team.

For instance, create a list of items in nature they have to find in a certain time limit. Give each guest some magnifying glasses, binoculars, and a treasure bag for their adventure. They can search for various bugs, pinecones, daisies, leaves, and more on a nature scavenger hunt or you can hide items throughout the yard and give them a list of riddles to solve to find the next treasure. As an alternative, hide pieces of treasure and candy for the kids to find. Give them a bucket and send them on their scavenger hunt,

5. Cool Pool Party

Fun birthday ideas for the summer usually involve water. Wet and wild games give kids the chance to get soaked and cool off. A pool prize search is one of the most fun outside games for a kid's party.

Use an inflatable pool filled with water. Hide weighted treasures at the bottom of the pool. Then, fill the rest of the pool with floating toys and balls, so that it's hard to see what's at the bottom. Give the kids a time limit and tell them to find the treasures at the bottom of the pool.

If kids are a bit older and it seems too easy, try blindfolding them. Their teammates can shout out directions to help them find the treasure.

6. Use Your Noodle

One of the cheapest outside games for kids is Pool Noodle Croquet. It's budget-friendly but takes a little bit of time to set up.

Create several pool noodle arches in your back yard and stake them into the ground. Give each child a pool noodle and an inflated beach ball. The idea is to be the first to get the ball through the course of arches.

7. Make a Splash

Another variation of a classic game is water balloon baseball. It's one of the easiest outdoor games for kids and parents because it's so easy to set up.

All you need is a baseball bat and some pre-filled water balloons. Make sure the guests are ready to get soaked!

8. A Tasty Mess

Fun birthday ideas have got to include cakes and treats, right? So why not turn your dessert into a game? When played outside, this donut game is lots of fun.

Tie dangling donuts from a high place, such as a tree or doorway. Then have a donut eating race, without using hands. Chocolate donuts make the most mess, so be ready with a cleanup team when the game is over.

9. Water Shoot

Here's another outdoor water game for you. Divide the party into two teams. For each team, string a plastic sand pails onto one end of a clothesline.

The concept of this game is for each team to work together to move their bucket along the clothesline, using only the spray water guns. Of course, if you don't have enough squirt guns for the party, you could fill up plastic bottles instead. Be sure the squirt guns are powerful enough to make the pails move!

10. An In-Tents Party

Another awesome outside party activity is camping. If camping somewhere remote is too much of a task, just set up a camp ground in your backyard.

Set up tents and a supervised fire-pit. Play some camping-themed games during the day. And when it gets dark, roast some s'mores on the campfire and tell scary stories.

Keep Calm and Party On!

We hoe you like this list of outdoor games with a twist for parties. Pick one, two, or as many outside games as you want, to make your birthday bash super fun!

What if it turns out to be a rainy day and you can't have fun in the sun? For some more games inspiration, both inside and out, check out the "Games" section of our blog.

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Five Essential Tips for Taking Your Toddler on Vacation

Vacation with Toddlers

The terrible twos are terrible for a reason. Between learning to talk, starting to walk, to teething, and the “why” phase, you certainly have your work cut out for you. However, just because kids are a challenge at this age, doesn’t mean your life has to stop. On the contrary, they’re finally at an age where you can safely start to travel with them. By following these essential tips for taking your toddler on vacation, you can reduce the stress and improve the vacation travel experience all-round.

When traveling with toddlers, something to consider (no matter where you go,) is that you can use a luggage storage app to help stow your bags. No one wants to drag all that luggage around, especially when you’re traveling with toddlers in tow. For example, when you arrive in a city before your hotel reservation, you can store your bags and then start visiting your favorite attractions without having to wait for an afternoon hotel check-in.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Choose a Family-Friendly Destination

As you can expect, traveling with your toddler is difficult. It's all the stress from home combined with the stress of travel – in short, it's a nightmare if you don't prepare beforehand and know what to expect. To help you choose the best destination (and subsequent accommodation,) you'll want to choose a place that:

• Has Things for Adults and Kids 

Going to Disney World is great fun for kids, but if you're the parent who will absolutely hate the experience, this trip isn't for you! Similarly, if you choose a destination that isn’t kid-friendly, then your toddler will likely have a thing or two to say about it. Expect to be dragging them along by the hand. Instead, find a vacation destination that has something for both of you, and don’t be afraid to bring your kid a museum. Just remember to keep them off the exhibits. No one wants to get kicked out of a venue after throwing down a wallet load of cash.

