11 Games to Play on a Trampoline

A trampoline gets bought with enormous excitement and then, somewhere around week six, quietly becomes a thing the kids walk past. The fix is almost always the same: they have run out of ideas, not enthusiasm.

Here are eleven games that keep a trampoline in daily use. Most need nothing more than a few soft balls.

Before you start

Every game below is designed for one person on the mat at a time. That is not us being cautious for the sake of it: it is the single most important trampoline safety rule, because most serious injuries happen when two children of different sizes bounce together. Everyone else plays from outside the enclosure, which is what makes these games work.

A few other things worth setting up front:

• Use soft balls only. Foam, light plastic or a beach ball. Never anything hard.
• Bare feet, empty pockets, zip the enclosure shut.
• An adult watching, not an adult nearby.
• No flips or somersaults, in any game.

If you are still choosing a trampoline, our guide to choosing a safe trampoline covers clearances, padding and what AS 4989 actually requires.

1. Frog Jump

Players: three. You need: one soft ball.

One player is the Frog and stands in the middle of the mat. The other two stand outside the enclosure on opposite sides and throw the ball over the trampoline to each other. The Frog bounces and tries to intercept it.

The two throwers can move around the outside to make the angles harder, but the ball always has to travel over the trampoline. When the Frog catches it, whoever threw that ball becomes the new Frog.

2. Airborne Catch

Players: two. You need: one soft ball.

One player bounces, the other stands outside and throws the ball high above the enclosure. The jumper has to time their bounce so they catch it while airborne. A catch with both feet on the mat does not count.

One point per airborne catch, ten throws each, highest score wins. This one is good for younger children because it rewards timing rather than power, and it is a genuinely nice game for a parent to play with one child.

3. Memory Bounce

Players: three or more. You need: nothing.

The first player gets on and performs one simple move: a seat drop, a half turn, a star jump. They get off. The second player gets on, repeats that move, then adds one of their own. The third repeats both and adds a third.

The sequence grows until someone gets the order wrong or forgets a move, and they are out. Players who are out become the judges, which is usually where the real arguing happens. Last one standing wins.

4. Birds in the Nest

Players: three or more. You need: a bag of light plastic balls in several colours.

One player is the Bird and sits inside the enclosure. Everyone else is a Runner, and each Runner is assigned a colour.

Send the Runners inside the house. The Bird hides all the balls around the backyard, the sneakier the better, then returns to the nest. Bring the Runners back out and say go.

Each Runner hunts for balls of their colour and throws each one they find into the nest for the Bird to collect. When the Bird calls "to the nest", everyone stops and you count. Whoever got the most of their colour into the nest wins and becomes the next Bird.

This one combines a treasure hunt with running around the whole yard, so it burns far more energy than it looks like it should.

5. Dodge Ball

Players: three or more. You need: several soft balls.

One player bounces. Everyone else stands outside the enclosure and gently rolls or lobs soft balls onto the mat. The jumper keeps bouncing and tries not to make contact with any of them.

The balls roll unpredictably as the mat moves, which is the whole game. Time each player's run until they touch a ball. Longest time wins.

6. Castle Attack

Players: four or more. You need: soft balls or water balloons.

One player is the Monarch and stays inside the enclosure. Everyone else is an Attacker and stays outside.

Attackers throw soft balls over the net, trying to hit the Monarch, who bounces and dodges. Three hits and the Attacker who landed the third becomes the new Monarch. Whoever holds the crown longest wins.

On a hot day, water balloons make this considerably more popular and considerably wetter.

7. Bounce and Freeze

Players: two or more. You need: music.

Musical statues, on a trampoline. One player bounces while the music plays. When it stops they have to land and hold completely still, feet planted, no wobble.

Anyone who moves, steadies themselves or takes an extra bounce is out for that round. Rotate through the players and keep score across rounds.

Deceptively hard, because stopping a bounce cleanly takes far more control than starting one.

8. Bubble Zone

Players: one child plus an adult. You need: bubble mixture.

Less a game than an activity, and the best thing on this list for toddlers and preschoolers.

The adult sits off to one side of the mat and blows bubbles in every direction. The child bounces and pops as many as they can before the bubbles land. Then swap, and let them try blowing.

Hose the mat down afterwards to get rid of the residue, which otherwise makes it slippery.

9. Jericho

Players: two or more. You need: a set of stacking blocks.

Build a tower of blocks in the centre of the mat. One player at a time gets on and bounces around the outside of it, trying to bring the tower down in fewer than seven circuits.

Put music on for it. If the competition gets serious, switch to timing instead and the fastest collapse wins. A set of giant games blocks works well for this, or any wooden blocks you already have.

10. Sharpshooter

Players: three or more. You need: one small soft ball.

One player bounces continuously inside the enclosure. The others take turns getting a single throw each to hit them with a small soft ball, aiming below the shoulders.

First person to land a hit on their opening throw wins the round and swaps in. It rewards accuracy rather than force, which is what keeps it safe.

11. Blindfold Volley

Players: two. You need: a large light ball, a blindfold.

The jumper wears a blindfold. The player outside calls out clearly, then throws the ball gently towards them. The jumper tries to hit or kick it while bouncing, guided only by the call and their partner's directions.

When they connect, both players score. Use a big soft ball, something like a beach ball, and keep the throws gentle. Best played with a parent doing the throwing.

Getting more out of it

Two things keep a trampoline in use long term. The first is rotating the games rather than defaulting to plain bouncing. The second is putting it somewhere the kids pass regularly rather than at the back fence.

You can browse the full range in our kids trampolines collection, and if you are still deciding on a size, our trampoline buying guide walks through the clearances you need before you order.

Written by Carla, owner at All Things For Kids.