When the sun is shining and the kids are out to play, changing up their garden activities with some DIY garden games is a great idea. The kids will really enjoy the variety, and there’s definitely no chance of boredom!

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Now that the brighter days are here, we can make the most of our time outdoors. Whether you’re looking for ways to transform your garden this summer, or quick ideas for family fun in the brighter evenings, these ideas for easy DIY garden games will make this summer one to remember!

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Fun and Easy DIY Garden Games

Here are ten of our favourite simple DIY garden games using household items and upcycling with a little creativity:

Dig For Gold

Image courtesy of My Little Babog

After the kids go to bed have a root through their toy box for small toys such as miniature animals, cars and figurines. Place the toys into a small plastic bowl, fill it with water and freeze.

The next morning tap the end of the bowl to remove the ice block and let the kids dig their way through to retrieve their toys with some plastic spoons, toy hammers and anything child-friendly that you can find.

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Recycled Bottle Bowling

Re-purpose small plastic bottles to make your own bowling lawn game. Keep your bottles as they are or paint them up whatever way you like. Or maybe keep it classic and paint them all white adding some red tape to keep with the striped colour theme.

Add a half cup of rice to each bottle to make knocking them over a little harder for older kids.

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Lawn Twister

Image courtesy of She Knows

A simple game to play on a long summer’s evening. Simply spray paint the grass with yellow, blue, red and green dots to make your very own game of lawn twister. Then cut up a cereal box to make your own spinner using cardboard.

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Coloured Spray Water Fight

Image courtesy of My Little Babog

Keep hold of any spray bottles you may have around the home to make a simple but fun water game fight for all to enjoy. Add a small squirt of washable poster paint with water to the spray bottle once it has been thoroughly cleaned, and let the kids run wild out the back garden for endless hours of fun over the hot summer days.

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Tin Target

For this simple back garden game, you might need to reach out to all friends and family to keep their empty tins. Spray or paint nine tins as colourful as you want to make a tin target. Once dry, stack them and use rocks, a ball or bean bags to knock them over just like you would at the fun fair.

When the kids get bored knocking over the cans, spread the tin cans across the garden with the opening facing up and let the kids practice their aim by tossing painted stones into the target.

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Painted Rock Tic-Tac-Toe

Image courtesy of Chicken Scratch NY

Gather up ten rocks and group them into two sets of five. Paint each set to resemble your favourite bugs, critters or animals to create a super simple back garden game most commonly known as x’s and o’s. Then using any colour chalk, mark the ground to make the famous criss-cross grid.

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Ring Toss

Keep hold of some glass bottles to create the carnival favourite, ring toss. Paint up your bottles any way you like and place them in an old crate facing up. Gather up some metal clothes hangers and cut and shape them into circles. Cover the circles with some tinfoil and voila, you have your very own game of ring toss.

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DIY Chalkboard

Image courtesy of Rhythms of Play

Pick up a small tub of chalkboard paint from your local hardware store and paint a rectangle on any wall out the back garden low enough small kids can reach. Now they will have a permanent chalkboard out in the back garden to be creative whenever they want.

Upcycle Car Tyres To Make A Jungle Gym

Head to your local mechanics or tyre shop and ask them for their old worn tyres to make your own back yard jungle gym. You can paint them any way you wish before letting the kids jump to their heart’s content.

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Tyre Swing

Image courtesy of Morning Chores

If you have a tyre left over, why not turn it into a colourful swing? All you really need is some rope and a tree with a strong branch.

Again the kids can paint and decorate the upcycled tyre however they choose – two activities for the price of one!

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Do you have any other eco-friendly DIY garden games to keep the kids entertained? Leave a comment below and let us know – we’d love to hear from you!