Spring games to play

Egg rolling
Each player has a hard-boiled egg identified by its colour, decoration or a felt-tip-penned initial (decorating can be another day’s activity). Then, to play, just stand at the top of a hill and roll. The fastest to the bottom is the winner.

Menagerie match-up
Choose one person to be the farmer. Her job is to think of two to four types of spring baby animals. Then whisper one to each player (younger children may need pictures of their animals drawn on index card to help them remember). When you say “go” each player belts out his animal’s sound and runs to find other players making the same noise. The first group to herd itself together and sit down together wins.

Spring scavenger hunt
Write a list of nature’s clues to spring’s arrival, for example, the blooming of primrose, snowdrops and apple blossom and the appearance of frogspawn and bumblebees. The child who finds the most is the winner.

Pooh sticks
Charge about in your local wood enjoying the spring blossoms and collecting twigs and sticks. Find a bridge over a stream and dropping them in for a race under the bridge à la Pooh and Piglet. For ease of identification (and further fun), sails and decorations can be added.

Egg toss
This game is played with raw eggs, so it’s a good idea for children to be wearing older clothes and for it to be played outdoors. You can play it with boiled eggs but the mess provides a lot of the fun! Partner up the children and get them to stand about 5ft apart. Eggs are then thrown between the two. If an egg is dropped, the team goes out; if the egg is caught, the children each take a step back and throw again. The last team left with an unbroken egg wins the game.