Outdoor Summer Activities for Kids Parties

For kids with birthdays that fall within the warmer weather months, it's often easy to set up at the nearest park, order a cake, and call it a day. However, there are plenty of fun and easy outdoor party games to have prepared to keep the kids laughing and entertained.

Kids' birthday party activities can put that after-cake sugar rush to good use and keep partygoers happy and having a great time, especially for events with a wide age range of kids. Check out these fun-for-all-ages ideas (even adults!) can enjoy.

Outdoor Birthday Party Activities

Face Paint - Face paints can be accessed at your local craft store and offer a fun activity to keep kids engaged. Temporary tattoos can also do the trick if someone is not artistically inclined.

Adopt a Stuffie – Purchase enough stuffed animals for each party guest and create adoption certificates specific to the birthday theme. Then guests can choose their new stuffed pal, name them, and take them home. Check out Tibbar® rabbit puppet, Digger® dog puppet, and Pickles® pig puppet – SimplyFun's plush, lovable buddies! 

Water Balloons – Access to a hose is necessary for this one but can be a simple way to cool off and have fun. Kids can enjoy free reign of throwing these, or a game of water balloon tag can be played in teams. Each is given water balloons and if they get hit with a balloon and are wet, they are out. The last team standing wins! 

Take Your Pick, Take Your Pick II, Qrazy Quandaries – Groups of people can learn about their fellow players and see how much they know in any SimplyFun Take Your Pick games. Enjoy fun questions as players guess and share what they would rather do.

Bounce House – A few hours of a bounce house can be all the rage. Bounce house participants can enjoy jumping around or tossing in a few soft balls for a couple of rounds of dodgeball.  

Chalk – Chalk unlocks a world of imagination and the activities are endless. A few ideas to make chalk more fun: create your imaginary friend in chalk; build a hopscotch course for everyone to try out; and have a “Tic Tac Toe” tournament.  

As kids' birthday parties start to include more friends and kids from school, finding fun and engaging outdoor games for preschoolers and ages beyond can be tricky. Check out these top ideas for outdoor games for kids' parties! 

Birthday Party Games for 3-year-olds

Sprinkler play or water bins – Hook up the hose and let the kids run wild and free while cooling off in the water. Not all kids love getting wet and sprinklers allow them to choose how much or little they want to engage with the water. Another choice is filling up plastic bins with water. Add a few drops of food coloring, cups, toys, and glow sticks to each bin and preschoolers can enjoy this sensory activity.

Puppet Story Time – Pick a few fun book titles and grab a puppet friend to help with story time. The kids can take turns being the puppet while an adult reads. Or they can act out the story and enjoy it as the puppet narrates the book. Check out all of SimplyFun's Puppet Buddies: Tibbar® rabbit puppet, Digger® dog puppet, and Pickles® pig puppet.

Coloring – If the party is themed you can find free printables online or even create your own. Coloring is a great transition activity, so while cake is being prepared or a game is being set up kids can stay engaged and entertained while parents are prepping the next thing. Coloring pages can also be a great party favor idea for young kids, send them off with the theme character and a small crayon set. Check out our Extra Fun Stuff free printables! 

Birthday Party Games for 4-year-olds

Buddy Hop – Buddy Hop has two variations of gameplay and both ways offer kids the chance to play actively. The first is memory sequencing.  Players remember the characters lined up and step on the corresponding foam mat buddy. The second is a gross motor skill game where the players find the foam mat buddy who matches the drawn card.  Placing these mats farther apart can make running to the corresponding mat more fun.

Shelly’s Pearl – Enjoy collecting shells and exchanging shells until you earn a pearl from Shelly the Octopus. Instead of placing the shells on the game board create shell exchange/collection stations. Then players visit those locations to collect or exchange their shells, making for a more mobile and interactive game.

Duck-Duck Goose – This playground classic is a go-to for laughing and fun. Have the children sit in a circle and choose one player to start. They will go around the circle and place a hand on each player's head, saying duck, duck, duck, until they randomly select a goose. Then the player selected as the goose will get up and chase the other player around the circle until they are tagged, or the tagger sits in the goose's original seat. Then play continues as long as the kids are having fun. To customize this game, choose different names for the game based on the themes of the party. (i.e. Truck, Truck, Tractor or Sparkle, Sparkle, Unicorn).

