Backyard All-Stars: Host Your Own Summer Games

Host your own summertime backyard games! These silly games are perfect for family fun or neighborhood parties. Don’t forget to start with an introduction ceremony to announce each athlete, make flags and divide into teams, and award medals after each event.

In this challenge, 2 people race at a time. First, fill enough water balloons so that each player has 7 or 8. Then the players walk quickly across the yard to the finish line with as many water balloons as they can hold. If a balloon pops, the player must start over. The first person to finish wins!

Have everyone stand in a circle and jump over the spray of a rotating sprinkler. If you get wet, you’re out. The girl who stays dry the longest is the winner!

Gather 10 paper plates and write a number on each one: 10, 20, 30, and so on. Scatter the plates across the yard. (The smaller numbers should be closer to the players than the larger numbers.) Give the first player 5 pieces of toy food. She throws the food, one piece at a time, and tries to land it on the targets. Add up the number of points she gets before moving on to the next girl. Keep taking turns. The first player to get 300 points wins.

Have players divide into two teams and line up. Provide a bucket of small water balloons for each team. Mark a finish line about 10 yards away. The first person on each team balances a balloon on a plastic spoon and races to the finish line. If she breaks the balloon, she must go back to the start and get a new one. The first team with all players across the finish line is the winner.

Divide into two teams. Each team starts by throwing one balloon up in the air. Working together, keep the balloon in the air as long as you can. After the balloon has been hit 5 times, add a second balloon. Keep both balloons in the air. Continue to add balloons. The team that keeps all their balloons up the longest wins!

Form two teams and line up side by side. Place a bucket of water at the start of each line and an empty bucket at the end. Give each player a cup. The first player scoops water from the bucket, pours it into the next player’s cup, and so on. The last player dumps the water into the empty bucket. Continue to pass the water until time’s up. The team with the most water in the end bucket after 1 minute wins.

Divide into at least two teams. Players on each team stand in a line and hold hands. They pass a hula hoop from one end of the line to the other. The team that can do it the fastest and without letting go of hands wins!

Outfit your girl’s doll in red, white, and blue to show off her American spirit. This Stars & Stripes Set for Dolls turns her best friend into a great gymnast and super swimmer!

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Using plastic cups, set up pyramids. Give players squirt bottles and see who can knock down her cups first.

Your girl’s doll can host her own games, too. Check out