³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Try these five easy outdoor games for active kids that you can play in the garden or at your local park. These are perfect for burning off excess energy during the long summer holidays or at the weekend.

Keep the house mess-free and paint pictures outdoors with this easy squirty chalk recipe. All you need is water, bicarbonate of soda, cornflower, food colouring, vinegar and two squirty bottles. Set challenges for little ones, such as seeing who can paint a squirty chalk picture the quickest, or a guessing game where they have to figure out what you're painting!

Fill a tray with water and cut some simple boat shapes out of cardboard. Dab a bit of washing up liquid behind the boats and watch them go! You could hold some family races, or even get your little one to race with their friends.

Seeing who can build the biggestÌýrainbow sandcastle is aÌýgreat outdoor game if you have access to a sandpit. With a bit of forward planning you could even try it on holiday too. Use food colouring mixed with sand to make a jazzy sand castle with different layers of colour. It's also a great opportunity for kids to experiment with mixing colours.

Ìý

Practice some gymnastics skills in the park or garden – it’s a great way to build kids’ strength and flexibility and you don’t need any special equipment to get started. Olympic gymnast Rebecca Tunney has some top tips to inspire budding gymnasts.

If playing catch has got a bit too easy for your little sports star, why not try some basketball tricks? If your child manages to master this, ask them if they can teach you – explaining how to do something is a brilliant communication skill to learn, and knowing something you don’t is a huge boost to their self-esteem!

Ìý

Find more outdoor games and sporty fun in our Get Active collection.