45+ Fun Indoor Games for Kids of All Ages,

Categorized
Jan 06 2016

30

Rainy day and indoor games for kids of all ages! This list is categorized into age
appropriate groups, but as always, these indoor games for kids can truly be
enjoyed by anyone who is ready and willing to have fun. What indoor games did
your family love to play growing up, and what indoor games do you play now
with your kids? Let us know!

Note: Most of these games are classics that can be played without any fancy
equipment, but if you would like to purchase a game, we have included links to
our Amazon store. While your price does not change, we receive a small
commission on any purchases made through our site.

Indoor games for kids ages 2-4

Indoor games for kids ages 5-8
Indoor games for kids ages 9-12
Indoor games for kids ages 13-17
Indoor games for kids of all ages!

Indoor games for kids ages 2-4

1. I Spy
A great game for your child to get to know the world around her. For a child
who has never played, you can start by picking out an object within plain
view, not mentioning the object, and saying “I Spy something blue.” If there
is only one child, then she can keep guessing until she gets it right. If there
are multiple children then they can take turns looking around and guessing.
The first child correct gets to spy something next. Simple and fun!
Variations – Limit the number of guesses each child gets. Or,
say things like “I Spy something that is a circle.” The
difficulty is easily changed by what you are actually spying
(smaller or less obvious things) and how you describe what
is spied (bumpy or soft things, for example).
2. Balance Beam

This is more easily set up than you might think. Go get the masking tape,
tape down a line of any length, and have a blast! Challenge your child to
only walk on the line all the way to end. And definitely tape down further
lines at different angles. Spirals and zig-zags are always fun.
Variations – The fastest child without stepping off, walking it
heel-to-toe, walking it backwards, with eyes closed (socks off
so they can feel the line), and jumping down the line (both
feet still on!) are all great variants. If you want to get real
 about it, you can certainly lay down and secure 2×4 pieces
of wood!

3. Touch-and-Feel

This is a great way to focus young kids on the sense of touch in a world so
focused on the sense of sight. Get their mind to associate information to
something other than just the way it looks. The point here is to put interesting
objects into containers that a child must reach into and identify without looking
at them. You’ll most likely want to use shoe boxes for the container as they are
usually readily available, can be easily cut with scissors, and do not let any light
through. Making the boxes can actually be part of the fun – have the kids color,
paint, or draw on them, but make sure to cut out a child-sized hand hole on the
side of the box beforehand as we don’t want good art to be cut out J! Put an
item in each box and have your kids take turns guessing what the items are.
Encourage questions and offer clues as needed. After identifying the objects you
can have one of the children go get the items to put in next.

Variations – Offer points to those that guess correctly, or put in foods that may
be wet, like spaghetti noodles or grapes.

4. Sorting
For younger kids, sorting colors is the easiest way to start. More advanced
sorting can be had by the texture of a surface or type of object, for instance
wooden vs plastic vs metal. To make the sorting “bins” you can use masking
tape if you’d like.

Variations – You can make it into a full on game by asking competing children to
go find 5 objects of each type the fastest. Or you can enforce an order that they
must retrieve them in – first red, then blue, then yellow, then repeat.

5. Bubbles
No, we’re not asking you to blow bubbles all over the house and get the walls
and carpet all soapy! This version can be kept tame with kids sitting around a
table. Simply get a plate and straw for each child and put a coin-sized drop of
dish soap on the plate. Then mix a little water in until you have some suds that
form. Each child should then put the end of the straw straight up and down into
the suds so that a layer of soap forms over the end of the straw. Blowing very
slowly, a single bubble will start to grow! Who can make the biggest bubble?
Who can hold the bubble there the longest? Who can laugh the most at a bubble
that just popped? These questions must be answered.

6. Keep the Balloon Up

OK, this one admittedly can get a little rambunctious. I have witnessed a
birthday party of 15 four-year olds playing this game and my mouth was literally
agape. Watch your lamps and wall dressings! Absurdly simple – blow up some
balloons, tell the kids to keep the balloons from touching the floor, and get the
party started!

