My garden has never been as active. Having purchased a range of outdoor garden games I have discovered the delights of my garden, and I can honestly say that as a family we have grown together much more. As our kids have got older they seem to have sunk into their mobiles, and our garden has become quite quiet. However, now we have a selection of games, we've rediscovered what our children's faces look like.
There have always been toys and games designed for the outdoors, and for gardens of larger proportions. From football to cricket, tennis to volleyball, there have been many activities available. The problem has been twofold though. The first problem has been storage - football goals and volleyball nets take up room. The second problem has been space - unless you own a garden the size of a football pitch many of the games are simply inconvenient or impossible to play.
So having set to one side the idea of hosting the urban equivalent of the World Cup between my petunias and the hydrangea, I set off to buy some more practical games - but ones which would nevertheless be fun to play with the children. I found quite a few very traditional games, made in beautiful wood and natural materials, such as quoits and skittles. My kids had no clue about quoits, although skittles was rather more familiar.
Quoits is a game I have heard of but never played before. Of course, it's terribly simple, but deceptively difficult at the same time. We all became terribly competitive, and in the end it didn't seem to matter who won - what was important was that we were playing as a family, having fun together, and not just sitting around.
I was delighted to come across a variety of other outdoor garden games - ones I would never have thought suitable for the garden. Take chess for example - a typical indoor board game for two players. However, with a gigantic six foot board and pieces as large as a skittle we had the whole family gathered around the board, walking across it and exploring possible moves. It actually made for a really good team game, getting us all up out of our seats and joining together as a family, without working up a sweat in the heat.
Another of the outdoor garden games I came across was dominoes. I found this beautifully tactile, and wonderfully simple. Each domino was about the size of a couple of DVD cases, and ended up running right round the flower beds. It brought a great deal of fun to the garden, and more than anything else, it was wonderful to see my kids playing with their parents in the family garden. It's so easy these days to bury yourself alone in a book or a mobile, but with a few simple purchases we ended up spending hours together.
We're fortunate to have a reasonable amount of storage space, but several of the games are inflatable, and all of them come with solid boxes for packing away. They're also great to take on picnics, and on more than one occasion we've gathered new friends interested in our game of quoits or skittles! Our kids are only too glad to show off their skills of course.
I bought my outdoor garden games online - I found a site which has a wide range of games, and they deliver free of charge too. Have a look on Cleverclicker.co.uk and enjoy your garden all over again.
