Outdoor Games For Children Playing Alone: Active Outside Play For Solitary Kids

Often a child is alone, yet he wants to play games. The word “game” seems to imply that more than one player will be needed, but this is not necessarily true. What are some outdoor games a boy or girl can play alone?

Of course, there are solitary activities, such as playing in a sandbox or gliding on a swing. How about games? Yes, there are many games he can create or play that relate to outdoor activities. Such as holding a sand castle competition – building several sand castles and then judging them.

Are there any competitive games? Yes, there are. In these games the child simply competes against himself, a norm, time or some such opponent, rather than competing against another player.

Here are some active outdoor games for you to try.

Running, Jumping, and Climbing Games

1. Footraces – Set up markers for your races and use a stopwatch to judge whether you are getting faster. Running is fun in itself and a challenge to feel how fast you can go, how big can you stride, how fast can you walk?
2. Footraces with hurdles – Set up some safe hurdles to jump while you are racing. Use something soft such as swimming pool noodles. Don’t use anything that might be sharp or hard if you fell against it.
3. Obstacle Courses – Chart out a difficult path around the swing set, under the picnic table, around lawn chairs, or lay sticks in your path that you have to navigate through and around. Time your trips through the course with a kitchen timer or stopwatch.

Established Old-Time Games

1. Hop Scotch – For this game you need sidewalk space, sidewalk chalk, and a few rounded stones. Draw a path of squares on the sidewalk with one small square and then two squares, alternating – ten in all. Write numbers in each square, 1 to 10. To play, stand at the starting end (the one) and roll your stone so that it will land in one of the squares. Hop on one foot then both to the square with the stone in it. Stop and get the stone then continue hopping to the end of the course and back. If you get back without missing squares or falling, you get the number of points of the square you rolled your stone into.
2. Marbles – Draw a circle in a clear dirt spot and drop your marbles into the center of the circle. Roll one large marble at a time. Any marbles you knock out of the circle’s perimeter, you win.
3. Jump Rope – Challenge yourself to skipping and jumping your rope as fast as possible. Start with the rope behind you and swing it over your head and jump it as it comes around. Count your jumps or look up some jumping rhymes to jump to.

Hunting and Searching Games

1. Bear Hunts – On a bear hunt you pretend to search for wild animals (Bugs, turtles, spiders, frogs, toads, caterpillars and birds will do!) Maybe you will find some real animal (rabbit, dog, cat, chicken, raccoon, etc.)tracks.
2. Scavenger Hunts – Make a list of nature items to search for. Try to find at least one of each. (Pinecone, leaf, pine needle, stone, piece of tree bark, acorn, stick, bird feather, etc.)
3. Spy – Look through a magnifying glass or a paper towel or gift wrap tube. Be a spy. See what you can see!

Games with Balls

1. Kickball – Get a ball and run around kicking it in front of you. How fast and far can you kick it and still get to it before it stops moving?
2. Tether ball – the ball must be tied securely to a tether pole. Kick or hit it as it swings around to increase your strength and improve aim.
3. Shooting Baskets – Shoot some baskets from the free throw distance. Try some lay-ups and dribbling shots.
4. Badminton – The birdie should be hit over some net or a clothes line, even over an obstacle like a row of lawn chairs would work.
5. T-ball – Set up your ball on the T-ball post and practice swinging.
6. Golf – If you have a large yard, you can play golf. Be sure you hit balls away from windows and cars.

Snow Games

1. Snowball making and throwing – make up piles of snowballs and set up a target to lob them at – a board or bale of hay, a wagon or sled overturned.
2. Snow fort building – Build a nice big fort by rolling snowball and pushing them together to form walls.
3. Snow trailing – Look for footprints and animal tracks in the snow and follow them. Solve the mystery.
4. Sledding – Slide downhill and see what fun you can have hardening your track and zooming down it. How fast can you go?

If you are outside and alone there are still plenty of fun games to play. What games can you send in to the comments section? Share your ideas. What do you play outside when you are outside and alone?