With today’s kids, it’s usually almost impossible to get them to leave the house. After all, most of the fun things they can take up are indoors. Examples include their iPads, video games, TV, social media, and their phones. However, you can get them to leave the confines of your home if you get them something equally interesting outside. This is where the trampoline comes in.
While the traditional uses of a trampoline include acrobatics and gymnastic exercises, there are more ways to utilize the gadget. These include a variety of trampoline games that your kids are not likely to exhaust. We’ve listed most of these games below, and you can get information on how to play them as well. Also, this might be the only way they get the full
benefits
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6 reasons children need to play outside - Harvard Health
Here’s something really simple you can do to improve your child’s chance of future health and success: make sure he spends plenty of time playing outside.
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of outdoor play.
If you have a ball around the house, you can encourage your kids to play Gaga ball. The number of players involved will vary depending on the number of kids around and the trampoline size. Notably, the more kids involved in the game, the more fun it’ll be.
First, all the kids have to position themselves on the trampoline before another party throws them the ball. Once the ball is bouncing on the trampoline and the game has started, players use their hands to hit it to other players while aiming below the knees. Of course, the kids will still be bouncing up and down the trampoline, making it harder to aim.
If you get hit below the knees, you get to sit out the game and wait for the game to end. The same is the case if you hit the ball outside the trampoline or if you hit one of the other participants above their shoulders with the ball.
Additionally, players cannot hit the ball more than once before another player has had contact with it. The last participant standing on the trampoline is the winner.
The Popcorn game is also known as crack the egg in some circles. Usually, it needs more than one player present on the trampoline. However, you don’t want it to be too crowded either, so a maximum of six players should be enough.
One person in the group is chosen as the egg or the Popcorn. Their job is to curl up in the middle of the trampoline while holding their knees close to their chest. They should also try to maintain this posture for as long as possible.
The other players get the job of “cracking the egg” or “popping the corn.” This means they will jump on the trampoline until the “egg-person” lets go of their legs and uncurls their body. So that everybody enjoys the game, each player should get a chance to be the Popcorn or the egg.
Additionally, you can make the game more exciting by adding a timer. The person who holds out the longest gets to be the winner.
Poison is another trampoline ball game that your kids might want to try out. However, unlike Gaga ball, it involves multiple balls on the trampoline. Also, the aim of this game is to avoid all these balls as they are supposedly “poison.”
Anybody who touches the ball exits the trampoline and awaits the next round. The last kid standing on the trampoline wins the game. Since the kids will be jumping around the trampoline, the balls will also bounce back and forth, which makes avoiding them tricky.
If the kids want to play the game for longer, they can revive their friends by tagging them. However, this is only if all participants agree to this rule.
The 1-2-3 is a retro trampoline game that has been played for ages. That said, it has some variations under different names as well. The most basic is the “1-2-3-sit” option. The rules are simple. Someone in or outside the game counts one, two, and three, then shouts, “Sit!”
All the kids in the game will then try to sit on the trampoline, which means that some will bounce back up from their sitting positions. There are no winners to this game. That said, if you want to prevent injuries, ensure there’s a net around the trampoline. If you don’t have a net, try and play the game closer to the middle of the trampoline.
The Bull and Matador trampoline game is just as the name suggests. One kid gets to be the bull while all others play the part of the matadors. The bull has to stay on their hands and knees the whole time while trying to tag the other players.
Conversely, the matadors have to avoid the bull at all costs without jumping over them. The game is more fan if the matador’s shout “Olay!” every time they dodge the bull. However, if they fail to avoid the bull and are tagged, they become the new bull.
The Telephone is a trampoline tricks game that might prove to be a hit with your kids as well. Each of the kids in the game will have to come up with a unique trick to do while on the trampoline.
The person who starts only has to do one trick. However, the next person has to do the previous trick before they get to theirs. After that, each person has to do all the earlier tricks in the right order before they showcase new ones.