Variations – You can make this a game where kids can get “out”. Get a couple
judges, tell the kids if they are the last person to touch a balloon that hits the
ground then they are “out”. If you’re feeling adventurous, tell them that they
can hit balloons at each other!

Indoor games for kids ages 5-8

7. Simon Says
I remember having lots of fun playing this game with school teachers even as a
13 year old! First, choose someone to be “Simon”. Next, kids must do whatever
Simon says when starting a command with “Simon Says”, for instance “Simon
Says touch your nose.” If a child fails to do it before you finish saying your next
“Simon Says” command, then they are “out” of that game of Simon Says. You
can also attempt to get children “out” by saying commands that don’t start with
Simon Says. If a child follows that directions then they are “out”! The last kid
that is “in” gets to be Simon. If you want to make the game difficult for older
kids, simply issue commands faster and faster, and make the needed actions
more and more difficult to complete. Before you know it, you’ll sound like an
auctioneer!

Variations – A fun variation is to play Simon Says with drawing or coloring.

“Simon Says draw a circle. Simon Says draw a stick figure. Draw a tiger. Ohhh,
Emily you’re out, you started to draw a tiger!”

8. Scavenger Hunt
If you haven’t done a scavenger hunt lately, then you just aren’t living! A
scavenger hunt is all about finding items from a list in certain rooms or areas.
First, find some things around the house that you want your kids to locate and a
few pieces of paper & pencil. Depending on how many items you want the kids
to find and how many kids are a part of the game, you can either hand write the
lists of items for each child, or type it up on a computer and print out copies. If
the items will be in difficult hiding spots you can write clues next to each item
on the list. Now go hide everything! The kids will love the adventure and
challenge.

Variations – This game can easily be made into a treasure hunt. The hard part is
writing the clever clues to go with each item that will help lead them to the next
one.

9. Hot Potato
This game can get a little giggly, so be warned! Simply get any soft ball or rolled
up socks and underhand-toss it to a child. Instruct them to under-hand toss it to
someone else as quickly as possible. Each child repeats this. When does this
game end? Who knows? Just get rid of it!

Variations – If you have enough children, play short segments of music while
they toss the object, stop the music, and the last child to touch it when the
music stops is out of the game. Repeat until there is only 1 child.

10. Hide and Seek

This has to be one of oldest games on planet Earth!
Variations – The variations of this game can be truly fun for both kids and adults!
Hide and seek in the dark – scary! It really can be a lot harder to find someone.
Hide and seek tag – if someone is about to be caught, they can choose to run
away!

11. Duck, Duck, Goose (or Duck, Duck, Grey Duck for us Minnesotans!)
This fun indoor game was one I played in school from time to time. It needs
about a minimum of 6 children to play it. Choose someone to be the Goose (or
Grey Duck). All the other kids sit in a circle. The Goose then walks around the
circle, tapping each kid on the head and says “Duck”. “Duck, duck, duck,
duck…” Eventually, the Goose choose a new Goose and says “Goose!” instead
of “Duck” when tapping a person on the head. The old Goose has to run around
the circle and try to sit in the spot of the new Goose, while the new Goose has to
get up from where they were sitting and chase the old Goose in the same
direction. There are two outcomes: 1) the old Goose is able to run around the
circle and sit down in the new Goose’s spot without being tagged. The old Goose
is now a duck and gets to sit in the circle. The new Goose is now truly the Goose
and needs to repeat what the old Goose just did. 2) The new Goose chases the
old Goose and tags the old Goose before he/she gets to sit down in the vacant
spot in the circle. The old Goose then remains the Goose and repeats what they
just did, trying to become a duck sitting in the circle.

12. Animal Charades

Lots of fun to be had with this game. Before playing, first print off this page of
animal pictures. Cut out each individual animal, fold each in half, and put them
in a bucket. Begin the game by having the first child choose a piece of paper.
The child then needs to act out the animal silently, and all other children need to
try to guess what animal is being portrayed. Once the animal is guessed, choose
another child who has not picked a piece of paper yet, and then they get to have
their fun acting!

