It's All Fun & Games Until....

 

Someone builds outdoor games then it’s “MOM you’re the best!” Or so I would like to think that’s what would my kid would say.

 Our house is usually the “get together” house & lately it has been more of a “under construction” house. As I am creating all my outdoor projects, I am also thinking of all the things that I need to do to keep the kiddo’s entertained & safe. The kid is 18 (sniff sniff), but I have lots of friends with little ones & I always like to include them in my plans as much as I can. Especially because the kid is leaving me in August & well, I am just going to have to borrow some kids, especially my nieces. I love having my nieces over; we play games, create a mess of art projects, watch outdoor movies & bake cakes at midnight!  Yes, my sister-in-law says I spoil them, but so what! That’s what Aunts are supposed to do & a little sugar high won’t bother me any if I hand them back over to their parents. (wink, wink)  Nonetheless, I do plan on doing more family & friend things at the house before the kid flies the nest & soars.  So my quest begins for a search of outdoor games. I saw a few ideas that I really liked, however the space, the pocket book & the construction reigned me in.  I chose the following games because not only would it be fun for the kids, it would be fun for a whole bunch of drunkards too, I mean adults! It was also easy, cheap & wasn’t such an eye sore, hopefully I can spark some great ideas for you.

LET THE  GAMES BEGIN!

WASHER PIT-  you can make this for pennies on the dollar, you choose the material you want. What you need, a hole, 15'-21' apart & washers (2.5" sold at tractor supply) As far as a box or area surronding the hole, the ball is in your court. Rules vary & the official game requires 3 holes & 1.5" washers. I chose the following since it was easy on the pocket book, not an eye sore & easy to just walk outside & start playing.

ITEMS:  1x2 x 8 wood (cut 4-2'), 4" pvc couplings (or any 4" item such as tin can), Washers (4 per team)

I bought white wood 1x2x8 for $0.99 & protected it with clear coat & spray paint. I purchased the surrounding cover with recycled rubber mulch (1/2 off since its an open bag, LOWES) PVC couplings at the restore & Washers (tractor supply is the only one locally that sells the 2.5" & they sell out, I was able to obtain 5 of them for now)

I measured 21' from center point to center point of the pvc. Dug a hole with a hand held hole digger, boxed it in 2' surrounding & reused weed barrier that I pulled from another area. Filled the area with rubber mulch & covered the hole with slate so no debris can fill in the hole. (the slate is easy to break to the size you need, by using a hammer & then I tap the sharp edges with the hammer so it wont be so sharp)  To keep the washers in an area that I can find them, I screwed in a lug screw to the tree. The washers just hang there. (of course I spray painted them first).

The whole project took about 1.5 hours to do.

Total Cost: less then $10   (note this was less then $6 because I only purchased 5 washers, I will get more & the cost will be about $10)

 Bella- dog tired. I made her dig the hole. (just kidding) She was playing with her toys & then in the pond.

 1x2 painted, weed blocker layed, I tampered the pvc in with a hammer. Lay a piece of scrap wood over the pvc so you won't crack it.  Then hammer away

 My slate cover, great for keeping debris out, however I think that Helen the hen is making me rethink that. I might have to cover the whole thing, she loves the mulch.

Painted the washers bright colors so we can see them.

 A home for the washers. I screwed in the bolt & have the set sitting there. I am going to make a board to keep score, this will be the last thing since I have several games in mind & would like to have one score board. But we shall see. The wheels are turning.

and your done!! One washer game ready to play

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 Twister with a Twist:  I actually researched this for a while & found that I was not willing to spray paint my grass. For one, grass doesn't like the 20 trees in our back yard & I want to be able to play this game whenever we want to. I don't want to try to paint the ground, or try to attempt to play on a tarp or canvas. I dream of grass growing but reality hits with the first rain, my yard is a mud pit.

I went to Lowes to purchase the outdoor rug, however someone just wiped them out of all thier stock, so I had to get one from home depot. Same price, whew! Only $19.

ITEMS :  outdoor rug, spray paint, measuring tape & a circle template (used a plastic tub)

I measured the rug (6x8). I had to figure out where I wanted the circles & how many rows we would need. The actual twister game has 4 rows of 6 cirles. The more circles, the more people can play, however you can only use 4 colors as you only have 4 limbs. Makes it easier when you make a spinner (still working on this) I spaced my circles 12". I started 6" in on ea. side. This gave me the ability to get 6 rows. My plastic tub was 4.5 " in diameter. Once I completed my first row horizontally, I measured out the vertical side & did the first row. After  completing this I was able to just add the remaining rows by matching them up, checking measurements periodically.