Whoever forgets the sequence of tricks or skips one leaves the game. This continues until only one kid is left, and they are declared the winner.
The rules for the original Rock Paper Scissors game apply to the trampoline version as well. As such, rock will lose to paper but beat scissors while scissors will win against paper. However, instead of using your hands as gestures to indicate your choice, you use your body instead.
If you stretch yourself out, you’re paper. Next, if you curl up like a ball, you should be rock and lastly sitting down, indicates scissors. Before you choose your position, all players involved will have to chant “rock, paper, scissors, shoot.”
Since Limbo is a game where you try to go under the bar, reverse Limbo means you go above it. A high-quality trampoline should help your kids jump higher, which means they can have loads of fun with this game. Two kids will have to be picked at random from the group to hold a rope between them. As mentioned above, the other kids will take turns jumping over the rope.
The two kids holding the rope get to raise it after each successful jumping cycle by the other players. Once a player touches the rope, they don’t get to advance to the next level.
The volleyball trampoline game is just like regular volleyball in that you don’t let the ball touch the trampoline, and you don’t touch it more than once when it’s on your side. The only additional rule is that you don’t stop jumping.
Two teams play opposite each other and try to keep the ball airborne for as long as possible. The team that drops the ball loses. You can keep score as that will ignite the competitive spirit in the kids.
The Indian Chief is a guessing game for kids and is usually more fun when more people are involved. When starting, one person is chosen as the detective. This person gets to sit in the middle and close their eyes while the other participants huddle up in a corner and decide who will be the Indian Chief.
The participants will then surround the detective as he opens ups his eyes. After that, the Indian Chief starts a pattern, which is is followed by all the other participants.
Examples of patterns include holding your ear and shaking your head, or doing jumping jacks. Notably, the Chief also needs to change patterns every few minutes without letting the detective know.
It is the detective’s job to find the Indian Chief. Once the detective has figured out the Chief’s identity, that person will need to become the next detective. The other participants will then need to huddle up again and choose another chief.
You can decide to put a hoop beside your trampoline that your kids should enjoy shooting through. They won’t bounce the ball on the trampoline like they would on a regular court. However, they are bound to enjoy other aspects of the game, such as dunking and making more baskets than their friends.
Users also recommend getting the Merax 15 FT trampoline, which comes with a net in addition to the inbuilt hoop. With this, your kids have an extra layer of protection from falls as they play basketball.
If you don’t have the funds for a hoop, you can make do with a makeshift basket made from cardboard or a plastic bucket. Place the hoop as close to the trampoline as possible, and you should be good to go. Lastly, if your kid is alone, they can still play this game with a small trampoline and ball without any issues.
For the game Dead Man, one player will need to be blindfolded and placed in the middle of the trampoline. This is the designated “dead man” while all the other players are alive. The dead man rolls around the trampoline trying to find and tag other players as they actively trying to avoid him.
Once the dead man touches you, you have to exit the trampoline while you wait for the game to end. The last person left untouched by the dead man wins the game and gets to be the dead man in the next one.
Before you play the Colors and Shapes game, you need different colored chalks. You will use these to draw and shade various shapes on the surface of the trampoline. Once done, one of the kids will sit on the trampoline’s edge and give the other participants instructions.
The age of the players should dictate the complexity of the instructions. For younger kids, try to keep the instructions as simple as possible so they can keep up. One example of such instructions is, “do a frog leap on the blue square.”
The Snake game starts just like the Reverse Limbo. Two kids will need to hold a rope that runs across the diameter of the trampoline. However, this time they need to wave the rope from side to side. The other kids need to jump from side to side while avoiding the rope. That said, if they touch it, they are out of the game. Another variation of the game is where the kids wave the rope up and down.
Bum Wars is seemingly a variation of the 1-2-3 game. One player counts to three and declares a bum war. Once this declaration is made, everybody in the trampoline has to land on their bum first before bouncing back into an upright position. They do this as many times as possible. Nonetheless, if you bounce on your bum or your feet more than once, you are out of the game. The last person left going through these motions is the winner. There’s also a variation of the game where the kids land on their knees instead of their bums.
