Parents should encourage active play in children to curb the obesity epidemic and develop healthy habits that will last a lifetime. However, active play often proves difficult as children become bored and ask to participate in sedentary activities, such as watching TV or playing video games. Encourage exercise and provide entertainment with outdoor yard games such as kick the can and yard bowling.
Kick the Can
Kick the can, a classic yard game, involves one person designated as the "counter" who guards a can and the rest of the players as hiders. The counter closes his eyes and counts to a high number while the hiders hide. When the counter has reached the predetermined number, he runs around the yard finding the hiders.
When the counter finds a hider, the counter calls out the hider's name, and the hider tries to run to the can and kick it over before being tagged by the counter.
If the counter tags the hider, the hider must go to "jail." If the hider kicks the can before being tagged, all hiders in jail are released and the counter must count to the high number again while the hiders hide in new spots.
Potato Spoon Race
The potato spoon race requires regular-sized stainless steel or plastic spoons and potatoes slightly larger than the spoons. Mark a start and goal line and have players line up on the starting line while balancing a potato on a spoon.
Blow a whistle or shout "Go!" to begin the race. Players must run to the goal line, turn around and come back to the starting line without dropping the potato.
If a player drops the potato, that player must return to the starting line and try again. The player who makes it to the goal line and back first without dropping the potato wins.
Yard Bowling
Use household items for bowling pins in a backyard version of bowling. Possible pins suggested by the Disney Family website include plastic milk cartons, empty pop cans, candlesticks, dolls and towers of empty cans.
Line the items like bowling pins and give players tennis balls, golf balls or soccer balls and see how many pins each player can knock over. Try a variety of balls and items as pins to explore what objects knock down the easiest with which type of ball.
Easter Tag
In this version of tag, designate one player as the "bunny" or "it" and the others as "eggs." Choose a home base for the eggs, such as a tree or other easily distinguished object, and have the bunny begin at a spot 5 to 10 feet away from the home base of the eggs.
Determine a round-trip course for the eggs to run, such as around the house, and let the game begin. The eggs quietly call out a color so the bunny does not hear but other eggs do. The bunny then begins calling colors. When the bunny calls the color of one of the egg players, that player must run through the pre-determined round-trip course while chased by the bunny.
If the egg makes it back to base without being tagged the bunny calls a different color and play continues. If the bunny tags the egg, the bunny and egg switch places. The eggs then choose new colors and the new bunny calls a color, continuing play.
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