Best Sidewalk Games for your Children

We have selected fun sidewalk games that are easy to play for your children. The kids will be physically active, while having lots of fun with our selection of outdoor games for kids. To play these fun games you’ll only need some chalk or balls to play. To play these sidewalk games with groups of children will also help to improve social skills and the physical motor development. The games described in this section all need to be played on a hard, flat surface and can be played by preschool and elementary aged children.

Our selection of sidewalk games

HOPSCOTCH

Hopscotch is the classic children game where you draw a hopping grid on the sidewalk and let the children hop into the spaces without stepping on the lines. Playing Hopscotch helps kids develop balance and gross motor skills. If you use your imagination you can make all kinds of Hopscotch grids to let the children jump over.

Then have the children throw a little stone in one of the spaces and they have to skip that space. Can they do it?

JUMP ROPE

Jump rope is and has been one of the most popular sidewalk and playground games for hundreds of years. Jump rope has endless variations of rhythm and rhymes the children chant while jumping. Jump rope is one of the best conditioning exercises and it improves memory, coordination and creativity.

RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT

This is a hilarious running game. All kids are waiting on the defined starting line and the leader is on the other side with his back towards the other children. The leader then shouts `green light` and the other kids starts running from the defined starting line towards the leader. When the leader then shouts `Red Light` he turns around and everybody who he sees moving has to start over at the start line. The goal of this game is to be the first one to reach the leader.

CORN TOSS

The famous Corn Toss game is a fun backyard game played by young and old. You need to have 2 matching sets of 4 corn bags (8 in total) and a corn toss board. The board can be easily made from plywood. It should be 2 feet wide and 4 feet long with one hole in the middle upper part of the board, big enough for the corn bags to fall through. The game can be played in teams or one against one. The board should be placed slanted on the ground with the end raised about one foot. The official throwing distance is 24 foot, but of course this can be adjusted when playing with kids. The goal is to toss the corn bags through the hole or have them landed on the board. One player at a time throws one corn bag towards the corn board and then the other goes. One point is awarded for bags that are still on the board and three points are awarded for bags that fell through the board. Then the player with the most points receives the difference in points between the players as counting points. The one who reaches 21 points first is the winner. Corn toss is an amusing game, perfect for party’s or picnics.

Get your sidewalk games supply here:

Corn toss set

Chalk for sidewalk games

Jacks game set

CIRCLE WINNER

Draw a small circle on the ground and give each child a soccer ball. All the kids have to stay within the circle. When the game starts, every child tries to kick the other kids balls out of the circle, but to protect his or her own ball at the same time. If your ball goes out of the circle then you are out of the game. The last one with his or her ball is the winner.

FOX AND GEESE

This is an original variant of tag. A Hilarious and fun sidewalk game and a good practice for balance and motor coordination. Draw a large circle on the ground with chalk and make some lines running through it. (Like a sliced pizza) Number of lines is depending on the number of children playing. One child is the fox and starts in the center and the others (the geese) spread out over the circle. The fox tries to tag one of the geese while running over the lines. If a child is tagged or does not stay on the line, that player becomes the fox.

JACKS GAME

The all-time favorite Jacks Game or Eggs in a Basket is played with the kids sitting in a circle on the ground. You need 10 to 15 jacks and one small rubber ball. The jacks are going to be spread out on the ground. The goal is to throw the ball in the air and pick up one jack, let the ball bounce only one time and then catch the ball. If the child succeeds, in the next round he needs to pick up two jacks before the ball bounces twice and so on. It is easy to make all kinds of variations on this theme. This sidewalk game is really good for coordination and concentration.

SIDEWALK LINE TAG

When my kids are bored and I want them to go outside to play, because the weather is just too nice to stay inside, I very often can get the kids off the couch by proposing a game of Line Tag.
And yes, of course I have to join in, until they are ready to continue without me 🙂
Easy and Fun!

Take out some left-over Sidewalk Chalk and let the kids draw a huge circle on the driveway. Then divide the circle in “pizza-parts”.A game of tag starts and the players are only allowed to run over the lines. Who goes out of the lines or get tagged is the new tagger. Make it more fun by drawing an inner circle, to provide more paths to run over.

My kids favorite, hilarious outdoor game!

Best Children’s Games Guide and Fun on the Go

Enjoyed these games?

Get MORE with the Best Children’s Games Guide !
This book contains 99 of our best indoor, outdoor,
card and dice games!!
And we added 30 travel activities to this guide. That’s our whole Fun on the Go book!