The "i-needa-name" Fun Outdoor Game!

I was driving past a church a few weekends ago and saw a slew of kids outside playing and the items they had in hand made me rush to the nearest dollar store and grab them up for my children.

Items Needed:
Beach Ball(s)
Pool Noodles (1 for each child, if you want, you can cut them in half*)

The total cost for this game was $6 - we bought 2 beach balls and 4 noodles. And I have lost count of the hours of fun that has been had since this purchase!

It's really simple.

Blow up the beach balls.

Hand each child a noodle.
Ignore my 4 year olds' outfit - he picks out his own clothes ;)

Toss the beach ball in an open area.
Set children loose!
I didn't even have to tell them to try to hit the ball, that's just what they did.
I thought about rigging up a goal, but at this point, they are just having a blast hitting the ball.

We have a different variation where I hit it as hard as I can and make them run and grab it before I can get to it (sadly, they usually win) ;)

We had a week of low-humidity here in North Carolina last week and we had too much fun playing this everyday!

Bonus: you can re-use all the items at the pool, lake or beach throughout the summer too!

*We chose not to cut our pool noodles as we would rather practice our light saber skills when not in use for the game! ;)