• Has all the Needed Amenities

Choosing a vacation home is ideal in this situation, because you can forget about trying to accommodate your toddler's fussy eating habits at a restaurant and instead prepare food right at home just the way they like it. This makes snacks, meals, and even sleep cycles easy to maintain.

Find Out All That There is to Do And See

There are so many helpful guides online for you to pursue at your leisure. Simply find the ones that appertain to your destination and make note of their suggestions. This way, you can cut down on all the options in a big city like San Francisco, and instead narrow down your itinerary to the top 25 places to visit as outlined on VacationRenter.com. Depending on how long you are planning on staying, narrow that list down further to only what truly interests you, and you'll be sure to have a great time -even with toddlers in tow.

Tips on How to Get There

The younger they are, the less fun kids seem to have on a plane. That's why going by train or by car is often the far superior option for families. Not only that, but it's also very cost effective. If you do go by plane, use price comparison apps so that you can at least fly on the cheapest days, but remember to book your seats ahead of time so that you can all sit together. Never leave that to the day of and hope other passengers will switch with you. That's an unnecessary complication you can avoid with proper planning.

It will take time to master the art of travel with a young child, but don’t let that stop you from traveling. Just remember to be firm. Children might not always behave, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t set down rules for them. Do this, and you'll all have a much better time on your family vacation, no matter the destination. After all, the real memory maker is the experience.

Recommended:

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3 Fun Rainbow Cake Recipes for Girl Scouts

How to make a Rainbow Cake for Girl Scouts

Have a Girl Scout? Are you planning a celebration for your Scout Troop? These Rainbow Girl Scout Cakes are made with a box cake mix and American buttercream icing. They are fun to make as a group. They're even more fun to eat! Scroll down to see the easy recipes and learn how to make a Rainbow Cake for a Girl Scout Troop!

This post contains affiliate links.

Girl Scout Logo Cake

This 11x15 Girl Scout cake with American buttercream icing is made with ready made green Wilton fondant and a box of white cake mix. The flowers are made with a number 18 star tip with a white dot of icing in the middle of each. Trace the pattern on a piece of paper and trace it out with edible markers, then cut out with kitchen shears. Easy peasy!

The icing is a homemade whipped buttercream. The Girl Scout cake is an 11x15 Betty Crocker cake mix, but add 3 eggs, 1 stick melted butter, and 1 cup milk instead of following the box directions.

How to Make a Rainbow Cake with Colored Batter

If you want to make your cake batter rainbow colored too, check out this recipe for Rainbow Cake. The Girl Scout Troop will love mixing this one.

• First, mix up cake batter, you can make a white cake from scratch or use your favorite white cake from a box.
• Divide the batter evenly between 6 bowls.
• Add food coloring, stir to combine.
• Pour batter evenly into two 8 inch pans in reverse order. (Darkest colors first.)
• Bake as directed.
• Level the cakes.
• Put icing in between the layers, stack, spread icing on the outside.

A birthday is the perfect excuse to make a rainbow cake, but who needs an excuse? After reading several different tutorials on how to make a rainbow cake and cupcakes, we got started.  First, mix up a box of white cake mix following the package directions, or you can use your favorite homemade cake recipe. Then, involve the Girl Scout Troop. Let them count out the bowls, (you need 1 bowl for each color of the rainbow)  mix in the food coloring. 

Why stop at Rainbow batter and icing, when you can make your cake the shape of a Unicorn? It is easy to make a Rainbow Unicorn Cake too!

How to Make a Rainbow Unicorn Cake Recipe

Use the same cake mix and directions to tweak it as in the Girl Scout Cake above.
This time, use  8" round cake pans.
Fill the pans just over 3/4 way full. (You'll need two cake mixes.)
Wrap the pans with a wet towel strip. (This helps them to rise.)
Ice with the same whipped buttercream as above.
Unicorn horn is an ice cream cone sprayed with Wilton brand gold edible glitter spray.
Ears are pink card stock with a toothpick to hold them in place.
Flowers are made with different size star tips as mentioned above in the logo cake.
For color, use Wilton gel food coloring. Black is Wilton brand gel icing.