The Horse game is quite popular in some basketball circles. Although the gameplay is different, it can also be played with a trampoline. You may choose a variety of ways to figure out who starts the game, such as rock paper scissors, drawing lots, or more. Once that is decided, the first player does a trick that all other players have to mimic.
Anyone who fails at the trick adds a letter from the word horse starting with H. For every consecutive failure, another letter from the word is added until you spell horse. The person left on the trampoline without spelling the whole word wins the game.
Your kids probably play tag at school with their friends, and they can keep the fun going on the trampoline as well. The rules are similar to regular tag where one person starts as “it” while the others try to run away and avoid him. The first person to be tagged is the next “it,” and it will be his job to tag another player.
Notably, tagging another participant in the game involves touching them and shouting, “tag, you’re it.” Nevertheless, there are other versions of tag that your kids can play, including Zombie and Octopus tag. In these variations, the tagged parties join hands with the taggers, and the last person to be tagged wins. Nonetheless, they have to start the next game as the tagger.
The king of the castle is another trampoline ball game that may prove interesting. It seems a lot like dodgeball with two teams of players. Each team selects one of their own to be the “king.” Next, both kings get on the trampoline while the other players stay on the outside.
These players throw softballs into the trampoline while trying to hit the opposite team’s king. Notably, the kings also have a responsibility to avoid the balls being thrown at them. Whoever gets hit is kicked out of the trampoline. The party that remains is named king of the castle.
With a few extra members, you might even get other participants to act as knights where they protect their kings.
While playing Ring Around the Rosy, the kids will hold hands and form a circle. They will then sing the
Ring Around the Rosy song
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Ring Around The Rosie (Rosy)
Cartoon Animation Nursery Rhymes & Songs for Children | ChuChu TV – YouTube
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as they move in a circle around the trampoline. When they get to the “We all fall down” part, everyone in the circle falls. How they fall can be predetermined where they choose to sit, kneel or land on their backs.
Dancing and jumping are both activities that kids love to do, and they are combined in the bounce to the Beat trampoline game. You won’t need any trampoline game accessories for the game to work. However, you will need a loud source of music.
The kids can try and dance to the rhythm of the song while simultaneously jumping on the trampoline. The song should also change often during the game for a change of pace and dance moves.
Every person in the game gets blindfolded except for the person playing the “stealthy ninja.” Without injuring the other players, the stealthy ninja is expected to make all of them fall over. They can use various methods for this: jumping near them, scaring them, or even tickling them.
When one blindfolded person is left, they are declared the winner and will take up the mantle of the next game’s stealthy ninja.
The cherry bomb in this game can be a soft ball or a water balloon. The game starts when one child throws the “cherry bomb” in the air and declares it the cherry bomb. After that, it is the players’ responsibility to avoid being touched by the “bomb.”
The kids could also choose to shout something like “bombs away” instead. Each person in the game has five lives, and they lose one when the ball touches them. Also, all players lose one life if the ball falls out of the trampoline.
Participants who lose all five of their lives are kicked out of the trampoline, and the last kid standing is the winner.
You might have played the original version of twister on a mat designed for the game. The rules don’t change in the trampoline version, and you use the spinner to decide where participants should place their hands and leg. If you don’t have the spinner, you can make up your own instructions. However, the format for the instructions remains the same.
You can lay the mat on the trampoline. If this doesn’t work, you can draw the features of the twister mat onto it. For the latter, you’ll need colored chalk.
In this game, a single-player is the designated “wild boar.” They jump around the trampoline trying to catch other players while blindfolded. Whenever they catch one person, they have to guess their name. If they’re wrong, they release that person and try to catch someone else. However, if they’re right, the person becomes the next “wild boar.”
Kids often have fun popping bubbles, and adding a trampoline may improve the experience. If you have a bubble machine, you can use it to maintain a constant supply of bubbles. If you don’t, the job of creating some may fall to you.
