This post may contain affiliate links.
It’s so great to have activities ready to go when our kids have a birthday party or just have friends over for a fun time. My daughter recently had her birthday and chose to play night games for it. SO, we gathered up 15 great outdoor night games for kids and teens that they loved!
Not only have I described each game here, but I’ve also created a free printable set of cards with each game’s instructions so you can print them out and let the kids pick which ones they want to do. (Get the printable cards below.) This helps the kids pretty much run the fun themselves! Can’t beat that!
So let’s get on to the 15 Great Outdoor Night Games for Kids and Teens:
Human Knot
What you’ll need: No extra supplies.
How to play: Have everyone stand in a circle. You’re going to create a huge human knot – Each person should put out each of their hands and randomly grab hold of two other hands, but they cannot belong to the person standing next to them. This is the formation of the human knot.
Then without letting go of anyone’s hands, the players are to try to unknot themselves by climbing over, reaching over or under, twisting, turning around, whatever it takes to try to untangle themselves. The goal is to be able to fully untangle themselves and be standing in a circle without anyone’s arms reaching across the middle.
Sardines
What you’ll need: No extra supplies.
How to play: With a group of players, choose two people to run out to hide while the rest of the group counts to 50. This group divides up into pairs (or if an odd number of people, one group can have three people in it). These pairs go out together and try to find the ones who are hiding. When a pair comes across the original hiders, they join with them in hiding. The other pairs keep looking, and when each of them finds the group, they join right along in hiding together, until all the pairs have found the hiding spot.
The first pair to find the original hiding pair gets to hide next time.
Stay Still Statues
What you’ll need: Two flashlights.
How to play: Choose two people to play the “Tour Guide” and the “Tourist.” All the other players will play the “Statues.”
The Tour Guide and the Tourist stand away from the group so as to not see them and count to 30. During this time, the statues position themselves into frozen positions.
Then the Tour Guide and Tourist peruse the area where the statues are with a flashlight. They go through the area trying to make the statues laugh or move without touching them. If a statue gets caught laughing or moving they are eliminated. The last statue remaining wins the game.
Glow Stick Volleyball
What you’ll need: 4 glow stick bracelets for each player. A beach ball, and several extra glow stick bracelets. (Here is a great set of 100 glow sticks.)
How to play: Give each player 4 glow sticks, one for each wrist and one for each ankle. Crack some extra glow sticks to make them glow and insert them into the blow-hole of the beach ball, then blow the ball up to capacity. Players have fun trying to keep the ball off the ground while hitting it back and forth to each other. No one is allowed to catch or throw the ball, or to kick it. The ball is to be hit just like in volleyball.
This can be played with or without a volleyball net.
Freeze Improv
What you’ll need: A group of people who like to ham it up.
How to play: Two people get in front of the group and on the ‘stage’ and anyone in the group can yell out a situation for them to act out, like “going shopping” or “playing soccer” or “riding bicycles”. The two actors then have to begin acting out the situation.
At any time, one of the audience members can call out “Freeze!” and then go up on stage and tap one of the actors on their shoulder and take their place in a new scene.
Play continues with more situations suggested, more acting, more freezing, and more tapping on the shoulder. Continue playing as long as desired.
Wave
What you’ll need: No extra supplies, but best played while it’s still a little light outside.
How to play: One person is “it” and goes off to hide, and counts to 50 while the other players hide. This person then goes out and tries to find the other kids. The other kids can move to work to sneak away from “it”. If “it” finds someone, they must call out their name, then the person who’s name was called has to follow “it”. While they are looking around together trying to find the other kids, if the person who is following “it” gets waved to by another person who is hiding, they can sneak away from “it” and go hide again. Once a person’s name is called three times, they become “it” and the group begins a new game.
Blob Tag
What you’ll need: No extra supplies. It is helpful to determine a perimeter that play must take place in.
How to play: This is just like a basic tag game but with a twist. Players run around and away from each other, but when one person is tagged, they join hands with the person who tagged them and they run together trying to tag the next person. When they tag another person, that person joins hands with them and they continue one trying to tag another person and so on.