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Pin it!

Elf on the Shelf Story: Game Ideas

What's the Story behind Elf on the Shelf?

By now, you've probably heard of Elf on the Shelf. You've probably watched a YouTube video, searched Pinterest for Elf on the Shelf ideas for moving, or shared funny Elf on the Shelf memes on Facebook. But, what's the real Elf on the Shelf story? How did it came to be so popular? We've got that and more fun games and ideas for Elf on the Shelf. Enjoy!

Oriental Trading donated the items for this post.* 

It may contain affiliate links for your convenience.*

Indiana State Fair Experience Budget Tips and Tricks

Tips for the Indiana State Fair

So, we earned an entry (free ticket) to the Indiana State Fair with a 4H Exhibit on Small Engines. What's to do at the State Fair? Well there's lots of things to do at the Fair. It isn't just all amusement rides and games. There are so many things to do that you could spend all day there... if you could stand the heat or the walking and had a pocket full of cash! If you have lots of one dollar bills, you can ride the train every time you needed to get somewhere. Well, you could, if you could find a seat. You can enjoy the State Fair on a budget with these Indiana State Fair tips and tricks. Enjoy!

Girl Scout Badge Travel Tips: Vacation Destinations

Vacationing with a Teen? Here are Travel Tips for the Perfect Destination to take a Girl Scout and Survive

Did you know your Girl Scout can earn badges while on vacation? If you have a Girl Scout and you are traveling, chances are she can earn at least one badge during the trip. Looking forward to earning the badge on the trip can help avoid the “I’m bored” or "Do I have to" syndrome and make the trip more interesting for teens. We're sharing vacation travel tips for Girl Scouts. Enjoy!

KHOMO ® Junior Girl Scout Uniform. 

For American Girl and Madame Alexander Dolls*

Recently, while planning a trip to Charlotte, N.C. our guest blogger, Michelle, decided to Google if there was a badge her daughter could earn while on holiday. Michelle discovered that the Charlotte Girl Scout Service Unit did offer a badge, and it helped them plan fun activities during their vacation stay in North Carolina.

Scavenger Hunt Girl Scout Badge, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Depending on the age of your scout, she can also earn badges as she prepares for the trip. Plan a trip to earn a Girl Scout Badge.

When in Savannah, Georgia, take the Girl Scout Discovery Tour to earn a badge. Old Town Trolley Tours offers the "Savannah Try it" badge.

Badges available on the Old Town Trolley Tour.

Since this is the birthplace of the Girl Scouts, there are badges for almost everything. These badges include: Ghost Tours, Juliette Gordon Low House, Telfair Museums and many more. A visit to the Girl Scout Founder's House is a must.

Girl Scout Hostelling badge earned in a Chicago Hostel.

Even the hostel you stay in may offer a badge. Always call ahead for details. In Chicago, the hostel where they stayed offered the hostelling badge pictured above.

If you are doing a staycation, many local museums offer Girl Scout and Boy Scout badges. The Children's Museum of Indianapolis offers a badge for visiting their Haunted House. 

Travel Tip: When you visit a museum, go to the guest service desk, and ask if they have any special programs for scout badges.  

Texas State History Museum Badge.

The challenge of finding the items needed to earn the badge keeps kids from flying through the museum and missing out on all of the important lessons. We hope these tips will help you plan a fun trip with your Scout.

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Girl Scout Pinewood Derby

Homeschool Projects and Field Trip Ideas

The Giggling Ghost Girl Scout Mystery*














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Girl Scout Activity: Pony Bead Rainbow Drink Coaster Tutorial

Hey Girl Scouts! Bake a Rainbow Drink Coaster in your Oven with Pony Beads

Michelle at, Life is My Lemonade, is guest posting. Michelle is busy with her daughter's Girl Scout Troop. They are always up to some new, creative endeavor. This time they are crafting up a rainbow with Pony Beads. We've crafted with Pony Beads in the past, but we always used an iron. How fun to bake them like a cookie!  Enjoy!

