Have you ever caught yourself on a lazy summer day with children and their friends, not knowing what to do exactly? Well, why not sponsor a few games with the children in your house to lighten up the atmosphere and to also entertain your children and their guests? Keeping them physically active will not only help them keep fit; it will also be a lot of fun and memories will be developed that will be cherished forever. Here are a few activities that you can set up at minimal cost and in a very short time.

• Start a war – Of course, you don't want children actually fighting each other and taking sides with different people. The war you can start can be one of fun and entertainment. For example, if you have some unused balloons hanging around the house, use those to fill them up with water so you can start a water fight. First ask the parents of the children if that would be all right, of course. Once all the arrangements are made, this is one of the most fun games to play on a hot summer day.

• Start a chase – Children are easy to please and if you can get to their level of entertainment then they can have some of the best fun that they will remember for years. Remember when you used to play tag with your friends as a child? Well, that game hasn't lost its charm just yet. Start children chasing after each other by joining them in a game of tag. It's an easy game that they can learn to play over and over again. Just be careful that nobody gets hurt as it is easy to trip over things in the yard.

• Start an adventure – If you are a good storyteller, you can use this as an advantage. Children have over active imaginations and tapping into this is like finding treasure. Tell a story to children and make things up as you go along, including elements that are found in your garden. You can turn a tree into a fortress or the whole garden into a vast land that they need to travel to get to a strange new land. Equip the children with toys and have them treat these as equipment that is needed on a great adventure. Think more on the lines of Indiana Jones when making up the adventure. This is the kind of story that children love to hear and for them to be a part of the story is almost magical for them.

• Start a secret – If the children are too tired and the day is too hot to do anything physical, you can play something called Chinese Whispers. This involves the children sitting in a circle. You then say something to one child and that child passes on the message to the child next to him or her. The message will be whispered to each child until the last one. The last child must say what he has heard loudly. Chances are that the message will have changed and this is always good fun because the message will not exactly be like the one you told the first child. This is great for a few laughs and fun.