DIY Yard Games for Outdoor Family Fun

Making yard games seemed like a no-brainer for my family. These DIY backyard games are a great way to have fun with the whole family. 

My entire family loves games, any type of games. We love card games, dice games, board games; just about any type of game you can think of. During the colder months you can almost always find us around a table playing a game. However, in the nicer months, being outdoors usually takes precedence. We still took the games along but they are sometimes hard to play in the weather.

We decided to make playing games in the nicer months easier. We made 4 fun yard games that can easily be taken wherever we are.

Yahtzee Yard Game

Our Yahtzee yard game is really simple to make. The dice are cut from a 4” x 4” board then spray painted. We added vinyl dots to complete the dice. We made “write-on-wipe-off” scoring boards using my Cricut and HTV vinyl. If you don’t have a cutting machine or don’t want to make the boards, you can download scoring forms here. Get step by step instructions on our game here.

Dominoes and Tic-Tac-Toe Yard Games

The giant dominoes and tic tac toe game were actually made from DIY kits from Print Cut Craft Club. You can order kits here. The kits include the bag, wood, and rope, as well as the SVG files and access to complete instructions. All you need to do is paint and add the vinyl.

The tic-tac-toe kit comes with patriotic SVG files for the game pieces. I decided to make them for our favorite football team, the Indianapolis Colts. I also chose to seal my vinyl with Mod Podge to help it stand up to the weather.

Giant Jenga

Katie & Casen made the giant Jenga game with help from his father. It too was super simple as long as you have some simple wood tools. Get the full instructions for this version here.

Making Games Easy to Transport

The Yahtzee, Dominoes, and Tic-Tac-Toe all fit in the 5-gallon bucket that is used to “shake” the dice in Yahtzee so they are super easy to transport to picnics, reunions, or any other activity. The Giant Jenga is a little large but the stand doubles as a carrying case for most of the pieces. We’ll probably make some sort of canvas bag for the remaining pieces in the future.

We’ve already had lots of fun with our DIY yard games and are looking forward for many more hours of family activity.

Can you think of any other games that could easily be converted to yard games? Let me know in the comments below or by emailing me at janet@alifeofbalance.com.