Being a Girl Scout leader requires you to have craft materials on hand. After a project is finished, you have leftovers. We had a lot of leftover Pony Beads. The girls decided to do something different from swaps.  We landed on rainbow drink coasters. Scroll down to see how to make rainbow drink coasters with Pony Beads.

Megan making her Rainbow Coaster.

Recipe for Rainbow Coasters:

You will need:

30 Red Pony Beads

24 Orange Pony Beads

18 Yellow Pony Beads

12 Green Pony Beads

5 Blue Pony Beads

1 Purple Pony Bead

The pan used for the coaster was a 4 x 1 1/4 Round Cake Pan.  

Arrange the beads with the holes up and then bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Choose which coaster you like best, and set the stove timer accordingly.

Transparent Pony Beads Baked for 15 minutes.

Beads melted in pan. Once they cool, they pop right out, 

and you can use the pan again for cooking food.

Opaque Pony beads baked for 20 minutes.

Recommended Reading:

Magic Creatures!: 25 Awesome Animals and Mythical Beings for a Rainbow of Critters*


The Rainbow Book*


Rainbow Coloring Sheet


Rainbow Slush

Which Girl Scout Cookie is your Favorite: It is National Girl Scout Cookie Weekend

What is National Girl Scouts Cookie Weekend and the Girl Scout's Cookie Championship?

It's cookie time! Girl Scout Cookie time that is. All over the nation girls are selling cookies and setting goals for the National Girl Scout Cookie Weekend Championship.

Every year, the Scouts set their New Year resolutions, but the scouts are far more likely to stick to their goals than everyone else.

Our scout loves cookies so much, she bakes them as a community service project!

Why is that?

Did you ever wonder what your cookie money goes toward? You may have seen a note about the personal goal for the Girl Scout that sold cookies to you, but that is not the only purpose the money serves. 

This post is sponsored by the GSUSA, but the words and stories are our own.

Samoas our a favorite Girl Scout Cookie.

Each troop gets a portion of the money. Depending on how the troop runs, it could go toward a pooled troop goal or the individual scout's goal. When the girls start as Daisies and every year on up to their Senior year, they set goals.  Some girls are motivated by the prizes that they will earn.  Other girls are motivated by a trip or special event.  

One of our local troops does a Powder Puff Pinewood Derby. 

The Girl Scouts have set up fun ways to help each girl achieve their goal. The girls can log into a program and track their goal along the way. They also learn about safely using social media to pass along the word about cookies.  #CookieBoss

Have you seen the poll on Facebook? Like the post if you are a fan of Thin Mints or Share it if you are a Samoa's fan? Vote for your favorite Girl Scout cookie! Which will be the National Champion Girl Scout Cookie? Check the GSUSA Facebook page to find out. 

Girl Scouts have four different bakeries in the country.  Depending on where you are, you could get cookies from two different girls and get two different cookie flavor choices. But, never fear, the past champions Thin Mints, Samoas, and Do-Si-Dos are produced nationwide.

 Trefoils- another top seller for our troop.

This year, our girls are spending some of their troop money to go to the local local SkyZone, another part of the money will go toward a troop goal for a trip, and the last of their hard earned money will go toward a community service project.

Our troop numbers and unit.

Our girls are in between the Silver and Gold awards so they are talking about a helping an animal shelter as a community project. The Girl Scout Gold Award is equivalent to the Eagle Scout Award. The girls have to choose an individual project and plan and work over 100 hours on something that will benefit their community. A pretty lofty goal, but they are willing to spend the hours needed to make a difference in the community. Planning will start at the end of this school year. Check back here for updates on their projects and if they meet their goals. 

The girls would love to hear about what other scouts are doing around the country. So, if you have a scout (boy or girl) please comment and let us know what your troop has done.

If you want to keep up with GSUSA happenings Follow them on Pinterest or Like them on Facebook.  #CookieBoss

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Recommended Reading:



Here Come the Girl Scouts!: The Amazing All-True Story of Juliette 'Daisy' Gordon Low and Her Great Adventure*


Girl Scouts: A Celebration of 100 Trailblazing Years*