The kids will have to jump up and down the trampoline as they pop these bubbles. You are advised to clean the trampoline mat after this game as the bubbles can make it slippery and dangerous.
The Falling Apples game needs two players on the device while a few more are on the trampoline’s edge. The two middle players need to have a bucket, cardboard box, or a similar container for catching balls. The players outside the trampoline throw balls in the air while the two main players try to catch them with their buckets. Whoever has more balls at the end of the game wins.
Trampoline dodgeball is a little different from regular dodgeball owing to the bounciness of the device. Two players get on the trampoline and start jumping while other participants stand outside and try to hit them with soft balls. For every successful hit below the waist, the thrower is awarded a point.
Hitting someone above the shoulders with a ball means that you lose a point. Once you hit a player on the trampoline with a ball, you have to switch places with them. The game ends when one of the players gets to ten points, and they’re declared the winner.
The Little Sally Walker game starts with one person in the middle while other players stand on the trampoline’s edge. The person in the middle will then move around the trampoline while the other kids sing the Little Sally Walker song Trusted Source Little Sally Walker - YouTube This is a little game my cheerleaders like to play at the end of practice or when we have some down time. www.youtube.com .
At a certain point in the song, it says, “Hey girl, do your thing, do your thing and switch.” This is the cue for the person in the middle to point at one of the other participants, do a trick then switch places with them.
The person who is now the “Little Sally Walker” has to copy the trick done by their predecessor before they start going around the trampoline. The game will continue like this for as long as the kids want to play.
Kids play the hopscotch game on the trampoline the same way they would play it on the ground. Nevertheless, they might need to use colored chalk to draw the Hopscotch pattern of rectangles on the trampoline’s surface.
After that, the kids may toss a small object onto the rectangles before jumping through them to retrieve the object. How the kids jump or hop over specific rectangles is to be decided beforehand. Notably, the participants can choose to exclude the small object from the game altogether.
The Hoppy Ball game will require that you buy hoppy balls for use with the trampoline. These balls look a lot like exercise balls, and users can use them to hop around the trampoline. They also come with handles to prevent players from falling off.
Additionally, players may need to draw a racing track on the trampoline’s edge so they can race around it. The fastest player to go around the track wins.
For the Monkey in the Middle game, you will need at least three players. Two can stand on opposite sides of the trampoline while one is in the middle. The two will toss balls to each other over the person in the middle.
On his part, the person in the middle will actively try to jump up and catch the ball. When they eventually catch the ball, they will have to swap places with the last person who touched it.
Sword fights are fun for kids no matter where they play. You can use various home supplies to make the sword, such as cardboard or even pool noodles. Also, you’ll need to decide whether to go with lightsabers or the regular types of swords.
In the Hot Potato game, most participants get on top of the trampoline. However, they do leave one person behind. The person on the outside tosses the others the ball, and they have to keep it from falling by passing it back and forth without holding it.
Additionally, the person on the outside will either sing a song or start counting. Once they stop the song or the count, the last person to touch the ball is out. The winner, of course, will be the last person on the trampoline.
Another game that your kids are likely to have experienced before is the freeze dance option. They will need a referee to officiate the game. However, the referee will keep their eyes closed until they yell, ‘freeze!” At that point, they will open their eyes and check to see if everybody froze.
It’s harder to freeze mid-air, and the kids are more likely to bounce back up after they land on the trampoline. That said, if they are unable to freeze, they are out of the game.
For this game, you might need to have a few people as judges. Notably, the judges will also decide the competition to be played. It can be anything from doing tricks, dancing, jumping jacks, and more.
The competitors will perform the selected action, and the judges will give ratings based on how well they did it. Lastly, the kid with the highest overall score wins.
One player will lay in the middle of the trampoline with their eyes closed. Next, one of the other players sneaks up on them and tags them. The sleeping player then has to guess who tagged him. If they get it right, the tagger becomes the new baby. If they don’t, they keep playing until they get it right.
