Outdoor Games for Families (That Both Kids & Adults Actually Like)

There are a lot of outdoor games for families out there, but as a mom who is often hot and tired in the summer, there are only SOME that I actually enjoy playing. My husband, daughters and I all genuinely love these yard games.

Lots of moms are thinking it, but I’ll say it out loud… There are some outdoor games that I just don’t like. Add in the sweltering heat and humidity here in the South and most yard games do NOT appeal to me at all. Chances are I’m pretty tired after a day of working and then cooking dinner and cleaning up. After dinner is really the best time to play a game outside since the temperature is somewhat tolerable in the evenings. So if our girls ask us if we want to play [fill in the blank] after dinner, there are only a few games that will elicit a “yes” from me. I know that makes me sound like a downer, but it’s the truth. So I’ve compiled a list of outdoor games for families that all four of us GENUINELY love to play together.

Yard Games We Have and Actually Love to Play

Cornhole

If you have followed me on Instagram for any length of time, you have undoubtedly seen me playing cornhole with my family in my Instagram stories. We made our own set years ago and it’s still at the top of our list. We all love it and have fun every single time we play it. It never gets old. I kind of wish we didn’t already have a set so I could have an excuse to purchase this adorable cornhole set.

I did just purchase this similar inflatable cornhole set to take on vacation with us later this summer. Perfect to set up on the beach! Our regular cornhole set is far too bulky and heavy to take on vacation, but this inflatable version is PERFECT!

Yard Pong

We purchased this Yard Pong set for Joe for Father’s Day this year and gave it to him over a week early because we were so excited to play it. It has not disappointed. This game has quickly become a favorite of ours. It’s so good, in fact, that we have been playing it more than cornhole recently. It’s MUCH harder than it looks, but it’s so fun. I also love that it takes very little space to store it when we aren’t using it. Highly recommend.

Trampoline + Trampoline Sprinkler

Our girls graduated from 5th grade this year and we bought them this trampoline for their graduation present. Frankly, they have begged for a trampoline for years and we have never wanted to do it (for a variety of reasons, including safety concerns). But we finally relented and we have zero regrets. Not only do they love it, but Joe and I hop on it more than I ever would have imagined. We recently hooked up the trampoline sprinkler for the first time and it made it downright pleasant to jump on even in the blazing heat.

Other Popular Outdoor Games for Families

Here’s a list of games we don’t personally own, but that people seem to genuinely love.

Spikeball

Spikeball is the one game on this part of the list that I plan to order because we have talked about getting it for so long. Our girls have played it at school and are big fans and it does SEEM like something we will all really like. But at the moment, we don’t have it so I can speak to it’s popularity amongst my family just yet. Spikeball is a little bit like volleyball. Two teams of two people can play, so it’s perfect for a family of 4. One person from a team throws a rubber ball on a net. The other team can use 3 alternating touches to get the ball back onto the net (kind of how a team of two works to get a ball back over the net in volleyball).

Croquet

I actually LOVE Croquet. If we had a yard flat enough to play it, I would absolutely buy a set for our family. But it just wouldn’t work in our yard (we play cornhole, yard pong, etc. in our driveway since it’s reasonably flat). I love this croquet set for kids.