1. Books on a Balance Beam
- What you’ll need: 3 hardback books (about the same size) per player & duct tape.
- Directions: Find a place in the yard to tape a 10-foot line on the ground. You will want one line per player. Place the lines about 4 feet away from one another. Players have to walk from one end of the tape to the other (without falling off) while balancing a book on their head without using hands or other items to hold it on. If the book falls off or the player steps off the line, they will receive no points for that try. Each player gets 3 tries. First, try to walk with 1 book on head. If successful in reaching the end, 1 point is awarded. Next, try balancing 2 books. If successful in making it to the end, you get 2 points. Now try with 3 books for 3 points. Each person can earn up to 6 points for this game.
2. Broom Golf
- What you’ll need: duct tape, broom or mop, 5 golf balls
- Directions: Tape 2- 5 foot long pieces of duct tape parallel to one another about one foot away from one another. Tape another long horizontal line about 20 feet from the first 2 lines, making sure it’s also parallel to the others. This will be your start line. Place 5 golf balls on the line spread out equally. Using the broom as a putter, players putt the 5 balls, trying to putt the golf balls to land between the two lines from across the room. Players receive one point for any golf ball that lands in between the 2 lines.
3. Box Hurdles
- What you’ll need: mix of boxes and baskets (about 7 in total)
- Directions: Alternate cardboard boxes and baskets in the grass in a line and evenly space apart. Lay a tape line before the boxes and after to create a start and finish line. You can do one player at a time and time the length it takes for each person to complete the hurdles or you can have 7 boxes set up per person and everyone competes at once. First person to make it past the finish line and back wins 5 points. Second place gets 4 points, and so on.
4. Egg & Spoon Race
- What you’ll need: 1 egg per person, 1 spoon per person
- Directions: Create a start and finish line using tape or use a landmark. Each person will balance an egg on a spoon. Keep your other arm behind your back. All players start behind the finish line and at the same time will must cross the finish line and back to the start line, careful not to drop the egg. If it falls and breaks, you get zero points. First person to get there and back will score 5 points, 2nd place= 4 points, 3rd place= 3 points and decrease in points from there.
5. Water Balloon Volleyball
- What you’ll need: 2 hand towels per team, 1 water balloon per team
- Directions: Partner up with someone that is wearing the same color as you. One player from each team with start with a water balloon cradled in their hand towel. They will pop the balloon from the towel, tossing it to their partner. The partner will try to catch it in the their hand towel. If your team drops it, sit down. Repeat tossing it back and forth until there is one team remaining. Each member from the winning team will receive 5 points.
6. Tennis Table Toppling
- What you’ll need: table, plastic cups, and ping pong/golf balls.
- Directions: Set the plastic cups at the end of a table 2 inches apart in a line parallel to the end of the table. At the other side of the table, place a basket of ping pong balls. Players have to roll (not bounce or throw) the ping pong balls from the basket on the end of the table to knock the cups off the other side of the table. Players have a minute to see how many cups they can knock off. Each cup knocked off the table = 1 point.
7. Discus Throw
- What you’ll need: frisbee, hula hoop or pool noodle taped in a circle,
- Directions: Mark a start line on the sidewalk or in your yard. Do a full spin with your body in a circle and throw the frisbee forward. The player who throws the furthest frisbee is awarded 5 points and points decrease from there.
8. Javelin Throw
- What you’ll need: 6 pool noodles in 1 red, 1 blue, 1 yellow, 1 black, and 1 green and 1 extra noodle to throw, which can be any color, clear duct tape, 2 broom handles unscrewed from the broom/poles.
- Directions: Starting with one of the pool noodles, form a circle with the red pool noodle and duct tape the ends together. Repeat for the blue, yellow, black and green noodle. Lay out the blue, black and red circles in a line. Wrap duct tape around the blue and black one just enough to secure them together. Then wrap the duct tape around the black and red one. Place the yellow circle below and in between the blue and black noodles and the green one below and in between the black and red one to form the Olympic Rings. Attach the circles together with tape. Using a hammer, drive the poles into the ground. Attach the Olympic rings to the poles. Player stands at a designated spot and throws the javelin (pool noodle), trying to get it through the rings. Each player gets 5 tries and is awarded 1 point per throw.
9. Balloon Tennis
- What you’ll need: one balloon per team, a tennis racket/spatula/ or flyswatter per player or a mix of them
- Directions: Blow up each balloon. Balloons can be different sizes. Players will be paired up based on who has the closest birthday to one another. Use duct tape to create 2 lines parallel to one another about 5 feet apart. One player from each team will stand behind one line and their partner will stand across from them behind the other line. Using the racket, each player will hit the balloon back and forth to their partner with their racket. Also, no using hands to keep the balloons from falling. If your team drops the balloon you’re out. The last team standing wins. 5 points are awarded to the winning team and decreases from there.
10. Sponge Run
- What you’ll need: 1 sponge or splash balls per player, 1 plastic cup per player, 1 buckets per player
- Directions: Fill half the buckets with water & put 1 sponge in each bucket. Place the plastic cup a few yards away equally distant from the water-filled buckets and lining them up directly across from one another. Players are given 1 minute to take the sponge soaked in water from the bucket and run to squeeze the water from it into the empty cup. They can run back and forth from the water bucket to the other side filling their sponge then squeezing out the water into the cup. Once the minute is up, all players stop what they’re doing. The person with the most water in the plastic cup is awarded 5 points, 2nd place gets 4 points, 3rd place gets 3 points, and so forth.
Closing Ceremony
After you’ve played all the Olympic yard games, award players with a medal or chocolate gold coins/ peanut butter cups or even an Olympic torch ice cream cone cupcake for everyone using mini cupcakes placed in sugar cones, with orange icing and place some fruit roll-ups or Fruit by the Foot as flames on top.