In another variation of the game, another player can sit next to the baby and give them hints on the tagger’s identity. Nonetheless, they are only allowed to use one adjective to describe them.
When playing sequence, players start by drawing different shapes on the trampoline. Once this is done, the person initiating the game jumps between two shapes. The next child has to jump in the same sequence then jump between three shapes. Each consecutive player copies the previous one then does a different sequence with an extra step. When one player forgets the sequence of shapes, they are out. The last kid on the trampoline is the winner.
When playing Marco polo, one person has to tag the other players while blindfolded. Notably, when the tagger yells “Marco!” the other players have to yell “Polo!”. As such, the tagger can always locate them via sound. That said, it is the responsibility of the other players to move around and avoid being tagged. Conversely, when one of them is tagged, they become the new “Marco.”
Some of the best trampolines for kids have four corners, while others are circular. The four corners options make playing the four corners game easier. That said, the game is still playable even with circular trampolines. However, players may have to draw a square or rectangular shape on the trampoline.
One player sits in the middle, closes his eyes, and counts to ten. During this time, the other four players will take up positions in the corners. After counting, the person in the middle points to one corner. Whoever is in that corner is then out of the game.
Players who’ve left the game get to wait in the middle for the game to end. The counter will keep repeating the same cycle until one person is left. However, with fewer and fewer people playing, it gets harder to choose the right corner.
For this game, you will need your usual badminton accessories except for the net. These should include the rackets and a birdie. Reviewers highly recommend the ORCC 10FT trampoline for such a game. The net enclosure that comes with the trampoline will ensure the players don’t have to go too far to recover the birdie while playing the game. However, players have to hit the birdie back and forth between them for as long as possible.
Alternatively, you can add water to the trampoline to make it more fun. Just add a trampoline sprinkler to your game setup, and you’re good to go. This can turn the trampoline into a mini waterpark and also make playing under the sun bearable. Remember to exercise extreme caution as water does make the trampoline slippery.
The game starts when the players line the jumping mat with water balloons. Afterward, players jump around the trampoline while simultaneously trying to avoid the balloons. However, if they step on the balloons, they will blast themselves with water, which can be loads of fun. Lastly, players should be cautious of the slippery mat as well.
This is a beach ball trampoline game. Nonetheless, if you don’t have a beach ball, an inflated balloon will do just fine. In this game, players are prohibited from touching the ball with their hands. Instead, they need to keep the ball in the air with just their heads, feet, or elbows. Whenever one person drops the ball, you have to restart the game.
Choosing a leader is the first order of business while playing this game. Once a leader is chosen, they make moves which other game participants have to mimic. If anyone is unable to copy the move, they are out. The last person left with the leader gets to be the new leader.
You need a spoon and boiled eggs for this game, although the latter can be swapped out for small balls or potatoes. Players have to place their eggs on the spoons then move around or across the trampoline while balancing them. If they drop the eggs, they go back to the starting line and start over.
The bounce in the trampoline makes this game harder, and you can kick things up a notch by incorporating unique movements. Examples include dancing, moving on your hands and knees, balancing the spoon and egg with your mouth, and so forth.
Finally, we have the sleeping bunnies game. With this one, you place your kid in the middle of the trampoline and sing along to the
Sleeping Bunnies song
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Sleeping Bunnies
Little Baby Bum Nursery Rhymes for Babies – YouTube
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. When you get to the part of the song that says, “No, wake up bunnies,” your kid has to wake up and hop along to the lyrics of the song. After that, they stop hopping when they get to the part of the song that says, “Hop and stop.” You can keep playing this with the child for as long as you want.
While your kids may want to live their whole lives indoors, you should encourage them to step outside as well. Trampoline games should be a fun alternative to playing video games all day. Also, with the variety of trampoline games mentioned above, it’s almost a guarantee that they won’t get bored.
Lastly, you don’t have to watch the children hog all the fun. You can join in as well so long as you have the right trampoline for the job.