Birthday Party Games for 5-year-olds and 6-year-olds

Bee Alert – This memory game will have kids looking for wobbly bees under their hives. Instead of playing on a table or small surface, place the bees out under their hives in different locations. The kids will draw cards and go find the hives and guess which color bee is where.  Then can collect hives by drawing cards and stealing from other players. The player with the most hives at the end of the game wins.

Musical Statues –This game is a combination of musical chairs and freeze tag. Bring a portable speaker, pick a playlist and let the kids run and dance around. When the music is paused everyone must freeze. Anyone caught moving by the judges is out for the round and the last kid standing wins.

Pickles' Pig Tales – This is a game of storytelling and helps kids build on their memory skills. Players pull cards and add to the story based on new cards added to the lineup. However, cards can be taken away and you need to remember the changes made. Increase the fun and activity by having the kids act out the cards as the story changes.

Birthday Party Games for 7-year-olds

Do It Again! – Kids will love Do It Again! Play this game by memorizing a sequence of actions like skipping, pretending to play guitar, or patting your tummy and performing those actions. Try not to make a mistake or you are out.

What’s the time Wolf? – A fun take on Tag and Red Light/Green Light that will keep kids laughing and running!  What’s the time Wolf? is played with one player being the “Wolf” and the players lined up behind them. The wolf has their back to the players and the players in a line yell “What’s the time Wolf?” and the wolf yells, for example, “3 O’clock”. Players then take 3 steps towards the wolf. This continues for however long the wolf chooses. Players can choose how big their steps are because when the “Wolf” yells back “Dinnertime” the wolf will turn and chase the players trying to tag them. The next wolf can be the first or last player tagged, this is up to the group.

Spider Web – Have all players clump into a group then randomly grab the hands of two separate players. The kids should be all knotted up. Then without letting go of hands unknot the circle. Players will have to duck, weave, squat, and limbo to untangle this web, but it's sure to be a fun challenge.

Birthday Party Games for 8-year-olds

Sneaks – This take on spoons is a great addition to any party. Once a player has 4 of a kind matched up with their cards they need to grab a shoe before other players. If they don’t get a shoe in time they are eliminated, and the last player to get a sneaker wins.  In this version, there are wooden sneakers. Players can hide the shoes or place them far away in the outdoor space, so kids need to run to get them to make for more active competition. Players can add even more fun if they want to play with their real shoes.

Chain Reaction Tag – A fun twist on traditional Tag. Start out with players all over an open space with one player being “It”. Once the “It” player tags someone they are added to the “chain” by holding the tagger's hand.  As more players are tagged, they will hold the hands of the last person tagged creating a chain that the tagger now has to lead around while trying to tag the rest of the players. This can get rowdy so make house rules as needed to keep kids safe.

Party Favors and Prizes 

After everything is planned, activities prepared, and balloons have been ordered, the final task is the time-honored tradition of goody bags. Gifts that the guests of the birthday youngster get to take home for their enjoyment and a thank you for joining in the fun. But what do you send off? Of course, there is always a trip to the dollar store or an order online for themed items that match the party. But what if you sent something with a bit of value or the offer of future play?

SimplyFun’s chat rings would be a great addition to any goodie bag.

• Let’s Chat! – These 98 thought-provoking conversation starters help build important social interaction skills. Share information about yourself and get to know others, anywhere you go.
• Family Stories – Keep strong social interaction alive in your family with these 98 questions that will spark ideas for conversations you will always treasure.
• Are We There Yet? – “Are we there yet?” Put that phrase to rest with 50 fun activities for travelers of all ages. The perfect road-trip companion.

Game Giveaway – Planning on giving out a prize at the event for one of these games? Why not buy another copy and send it home with the winner? Items often taken from birthday parties become additions behind the car seat or bottoms of junk drawers. Send home a party favor that will offer value and fun for many years to come! 

These are just some ideas for fun summer outdoor birthday party games and activities! The options are varied and wide and don’t need to be limited to the age groups and categories. It’s all about what works for each family and birthday youngster. Remember, keep playing!