6 games to play at your next picnic

We all love a good picnic don’t we? Quality time spent with our families, laughter, fun and of course amazing food!

At the end of the day however, its that family time that we cherish the most, along with all those memories that we keep with us forever.

What better way to have fun with your family than playing a few exciting games at your next picnic. Many of these require participants to be relatively active, but there a few that even grandpa and grandma can have a go at!

1. Clap Catch

This is a great game for kids from around 10 and upwards and all you need is a tennis ball.

Let everyone stand in a circle. One player then stands in the middle and throws the ball at different members of the circle. The trick is that before they catch the ball, they have to quickly clap their hands together. If they drop the ball then they have to put their least dominant hand behind their backs. If the ball comes to them again and they drop it, they are eliminated. If they catch it, they are again allowed to use two hands, but again must clap when attempting a catch.

2. Picnic Rug Volleyball

This is a great game that everyone can play! It’s best to play in teams of two or four players with one picnic rug between them. Each person holds a side of the rug while the ball is placed in it. The team now needs to flick the rug quickly to serve the ball while the opposition needs to catch the ball coming toward them by holding the picnic rug in the same way. You can demarcate a court and any ball landing outside it gives a point to the other side. Each team gets 5 service attempts before swapping. The first team to 11 points wins.

3. Treasure Hunt

A good old fashioned treasure hunt is the perfect way to keep the young ones entertained at a picnic. A great idea is to plan before hand. Go to the spot where you will have the picnic and take photos of rocks, leaves, twigs and other small things that the children will be able to find. Give each participant photographs of each object.. You can make it slightly more difficult by asking them to find more than one example of each.

4. Spot the Liar

This is another game for everyone!  Everybody gets a chance to tell the group something about themselves. This can either be true or a big fat lie. This is done three times, with two truths and one lie told by each person. The person that told the most convincing lie is declared the winner!

5. Pie eating contest

This game can get a little messy… its a great idea for dessert. Make small individual cream pies with a filling of some kind. From then on it’s simple really, whoever eats their pie the quickest is the winner!

6. Water fights

An age old classic, but only for those sweltering summer days. The easiest way to conduct a water fight is to give everyone a balloon and get them to fill it with water… you know what happens next!