Fun outdoor carnival games for kids

Bring the carnival home! This classic game is perfect for small-space areas like a patio. The hunt is on during this outdoor game for kids! Ahead of party time, hide small toys and objects for kids to find. Arm each child with a galvanized pail and let them start searching.

The first child to find 10 items wins and gets to keep their prizes! It's time to take aim! This competitive outdoor game for kids is perfect for teams of two.

To play, give each child a bucket of filled water balloons. Let players take turns tossing the balloons and see who can make the most shots. The player with the highest score wins! A rowdy game of rocket toss is easy and inexpensive to put together. Use colorful duct tape to decorate ounce metal cans.

This will be the "rocket" that kids can toss at the cans. Give each birthday party guest three tries to knock down all the cans. Don't throw away those empty bleach bottles—transform them into an outdoor catching game for kids!

Make a mazelike pathway through fallen leaves, and birthday party attendees can race through it. Rake a curving path through fallen leaves. No leaves in sight? Use rope or grass clippings and sticks to form the maze. Have kids race together through the maze, or use a stopwatch to time each child.

Make a splash at your child's summer birthday party with a fun water game. For each team, string a plastic bucket on a length of clothesline; make the lines the same length to be fair. With the buckets at one end of the clothesline, arm each team with a hose or large squirt guns. Using only water, the teams must race to move their bucket to the other end of the line. Editor's Tip: Make this fun game for kids even wilder. Arm a team with water balloons to use as obstacles and distractions while the other team tries to push its bucket across the finish line.

Little ones will enjoy this fun twist on badminton. Use homemade foam rackets to keep the colorful balloon off the ground. Nature is calling for a game of tic-tac-toe.

Provide flower heads from your garden, or let children explore your yard for flower heads, stones, leaves, or other bits of nature to use as game pieces. Editor's Tip: Alert parents about your plans for an outdoor party and ask about their children's allergies. Make sure to have silk flowers on hand, just in case. You may not have a built-in checkerboard in your backyard, but it's easy to set one up for a birthday party.

Cut large squares from sturdy poster board, and tack them to the ground in a checkerboard pattern. Use plant stakes or other stakes with rounded tops for safety. Or chalk up your driveway to create the board. Make big beanbags or use two colors of Frisbee disks for the checkers. Have kids take turns moving their pieces across the board. Set up teams to involve everyone in the fun. Editor's Tip: You can also use large square flooring tiles to make the board. Inexpensive tiles are available at home improvement stores.

On-the-go kids will love wheeling and squealing on this obstacle course. Ask each child to bring his or her favorite set of wheels. It's a good idea to have a few extra vehicles available. To create the course, arrange orange cones or other soft items in your yard or a nearby park. Include curves, turns, and small hills, depending on the ages and abilities of your racers. Fuel the kids' excitement by timing each racer as he or she pedals to the finish line. To make the course more challenging, set up stations along the way where children must stop to perform a task, such as blowing bubbles.

Pumpkins aren't just for the porch! Make the most of the season's harvest with this easy outdoor game of tic-tac-toe. Who's the fastest of them all? Set up an outdoor course and find out! Beat the summer heat with this cool kids birthday party game. Blocks of ice become the base for this pretty painted game.

Simply drip washable tempera paint onto frozen ice shapes and get melting! As the ice melts, it will create cool paint designs. An old-fashioned favorite, pickup sticks gets a gigantic twist when the sticks are as big as the kids. Paint the ends with bright colors: red, blue, green, yellow, orange, and purple, for example. To start the game, drop the sticks on the ground in a big messy pile, and let the kids take turns picking up a stick.

If a stick other than the one the child is removing wiggles, the child must return the stick and forgo his or her turn. At the end, the player with the most sticks wins.

Editor's Tip: Add a challenge to the game by assigning each player a color. The first player to successfully remove all the sticks of the assigned color wins the party game. All it takes is a few dice to get the party started! You can make these outdoor dice with wood, but we chose small cardboard boxes—perfect for younger children.

Have a little Picasso on your hands? Get painting outside! Set up all the materials kids will need to paint or draw outside in a space surrounded by nature. Let each child create their own work of art inspired by flowers, plants, and nature. Try making homemade sidewalk chalk paint and letting the kids decorate your driveway. Set up a fun game of DIY disc golf right in your backyard!

To create this outdoor game for kids, hang an oversized hula hoop from a branch or clothesline. Try a fun take on the classic game of catch. Have each player throw the disc through the hoop. The first one to complete ten shots wins! Best to do on soft surfaces. Children form a circle.