The game continues until the last person, the winner, who is tagged by the Blob.
Capture the Flag
This is probably the most played outdoor night game for kids and teens in our neck of the woods. They just really love playing this game.
What you’ll need: A large area in which to play, boundary makers, and two ‘flags.’ Flags can be of any material such as rags, pieces of fabric, hand towels, etc.
How to play: The object of the game is to steal the opposing team’s flag and bring it back to your side of the playing field. Divide the group into two teams and mark the boundaries and the dividing line. Place a flag on the back of each team’s side of the field. Players are to try to steal the other team’s flag without getting tagged. If tagged, the player goes to ‘jail’, which is simply a designated area not too far from the flag. To be freed from jail, a teammate must come and touch the inmate without getting tagged himself by the opposing team. There’s no limit on how many times a person may be put in jail or released. Play continues until one team has successfully captured the other team’s flag and taken it to their side of the field.
Flashlight Tag
What you’ll need: One flashlight.
How to play: Choose one person to be “it” and this person has the flashlight. Everyone runs away from “it” while “it” counts to 10.
“It” then runs to try to find everyone, and if a person is ‘caught’ by the flashlight, then that person is tagged. The last person to be tagged by the flashlight is the next person to be “it”.
Two Truths & A Lie
What you’ll need: No extra supplies.
How to play: Everyone sits around in a circle. Each person takes a turn saying three things about themselves, two of them are true, and one of them is a lie. The rest of the group has to guess which one is the lie.
Ghost in the Graveyard
What you’ll need: No extra supplies.
How to play: One person is chosen to be the ghost and goes out in the yard and hides while the rest of the group counts to 100.
The group then goes out to try to find the ghost. When one person finds the ghost he/she is to yell, “Ghost in the graveyard!” to warn all the other players.
Everyone then races to the designated safe spot which can be anything from the porch to a chair or a tree. The first person who is tagged by the ghost becomes the ghost for the next round.
Elbow Tag
What you’ll need: No extra supplies.
How to play: One person is chosen to be it. The rest of the group divides up into pairs and they hook elbows. They place the hand of their other arm on their hip.
“It” runs and tries to join one of the teams by hooking his/her elbow to one of their elbows. Once hooked, the person on the other end of this team has to unhook his/her elbow and is now “it” and must then pursue a new team.
Death Wink
What you’ll need: A deck of cards. Count out enough cards to match the number of players. The selected cards must include one wild card, or a joker, or just a card designated as such.
How to play: The group gathers around in a standing circle. Pass around a card to each person and the person who receives the wild card or joker is the ‘murderer.’ Cards are then carefully gathered and set aside.
Players stand and look around at each other while the ‘murderer’ is trying to subtly wink at other players to ‘kill’ them. If a player sees the murderer wink at him/her, they must wait for 5 seconds then dramatically fall dead.
Players are to try to figure out who the murderer is before they all get killed. If a person guesses incorrectly, they are eliminated from the game. The player to guess correctly wins the game.
Firefly
What you’ll need: One small flashlight that isn’t very easy to spot.
How to play: One person is selected to be the firefly and is to take the flashlight and hide outside in the dark. The rest of the group is to count to 20 then go out and try to find the firefly.
The firefly is constantly moving around as desired and is to turn their flashlight on and off once every 60 seconds.
When the firefly is caught, the game is over and a new firefly is chosen.
Who Am I?
What you’ll need: The names of each person in the group written on a small piece of paper, and some tape. Best played while it’s still a bit light outside.
How to play: Put the small pieces of paper with the names written on them into a bowl or a hat. Each person is to draw a name and tape it to someone else’s forehead without allowing them to see it.
Players can roam about the group and are to ask people yes or no questions such as “do I have blonde hair?” or “am I super tall?” until everyone figures out whose name is taped to their forehead.
Print out the instruction cards for these 15 Outdoor Night Games for Kids and Teens and let your kids lead the activities!
What fun outdoor night games for kids and teens have you enjoyed? Let me know in the comments below!
Pin this to find again later!
Great Outdoor Night Games for Kids and Teens
Leave a Reply