The Best Outdoor Toys for School Aged Children
Encouraging your children to spend time and have fun outdoors is more and more important as they tend to spend more and more time in front of ‘screens’.
Based on our experience, these are the best outdoor toys for school aged children.
- Sporting Balls
High Bounce balls or tennis balls for hand ball; soccer or netball balls to kick, catch or shoot hoops with, are all a great way to keep your child entertained in the backyard. The balls don’t need to be fancy, nor do you need goals or other sporting equipment (unless shooting hoops). Instead create goals or targets utilising trees or other indicators. Create games like poison ball to give them greater fun. A flat wall or fence is a great option to kick a ball against or to practice your tennis shots.
- Bikes/Scooters
If you have a backyard or driveway where your children can ride bikes or scooters, these outdoor toys are a must. Not only do they help build coordination, gain confidence and provide hours of enjoyment; they are fantastic outdoor toys that can be taken out for family fun days at a local bike track or on holidays.
Water Balloons
Perfect in the warmer months, water balloons are a hit with boys and girls alike. They love throwing them at each other or playing catch or cricket. Getting wet is a hit with children of all ages and with the hot summers we have, they offer a perfect way to cool down. Gone are the days of spending 30minutes tying up water balloons for 5 minutes of fun, thanks to Bunch O Balloons. Within under a minute you can have 100 Balloons ready to go. Click here to see the range of Bunch O Balloons available on Amazon.
Walkie Talkies are a fun way for the children to play games outside. We originally got and used ours for Camping, however the children just loved having them and wanted to extend their use to playing in the backyard. The Walkie Talkies have become an extension of their pretend play and enjoyment in the yard. We love the Uniden Walkie Talkies as they are easy to use, durable, good quality and importantly affordable. Click here to see the range of Uniden Walkie Talkies available at Amazon.
1,2,3,4 I declare a NERF War! My children each have a NERF gun (to make it fair). The boys really enjoy this activity, however when my daughter has friends and they become teams the girls get really involved too. They can run around after each other aiming and shooting; hiding and creating strategies when playing with a group of friends. The key to this outdoor toy is to have enough for everyone to play and strict rules around their use. Our rules are: Never in the face, Privates or at close range. The other rule is that you are responsible for your bullets – after you shoot, you pick them up, as mum is not going to continually purchase replacement bullets. Click here to see the range of Nerf guns available on Amazon (it’s extensive!).
