Make your own fun with these easy DIY yard games

Make your yard just as entertaining as your family room by adding these easy to make, family-fun games to your outdoor oasis.

Checkers

Amy Anderson was looking for a way to get her family outside and put her fire pit to use when it was too hot for a bonfire. She found a table top and voila!

But a plain table was too boring for the Le Mars art teacher, so she grabbed a paint brush and acrylic paint and a checker board was born. 

Using a ruler to draw the board to fit her table top, Anderson painted over the lines with a light blue acrylic paint. If you plan to keep your checker board outside, use a waterproof paint to keep it looking brand new for years. Once your board is dry, let the games begin. Standard black and red tiles can be used, but Anderson thought of a clever alternative. “We had plenty of beer caps lying around so those became our playing pieces,” Anderson said.

Each player begins the game with 12 pieces placed in the three rows closest to him or her. Moves are allowed only on the dark squares, so pieces always move diagonally. The object of the game is to capture all of your opponent's checkers. When a piece is jumped by the opposing color, the piece is removed from the game. A player wins the game when the opponent cannot make a move.

What you’ll need:

Flat surface of choice

Acrylic paint

Paint brush

Ruler

24 bottle caps or checker tiles

Giant Jenga 

The rules are simple: don't tip the tower and watch your toes. Giant Jenga really is giant and could do some damage if the tower falls it the wrong direction. We recommend you play with shoes on and away from pets or small children. Once your have your blocks cut and sanded, lay three blocks on an elevated table or solid ground. Stack three more blocks on top in the opposite direction. Repeat until all blocks are used.

To play, take one block on a turn from any level, except the top level, of the tower. Place the block on top of the stack. The game ends when the tower falls or if any block not being removed falls from the tower.

What you'll need:

2x4s, cut into 10 ½ inch long pieces (54 in total). 

Yard Yahtzee

A classic family favorite, but turned up a notch: Yard Yahtzee! This life-sized version of the classic dice game is a hit with all ages and can be played solo or by a group. Once your five blocks are cut and sanded, you can paint each dice different colors, all the same or leave them plain. Using acrylic paint and a round sponge, paint the appropriate number of dots on each side. Let each side thoroughly dry before you flip it over to paint the opposite side. Once your dice are ready to go, all you need is a bucket, score cards and something to write with. 

To start your turn, roll all five dice. After you roll, you can either score the current roll, or re-roll any or all of the five dice. You can roll the dice a total of three times. After three times, your turn is over and you must score the roll. 

The game consists of 13 rounds. In each round, you roll the dice and then score the roll in one of 13 categories. You must score once in each category. Once a category has been scored, it is closed for the rest of the game.

Yahtzee score cards are available to download and print from the internet. 

What you'll need: 

1 large bucket

wood 4x4, cut into five 3.5 inch pieces, sanded smooth

Acrylic paint and round sponge or 5/8″ Forstner bit

Score cards