June 05th, 2024

Are your kids bored of the same old playground equipment? Maybe you are only able to make it out to your local playground, which means they could be bored of the same equipment, or maybe, even if you playground hop, they aren't excited about seeing the same things installed at most parks these days now.

I have had the same boredom groans from my 10 year old for the past year. To be honest, I think she is almost phasing out of using playgrounds for anything except a challenging game of grounders, so I came up with a new game all three of my kids could play.

Introducing The Colour Game!

Setup;

• One person is the caller; they call out the colours or materials or playground equipment the players must interact with​
• One player can play on their own with the caller to as many as there are at the park

Rules;

• No points; this is a fun collaborative play game (we tried points once and it led to pushing little kids out of the way which was no longer fun for them)​
• No pushing
• No interrupting the play or interactions with the playground from any other kids at the park who aren't playing with us
• You can yell and help guide the younger kids to find the destination the caller is calling out

Game Play;

• The caller calls out a colour of equipment at the park, the players can either touch or climb the element for it to count​
• The caller can request the players to return to them after the challenge is achieved or stay and wait for their next destination to be called
• The caller can call specific instructions too (keep it creative); for example "Touch something made of rubber!" Or "Slide down a blue slide." Or "Climb something made of metal."

It's as simple as that! Keep playing with the kids and keep it creative. Long live outdoor play!