Are you looking for indoor games for kids that won’t leave the house looking like a war zone? Here are 15 entertaining and fun indoor games for kids, guaranteed to keep them amusedfor hours, without the mess! Andmost of these games are suitable for larger groups so they’re perfect for birthday parties too!
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These clever ideas for fun indoor games are all free or low-cost, so they are perfect for when you’re cooped up inside and need some entertaining ideas!
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Fun Indoor Games to Play Together
#1. Homemade Headz Up
Headz Up is popular among children of all ages. To create a homemade version you will simply need Post It notes (or paper strips and tape) and a pen.
- Depending on the age of the children, get each one to write the name of a famous person or character on a post it note, or for younger children draw a picture of an object.
- Mix them up and stick a post it to each child’s forehead or to their back
- Each child gets to ask a question to try and help them guess who or what they are (for example: Am I a sportsperson? Am I male? Am I a Disney princess?).
Make it harder: Players can only answer questions with a yes or no answer.
As an alternative, you could place all the notes in a dish and get a child to pick one out. They have to describe the person/object on the note and everyone else has to guess who it is.
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#2. Stop the Bus
Classic fun indoor games like this are always popular!
- Each person has a piece of paper and draws on columns for these headings Girls Name, Boys Name, Animal, Food/Drink, Place.
- One person says the alphabet silently in their head, thenanother says “Stop the Bus” and that letter is the initial forthe words in each category. e.g. Say the letter is D – Categories could be : Dora, David, Dog, Dates, Denmark.
- When everyone has finished you add up their scores for that round, awarding10 points for a unique answer(oneno one else has), and 5 points for a duplicate answer.
Make it harder: Add new categories such as Colour, Sport, School Subject, Movie Title, etc. You could also set a time limit for completing each round.
#3. Indoor Treasure Hunt
An indoor treasure hunt is a good way to spend the afternoon. Below are 3 different versions that are all equally fun.
- You could use your mobile phone or tablet to take photos of objects and then hide them around the house. The children have to hunt for all the images.
- Or simply give the group a list of 20 items that they have to find and bring back to you.
- One parent told us that she hides socks around the house, just one from each pair, then gives the children the other socks and they have to seek out the ones to make a pair for each one they have!
Make it harder: Use a timer.
#4. Name that Tune (With a Twist)
Instead of humming the tune, get everyone to gargle a song and the rest of the group have to guess what it is!
Make it harder: Assign a band/theme/artist to each person.
#5. Animal, Fish, Bird
Gather the group of children in a circle and pick someone to be ‘it’.
- They must approach another player and say either Animal, Fish or Bird and that person has 10 seconds to give them the name of one of the species asked for.
- The species can only be used once by all the players.
- If the person guesses within 10 seconds, the person who is ‘it’ moves on to someone else, but if they fail to answer correctly in the time they become ‘it’.
#6. What Am I Eating!
My girls love playing this game with their friends – fun indoor games for tweens and teens are also important!
Blindfold one person and raid the cupboards to find items for them to taste. Things like honey, soy sauce, mustard, frozen pea, marshmallow and mayonnaise all work well.
The blindfolded person must try and guess what they have been given to taste. Make sure you check for food allergies before playing this game. And it is probably best to supervise the food choices!
#7. He Said, She Said
A fun way to get the kids’ imaginations going. Each person gets a piece of paper and a pen/pencil. They write the first line of a story and pass the paper over the to next person, who writes the next line, and so on until the page comes back to the original author.
Make it harder: As you twist you could fold the paper in a fan shape and cover the previous line so that the person cannot see what the earlier part of the story was.
#8. What Could It Be?
This is a great game for younger children, but kids any age will enjoy it.
- You will need paper and colouring pencils, markers or crayons.
- Give each person a piece of paper and fold it over 3 times.
- On the first fold they must draw a head and face, then pass it on for the next person, with the top part covered.
- The next person must draw a body without knowing what the face looks like.
- The final person draws the legs and feet, again without seeing what the earlier drawing are.
- Unfold the pages to see the (hilarious!) results.
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#9. Heads or Tails
This is a good indoor games for parties but smaller groups can play it too. All you need is a coin.
- Get everyone to either place their hands on their heads or their bums (tails).
- Toss the coin and if it is tails all the people with their hands on their heads sit down.
- Keep going until there are only 2 people left, they must choose different positions, and the winner is the last person remaining.
I have seen this game used at large fundraising functions where everyone in the room puts money in an envelope to play the game and when you get down to 15 or less people get them into the middle of the room for the final throws. Hilarious!
#10. Balloon Keepy Uppy
This simple game is great fun for all ages. Everyone stands in a circle and you hit the balloon up in the air. You must all help to keep the balloon up off the ground for as long as possible.
For 2 players, you could play balloon tennis by making bats out of paper plates stuck to a wooden spoon.
Make it harder: As one person hits the balloon they shout another player’s name and they must hit it next, and so on.
#11. Flying Carpet
Each child, or group of children, stands on a rug or cushion in the middle of the floor. This is their ‘flying carpet’ – the only problem is, it is upside down! The object of this game is to turn the ‘flying carpet’ over without stepping off it. If you step on the floor you are out!
This is more difficult than it sounds!
#12. Build it High
Using marshmallows and wooden skewers or uncooked spaghetti, see who can build the highest stack. You may need a few packets of marshmallows for this game as, if they build it well, they may be able to join several skewers together.
The stacks must stay up without help!
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#13. Indoor Obstacle Course (With a Twist)
Set up some obstacles in the room. Blindfold one player and the rest of the players must lead them through the obstacle course by telling them the way to go. Left to avoid a chair, right 2 steps to avoid a table, etc.
For bigger groups, split them into pairs and let each playing take a turn at leading and navigating.
#14. Simple Shaker Indoor Game for Kids
This works better with 6 or more children.
- Sit the children around in a circle and give them a shaker or toy that makes noise.
- One player is then blindfolded and stands in the middle of the group.
- A seated player rattles the shaker/toy and passes it on.
- The blindfolded player must try and find the shaker before it gets passed along.
#15. Murderer Wink
Sit all the children in a circle and get them to close their eyes.
- Pick one player (or 2 if you have a really large group), to be the murderer by touching them on their shoulder.
- Then get everyone to open their eyes. The ‘murderer’ must catch another player’s eye and wink quickly at them. If you are winked at you die, in a really dramatic fashion of course!
- The other players must try and guess who the murderer is.
- The murderer keeps winking at people until they are all out or they have been caught.
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What are your favourite indoor games for kids? Leave a comment below and let us know – we’d love to hear from you!
