Fun Ways to Celebrate Canada Day in Your Own Backyard
Stay close to home this summer with backyard games and activities that are fun for the whole family. Celebrate Canada Day or any special holiday with these outdoor play ideas.
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Plan stay-at-home fun for everyone! Simple backyard games and fun food ideas provide awesome best family times.
We've got you covered for easy outdoor activities everyone can enjoy.
The options in this list use everyday materials in fun ways to reflect a national holiday or event.
- Popular activities like picnics and scavenger hunts can easily be adapted to represent a theme or event with colors, flags and other icons.
The activities in this post are designed for kids and grownups of all ages. Activities are largely meant for outdoor play, but some options can be taken indoors on a rainy day. Supervision is required with young children.
The activities include games, food, and crafts. Materials can be easily substituted for things you have on hand. The ideas and instructions are flexible and intended to spark imaginative play on Canada Day!
Grab the printable list here.
Backyard family games for Canada Day
This could be the best backyard celebration ever!
Canada Day Family Activities
Shish Kabob Barbecue
Kids can make their own Shish Kabob for the barbecue.
Provide ingredients kids can easily thread onto skewers such red peppers, small red onions, cherry tomatoes, and mushrooms.
Backyard Picnic
Spread a table cloth, blanket, or beach towel on the deck or on the lawn (printed with Canada Day images if you have them!).
Serve red berries, red and white frozen treats, and watermelon.
Balloon Relay Races
Place a red balloon on a cardboard box lid or plastic tray.
Walk or run a specified route carrying the tray.
Drop the balloon into a designated container without touching the balloon.
Race back to the start line for another balloon.
Flag Scavenger Hunt
Hide small flags or flag cutouts around the backyard or deck.
Decorate a box or pail with a drawing of the flag for each participant or team.
Place the flags you find in the containers.
Sponge Toss Water Game
Each participant or team stands behind a tub(s) or wading pool filled with water, facing each other.
Dip a sponge in the tub in front of you to soak up water, then toss the sponge toward the tub(s) in front of the opposite participant.
For kids who like things a little less splashy, all participants line up behind the same start line, each with his own water container and sponges. Place target containers at a distance from the start line. Immerse sponge in water to soak completely, then toss toward a container.
Bubbles Target Practice
Secure a target to the back of a lawn chair, or hang from a deck railing.
- Create simple targets with cardboard or plastic. Add numbers or letters or other designs.
Stand at the start line. Blow bubbles toward the target.
Call out a number or letter where the bubbles land.
Flag Waving Parade
Participants line up carrying small flags. You can also decorate tricycles and wagons with flags.
March in a flag-waving parade around the yard.
Homemade Noisemaker
Make these fun noisemakers with bells and twigs to celebrate Canada Day.
Balloon Volleyball
In place of a regular net, create a 'net' on the ground with masking tape.
Participants form teams on either side of the 'net'.
Tap a single red or white balloon across the 'net', or use several balloons at once.
- Older kids can tap the balloon back and forth like regular volleyball.
- Younger kids can play without a net. The object of the game is simply to keep the balloons in the air for as long as possible, by tapping the balloon into the air before it lands on the ground.
Related: Backyard Play without a Playground
Enjoy the national holiday in your own backyard
These games are just suggestions, and intended to spark ideas for your own outdoor at-home play.
Go for child-led play that is hands-on and interactive, with few if any rules. Or make up your own rules as you play!
