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14 Equipment Free
Outdoor Games Your
Kids Will Go Crazy
For!
By Sara Reimers
Updated on September 2, 2022
14 Equipment Free
Outdoor Games Your
Kids Will Go Crazy For!
Some of my fondest childhood memories
were playing games outside with friends
after school, or during summer camp. The
simplest games were always the most fun
too!
You don’t need fancy equipment, or even a
ball, to play some of the most fun outdoor
games for kids. These 14 games can be
played pretty much anywhere and none of
them require a stitch of equipment.
Even better, getting outside and playing
games like these games improves health,
gets kids away from screens, promotes
social skills, improves attention span, and
super charges creativity!
Related: Check Out This DIY
Summer Camp At Home
Planner And Activity Printable
Pack!
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1. Mother, May I?
There are a number of ways to play this
game but the basic premise is super easy.
One player (kid or adult) is ‘Mother.’ The
other players have to stand behind a
designated start line, a fair distance from
‘Mother.’
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Here Are The Ways It Can Play
Out From Here:
Kids take turns asking Mother if they
can move forward using a pre-
determined step. They would say,
‘Mother, may I take 3 giant steps
forward?’ (the number and type of
step are up to the kid) At which point
‘Mother’ says yes or no.
Mother picks a kid and tells them, ‘You
may take 3 giant steps forward (or
something like that),’ to which the
picked kid replies, ‘Mother, may I take
3 giant steps forward?’ If the picked
kid forgets to say ‘Mother, May I?’
they go back to the start line.
The different kinds of steps kids or
Mother may use could be anything
really. Some favorites are giant steps,
regular steps, baby steps (kids hate
this one!), skips, jumps, scissor step,
monster step, ballet twirl, or bunny
step.
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The first player to reach Mother wins (and
is usually Mother for the next round of
play)!
2. Tag
Super easy concept. One person is ‘it.’
Everyone else is not ‘it.’ The person who is
‘it’ chases everyone else and whoever gets
tagged (touched) becomes ‘it.’ This game
can spoil quickly without a few ground
rules though.
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Here Are Some Rules We Like To
Use:
light touches only. No tackling
no ‘tagging’ the head or private areas
everyone must stay in the
predesignated play area (no running
out of bounds)
everyone who isn’t ‘it’ gets a head
start running before ‘it’ starts chasing
if ‘it’ can’t catch anyone after a certain
amount of time (usually determined by
the adult), someone else gets a turn at
being ‘it’ (this helps younger kids not
get stuck being it for a long time)
You can also designate one area as a
safe zone. If kids being chased are in
the safe zone they can’t be tagged.
But, have a time limit of about 10
second, and probably limit the number
of players who can be in the safe zone
at the same time.
Once ‘it’ tags a player, the tagged
player is now ‘it.’ They should yell
loudly that they are it so everyone
knows.. and the game resumes.
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Fun Variations:
Flashlight tag: Same concept but
instead of tagging someone by
touching them, ‘it’ tags them with the
light from the flashlight. This is a great
game to play at night in an open field.
Freeze tag: Instead of the tagged
person becoming it, instead they are
frozen to the spot where they are
tagged. Play continues until only one
person is left un-tagged. That person
becomes ‘it’ in the next round.
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3. TV Tag
TV Tag is a fun version of Tag. You could
also do ‘movie tag,’ or ‘cartoon character
tag,’ or whatever theme you like. The point
is that kids have to be creative in coming
up with answers. This is a great form of
unstructured brainstorming!
Basically, to avoid being tagged, you have
to shout out a TV show when ‘it’ gets
close. Here is the catch though… players
can’t use the same TV show twice. So, if
someone already shouted ‘Paw Patrol,’ that
show is off the table until the next round.
4. Hospital Tag
Another super fun version of Tag. This
might actually be my favorite one. Here are
the rules and how it differs from regular
Tag:
For Hospital Tag designate a much
smaller play area. For instance,
instead of an entire field, maybe an
end-zone or half a basketball court.
You want kids bumping into each
other for this game.
When ‘it’ tags players instead of
becoming ‘it,’ they become wounded:
Wherever they are tagged, the
player has to put one hand on
that ‘wound’-ed place.
The next time they are tagged,
hand #2 has to be put on the
second ‘wound’ed place. This
could get pretty funny if one hand
is on a leg and the other on their
back or something.
The third time a player is tagged,
they are out and have to move
outside the area of play.
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5. Red Rover
This would be a great game to play with a
larger group of kids. Note: adult
supervision is definitely recommended so
that kids don’t get carried away and hurt
each other.
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Here Is How You Play:
Divide the kids into two even groups
and have them stand about 30 ft.
apart from each other in a line with
hands or arms linked together. The
two lines face each other.
The game starts when the first team
calls a player out, by saying or singing
the line, “Red rover, red rover, send
[player on opposite team] right over”,
or “Red rover, red rover, let [player on
opposite team] come over”.
Then, the player who was called runs
to the other team with the goal of
breaking the chain formed by that
team’s arms.
If they do not succeed in breaking the
chain, that player joins the opposite
team.
If they succeed in breaking the chain,
the runner gets to pick one of the two
players, whose arms they ran through,
to join their team.
The game ends when one team has all
the players.
***Note*** This game has the
potential to get too aggressive. Adult
supervision is a must to ensure kids
are not being too rough with charging
the opposite team or holding arms so
tightly that it hurts the player who is
running.
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6. Murder
There are two versions of this super fun
game: Wink Murder and Murder
Handshake. You probably need at least 6
kids to play this game, but it is a super
easy game to play and loads of fun!
Here Is How You Play It:
The object of the game is for the
‘murderer’ to ‘kill’ as many players as
they can before being caught. Or, for
everyone else the object of the game
is to not get caught AND figure out
who the murderer is.
There are a few ways to set up how
the murderer gets selected and
caught. This is the one I prefer:
All the kids sit in a circle with their
eyes closed and the ‘selector’
(usually an adult because this
person sits out the game) walks
around the circle two times and
selects one player quietly by
patting them on the head or the
back of the neck. Once the
‘murderer’ is selected, the players
are told to open their eyes, get
up, and the game begins!
In Wink Murder, all players walk
around and look at each other in the
eye. The murderer will wink stealthily
at a player to kill them. The player who
was ‘killed’ then must silently count to
5 and then pretend to die by lying on
the ground or leaving the playing area.
In Murder Handshake, players shake
hands with each other and the
murderer uses their pointer finger to
scratch the palm of each player to kill
them. Again, players who get killed
must silently count to 5 before
pretending to die.
When a player suspects another
player is the murderer, they yell, ‘I
accuse!’ The game temporarily stops
and the accuser announces the
suspect. If they are correct, they win
the game. If they are wrong, they
immediately die and have to leave the
area of play.
Ground rules for fun play:
Players cannot talk with other
players about who they think the
murderer is.
Players who are not the murderer
cannot wink or give the scratch
handshake.
The murderer (if they want to be
super sneaky) does not have to
wink or scratch the hand of
everyone they encounter. They
can use strategy to prolong the
mystery.
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