Sometimes the most fun games are the old classics! Hula Hoops have been around for decades but can inspire endless fun. Whether you’re recreating summer camp at home or planning a birthday party, hula hoop games are perfect for backyard parties, outdoor playdates, or even contests inside on rainy days! Use them in games to host your own backyard summer olympics —you can get hula hoops in each of the olympic ring colors, or cover them in colored tape to be the right hues.

Hula hoops add hours of fun to a playdate or birthday party! They even make fun favors, gifts, or contest prizes. And they’re a fun physical activity kids of any age and adults all the way up to grandma and grandpa can do! You can even get your dog in on the act, by training them to jump through a hoop! And if your party is going late, get hula hoops that light up in the dark.

When you pull out the hoops, things get a little loopy—in the best way possible. Use them to circle back to your favorite games in ways that make them even more fun.

Print out our Hula Hoops Games printable, or get creative and make up a few games of your own!

Hula Hoop Games

Hula Hoop Contest
This all time classic involves seeing who can swing their hoop the longest. Make it even more interesting by using more than one hoop at a time or alternating body parts—swing it around your waist, leg, arm, neck! Or, play in teams of two and see who can pass the hoop back and forth the most times.

Human Ring Toss
Half the gang spaces themselves around the lawn, acting as pegs; the rest of the cre takes turns throwing a hula hoop, trying to hook it around one of the human pegs as in a ring toss.

Lasso Yourself!
Take turns throwing the hoop up in the air, then trying to run under it so that it lands around you.

The Lawn is Lava
A cross between hopscotch and everyone’s favorite game show, this is an obstacle course where the only safe place to stand is inside a hula hoop.

Hot Potato
Place the hula hoop around the person next to you, and keep passing it on until the music stops and the person standing inside the ring is out.

Rolling Races
Each contestant rolls the hoop along the ground until they reach the finish line, to see who gets there fastest.

Monkey in the Middle
A “monkey” stands in the middle while everyone else throws the hoop over their heads. If the “monkey” grabs the hoop, the person who threw it is the next monkey.

Jump-hoop Contest
Use the hoop instead of a jumprope and see how many times each person can jump it without messing up.

Shoot Some Hoops
Hang a hula hoop from a tree and use it as a target to throw a beach ball or shoot a water gun through.

Hoop Hole
You don’t need a cornhole set to toss some beanbags around! Use a hoop as the target, stand far away and see who gets closest to the middle.

Freeze Hula Hoop
Everyone hula hoops as the music plays; when it stops, whoever gets their hoop to stop the fastest, wins.

 

Hula Hoop Crafts

Dress Up Your Hoop
To make the games even more fun—or keep kids busy before it’s time for the games to start, personalize your hula hoops! Set out hula hoops and washi or artists’ tape (in kids’ school colors, a party palette or just your favorite shades), and tape the hoops into patterns. Use the one-of-a-kind hula hoops in your games, and let each kid take one home with them as a favor they leave. For a how-to, click here.

Light Up Your Hoop
Wrap twinkle lights around hula hoops, then hang them in the trees or from the ceiling as décor.

For more fun games and craft ideas—this time using balloons—click here.