10 of the best lawn games
BBC Gardeners' World's roundup of fun, fuss-free, eco-friendly garden games.
A well kept lawn might be a gardener’s pride and joy, but it’s a perfect pitch for some family-friendly fun. We’ve put together a guide to the best high-quality garden games to help you and your family get the most out of your garden.
Whether entertaining a crowd or whiling away an afternoon, we’ve curated a range of toys and games for a variety of lawns and gardeners. We’ve included some traditional lawn games like croquet and quoits alongside some less well know pursuits such as kubb. Plus, there's proper sports, like badminton, and more sedate, relaxed fun, like giant dominoes.
What’s more, every product we’ve selected is eco-friendly and made with minimal amounts of plastic. Almost every toy and game featured here is made of wood, metal or rope. We’ve also tried to limit our choices to those that are easy to set up and clear away, to maximise fun and minimise fuss.
If you're entertaining, check out our tests of the best gas BBQs, the best charcoal BBQs, and our guides to barbecue accessories.
10 of the best lawn games
Bex Pro 6 Mallet Croquet Set
Croquet is perhaps the most traditional game on our list. It's a relaxing but entertaining way to get the most out of your lawn. This beautiful set comes with mallets for six, so even big families and gatherings can be included.
Price: £109.99
Buy the Bex Pro 6 Mallet Croquet Set from John Lewis
Bargains Galore Badminton Set
Badminton is one of the more active lawn games, but is simple enough to be enjoyed by all ages and abilities. This set has everything you need - a net, poles, four racquets and two shuttlecocks - for a surprisingly low price.
Price: £14.95
Buy the Bargains Galore Badminton Set from Amazon
Sensory Trust Gofindit
gofindit, from the Sensory Trust, is a deceptively simple game for young children. Kids are given cards with adjectives on them and then set loose in the garden to go and find examples - something crunchy, something green, something big and so on. A fun, easy way for children to get outside, and develop their vocabulary and comprehension.
Price: £8.50
Buy the Sensory Trust Gofindit on Amazon
Big Game Hunters Mega Hi-Tower
This one needs little introduction. Build a tower, then remove blocks one at a time to make it taller - but wobblier. This set is enormous - the tower starts just shy of a metre, but can grow to more than two.
Price: £67.49
Buy the Big Game Hunters Mega Hi-Tower from Amazon
Wayfair Dominoes Set
Dominoes is one of the world's most popular tabletop games. Wayfair's Dominoes Set blows the tiny tiles up to about three times their usual size, so you can play this game across your lawn. Great fun for all ages.
Price: £38.99
Buy the Wayfair Dominoes Set from Wayfair
Toyriffic Garden Games Wooden Limbo
How low can you go? Test your flexibility with the Toyriffic Wooden Limbo. This set is designed to be used by all heights and ages and coloured pegs make it easy to measure who’s bent the lowest. There's also a convenient carry bag for limbo on the go.
Price: £29.95
Buy the Toyriffic Garden Games Wooden Limbo from Amazon
ADEPTNA Wooden Garden Quoits
Quoits is a great Victorian lawn game. Simply throw the quoits onto the pins for points, it's uncomplicated, unfussy and easy to tidy away and store.
Price: £10.95
Buy the ADEPTNA Wooden Garden Quoits from Amazon
Bex Kubb Pro Individual Game
Kubb - also known as Viking chess - is a fantastic lawn game. Teams take turns to throw wooden batons at each other’s kubbs before taking a shot at the king. This professional kubb set is a great way to give this fun game a go.
Price: £69.99
Buy the Bex Kubb Pro Individual Game from John Lewis
Garden Selections Deluxe Wooden Noughts and Crosses
Take the classic pen-and-paper game to another level with this giant noughts and crosses set. Simple, sedate, but relaxing fun. Great for lazy, sunny Sunday afternoons.
Price: £29.99
Buy the Garden Selections Deluxe Wooden Noughts and Crosses from Notonhehighstreet
Bex Giant Family Mikado
Put your fine motor skills to the test with this giant Mikado set. Pick up sticks as carefully as possible without moving others. These mikado sticks are nearly a meter long, so they're especially challenging, and their very size means the whole family can get involved.
Price: £29.99