Best 10 Fun Indoor Games For Kids

Materials: A biodegradable balloon and a straw for each person.

Instructions:

1. Decide on a start point and endpoint.
2. Set everyone at the start with an inflated balloon and a straw.
3. The first person to blow their balloon from the start to the finish, using the straw, wins.

Variations:

1. For younger children, you can race a shorter distance.
2. Make the game more difficult for older kids by setting out an obstacle course they must navigate while blowing their balloons.
3. If someone touches their balloon they have to go back to the beginning and start again.

Materials: Music you can turn on and off easily.

Instructions:

1. Play the music and have everyone dance or otherwise move to the music.
2. Turn off the music at random points.
3. When the music stops everyone must freeze in the exact position they’re in.
4. The first person to move is out.
5. The last person left playing wins.

Variations:

1. The first person to move isn’t out but instead must do a forfeit such as waddling around the room like a duck.

Materials: Paper or cling wrap for wrapping plus small prizes.

Instructions:

1. Loosely wrap a small prize in a layer of wrapping paper, cling wrap, or cloth.
2. Rewrap with multiple layers, placing small prizes between some layers.
3. The kids sit in a circle and pass the parcel to the person on their left while music plays.
4. Turn the music off randomly, and whoever is holding it when the music stops peels off a layer. If they reveal a prize, they keep it.
5. Keep going until the final prize is revealed.

Variations:

1. Place slips of paper with forfeits between some layers instead of prizes.

Materials: Random boxes, markers, scissors, and balls.

Instructions:

1. Cut holes in the boxes and allocate a value to each one. Ensure they are large enough to fit a ball through.
2. Set the boxes at different heights and distances.
3. Kids take turns throwing the balls at the holes and score points when they get the ball into the hole.
4. The highest score wins.

Variations:

1. Use crinkled-up newspaper or balloons instead of balls.

Materials: Paper cups.

Instructions:

1. Each child gets a bag of paper cups.
2. One person is the timer and shouts “Go.”
3. Each child tries to build the tallest tower of paper cups before the time is up.
4. The owner of the tallest tower wins.

Variations:

1. Forget the timer and whoever builds a tower made of a predetermined number of cups first, wins.

Materials: Only the players.

Instructions:

1. All of the players lay on the ground and pretend to be sleeping lions.
2. One person goes around the group making jokes or funny faces.
3. When one of the lions moves they are out.
4. The last sleeping lion wins.

Variations:

1. Have each player who is out help try to wake the remaining lions.

Blind Man’s Buff, also known as Blind Man’s Bluff, is an ancient children’s game that was played perhaps as long as two thousand years ago ⁽¹⁾.

Materials: A buff or something else to use as a blindfold.

Instructions:

1. One person is “it” and is blindfolded.
2. That person is spun around several times and must try to touch one of the other players.
3. The other players must move about the room as quietly as possible.
4. The person who is “it” must catch one of the other players.
5. If “it” touches someone, that someone becomes “it.”

Variations:

1. When a person is touched they don’t become “it,” they are out of the game and the last person in the game wins.

Materials: Empty bottles, water, a ball, or bowling set.

Instructions:

1. Fill each bottle with approximately one inch of water.
2. Stand the bottles in a triangle formation.
3. Roll or throw the ball to knock over the bottles.

Variations:

1. Put more water in the bottles, making them harder to knock over.
2. Label each bottle with a score, and the person who scores the most wins.

Materials: Just the players.

Instructions:

1. One player is chosen to be “it.”
2. “It” is blindfolded and sits on the floor.
3. The other players stand and hold hands in a circle around “it.”
4. The circle of players dances around, singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
5. When they get to the last word, the circle stops.
6. Whoever is “it” has to guess which player is standing directly behind them.
7. If they guess correctly, the named player becomes “it.”

Variations:

1. Use any song and stop on an agreed-upon word.