One person is chosen to be the leader. The leader calls the name of a child and names an animal or circus performer.

Keep the designs simple and provide a limited number of choices so you can move lots of kids through. You can make your own face paint At page bottom of Paint Recipes or purchase it from a party supplier or costume shop.

Keep the dances as simple as possible so no one feels intimidated. Decorate their office as their booth. Give fortune cookies as a treat. You can get cookies with messages specially designed for kids if you plan ahead.

Take Polaroid or digital pictures. Or… You could someone dress as a clown and pose with the kids and parents! You can set it up next to the face painting….

Use a thin paintbrush to apply the tattoo. Players write their guess as to how many objects are in the jar on a slip of paper. They then have to pay one ticket to get out.

This game works better with older children and teens. Lots of fun for both kids and parents. Decorate either large or smaller sized rice cakes or round cookie with frosting.

Add a licorice string. Image by KidActivities. Place a pineapple slice on a paper plate. Add two raisins for each eye and cherry nose! Add peanuts if there are no allergies. For the head, place a scoop of ice cream on a plate—or in a paper cupcake liner as in the drawing.

Use red icing gel for the mouth. Ingredients: Apples, Animal crackers, Peanut butter or Nutella Strawberry or food colored Cream cheese if allergies Wash and core the apples. Spread the apple rings with peanut butter.

Stand the animal crackers up around the apple ring to look like a merry-go-round. KIdActivities added a paper umbrella in the center to more resemble a carousel! Use plain regular animal crackers. Have children color them with regular markers or paint. You can use clear nail polish and paint over what they have colored after it is dry. Then use a magnet small enough and glue it on the back with a hot gun or other strong glue. Clear nail polish was applied as a glaze when they were dry.

It took about an hour for the animal crackers to dry from the paint. The magnetic tape— that is cut off from a roll —is what KidActivities put on the back of the magnets. Because the animal crackers are so small—be sure to get a high-quality magnet. For K-A…the magnets stayed on the whiteboard permanently—much better than the refrigerator.

Be sure to let the paint and polish dry well before applying the magnet or magnetic tape. To make this craft project you will need animal crackers, paint, a flat backed pin, clear nail polish or varnish, and some craft glue.

First, paint the animal crackers. After they dry, polish or varnish in a well ventilated area and let them dry. Next glue it to a pin. NOTE: Be sure to let the animal crackers dry well before glueing on the pin backs. Materials: Animal crackers Craft glue Crayons or other materials Colorful paper.

Popcorn Put out the bags and decorating materials. When the bags are complete—fill them with popcorn! Draw the clowns on black paper with white school glue 2. Color with oil pastels; blend primary colors to create own secondary colors.

Art by a first grade student of Art teacher Michal Austin. Begin by drawing clowns on the tagboard with a sharpie. Glue on wiggle eyes and pom pom. Color with markers. Cut out. Draw patterns on the black paper with oil pastels. Put out some felt, scraps of fabric, yarn, ribbon, google eys, and pom poms — see what the kids come up with!

Maybe something like this?! If you can put a name with this collage, please send info? Form partners between the children. Have them take turns tracing each others bodies onto the paper. If children are young an adult may need to trace Children then color and decorate their tracing as a clown.

Cute all lined up around the room or down a hallway! Tape or glue a round piece of cardboard to each end of a paper towel tube. Paint the tube white, Glue on yarn hair and features cut from the paper. Number and line up 5 small baskets or crates; have children stand 3 feet in front of the first crate and toss seeds into the crates in sequence. Small prizes can be given for each of the crates they get their seeds in.

Give each child 4 ears of unhusked corn and race to see who can have all of their corn husked first. Change up your Duck Pond a bit and make it a Matching Ducks Game - the kids are sure to love the challenge!

Click here to see what kids get when they Pick-a-Door! Brand new for ! This DIY Spring game takes minutes to put together and the kids are going to love it! Tossing Pennies has never been more fun! See how to setup and play this fun spring game!

This traditional game looks super easy, but is a challenge for all ages! Silly DIY game uses green slime and prizes for kids who knows what they will get!

See how to make this unique game! Use plastic piggy banks, skateboards and a slanted board for this fun game - see all the details!

Grab some plastic rain gutters and some floating sail boats and straws and let the kids have a blast with this fun water game! Sandart is great fun for kids - and is a fantastic carnival activity indoors and out! Lollipop Tree! No Darts Needed!