Lawn Games That Everyone Can Play

Whether you all them backyard games or lawn games, they can be fun for every, they are great source of exercise, and they can be competitive! Whether it is just a Sunday afternoon with the family, a Saturday evening with friends, or part of the entertainment for a party, there areversatile outdoor games that you can play right in your own backyard. Or take them to the beach, lake, or a park even. That’s what makes them so great – they can be played almost anywhere.

The Game of Washers

You can play this game with singles or doubles, even create teams and make it a competition. Determine a toss line and 25 feet out, draw a box on the lawn and put a bowl or cup in the middle of that box. Secure the cup to the lawn with a stick to hold it in place. We recommend a paper or Styrofoam bowl or cup that you can push a stick through the center easily.

Each player is given 3 washers, you can paint them different colors so that each player’s washers are easily identified. The idea is for each player to toss their washers toward the box, aiming for the bowl or cup.  Players takes a turn and any washer that makes it in the bowl or cup is 3 points for that player. If the washers make it inside the box but not the cup, that is 1 point. This continues until one player, or a team, reaches 21 points.

Croquet

Croquet isn’t a game won by points but by which player completes the course first. This is a great game for the competitive group! A croquet set consists of six wooden mallots, nine wire wickets, and two wooden stakes. You can purchase a set from any discount department store, athletic store, or online and in any price point.  

The general idea of croquet is for each player to hit their ball through the wire wickets and touch the wooden stake that designates the end of the course and then go back the other direction, hitting their ball through the wire wickets until they hit the wooden stake at the other end of the course.

There are other variations of this game such as bicycle croquet, croquet golf, extreme croquet, and wacko croquet, each having its own level of competitiveness and fun.

Ring Toss

This game can be set up in the simplest form for young children or made more challenging for older children, teens, and adults. Create teams or play in pairs.  Place a stake in the ground at a determined distance from the toss line – this where you can make it simple or challenging.

Purchase plastic rings from your local discount store or use rings from canning jars, or any type of ring shaped item that is toss-able and will fit over the stake.  You can even set up several stakes, getting each one further from the toss line. Determine your own point system by how far away each stake is with the further from the toss line, the higher the points.