Variations – If a child is having difficulty silently acting the out the animal, then
you can let the child try to make the sounds that the animal makes.
Free image (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0) of animals found here:

http://vectorgoods.com/animal-vector

13. Indoor Obstacle Course

This is one game that I absolutely loved as a kid. Here are some ideas for your
course that you obviously could put in any order:

a. Put down pillows or couch cushions and the kids need to jump from one to the
next. Alternatively, the kids could need to jump over the pillows or cushions!
b. Climb over ottomans.
c. Allow only jumping/somersaulting/crawling/crab walking from one area of the
course to another.
d. Put down some Balance Beams as described in game number 2.
e. One of my personal favorites as kid – crawling through tunnels made from
blankets or sheets hung over chairs and couches.
f. Perform various exercise like 20 jumping jacks.
g. Toss 5 sock snowballs from game number 18 into laundry baskets. Throwing
stuffed animals also works here.
h. Crawl under tables

Variations – For older kids, time them to see how long it takes them to go
through the whole course.

14. Musical Chairs

Get your dancin’ shoes on! This game is best with at least 4 or more children
playing and 1 additional person to stop the music.

Variations – If you don’t have enough chairs, then you could substitute for pieces
of colored construction paper taped to the ground. When the music stops, the
child who gets both feet on first claims the spot. Or you could even use both
chairs and paper!

15. Rock, Paper, Scissors

I always love using this game to settle something when I don’t have a coin to
flip.

Variations – Try holding a tournament! You can get as fancy as you want, writing
down the tournament brackets of all the children on paper, or having each child
play all other children and see who gets the most wins!

Indoor games for kids ages 9-12

16. Indoor Bowling
Get some empty water bottles or plastic cups, a ball, and start bowling!

Variations – Make a bulls-eye on the ground out of masking tape or one on a

piece of paper. With each section worth different amounts of points, the kids can
take aim and challenge each other.

17. Telephone
I get excited just thinking about this game. The more kids the better. Line the
kids up, think of a sentence of sufficient length, and see what that sentence
becomes by the time each kids whispers it into the next kid’s ear. O.M.G. Funny.

18. Basketball
Make a few “snowballs” out of pairs of socks, get a laundry basket (or smaller
receptacles for more challenge), and you’re all set. Kids can take turns shooting
to score, and they could even take the risk of a longer shot worth more points!
The first one to score a certain amount of points wins.

Variations – Each kids shoots the ball, and if they score they take a step back.
The one to score from the furthest distance wins.

19. Marbles
Obviously you’ll need some marbles for this game, but make sure to get 1
bigger marble for each kid that is going to play. First, make a circle 3 feet wide
out of masking tape or string. Then place 3-5 marbles near the center of the
circle for each kid playing, so for 3 kids playing you might have 9 marbles near
the center. Then each child takes a turn, with their hands outside the circle,
flicking their big marble out of their fist with their thumb at other marbles. If
they knock any marbles out of the ring then they get to keep them and shoot
again. If they miss, then they leave their big marble there until it is their turn
again. The winner is the kid with the most marbles when all marbles are
knocked out of the ring. Have fun!

20. Dominoes
Another one of those classic games for kids and adults alike. Click here for
instructions on how to play. You don’t even need to buy dominoes, just print
them and cut them out!

21. Domino Toppling

Unlike playing the game dominoes, you’ll need to purchase these from a store.
Simply set them up one after the other and tip them over!

Variations – Ever heard of a Rube Goldberg machine? You can start out your
machine using dominoes!

Indoor games for kids ages 13-17

22. Two Truths and a Lie
This game is commonly used for introductions, but it doesn’t need to be. Each
kid simply writes down two truths and one lie about oneself, and the others
need to guess which one is the lie.

Variations – Try a game of two lies and a truth and guess the truth!

23. Twenty Questions

This game is great one for indoors, car rides, and anytime you are waiting.
Super easy to play – one person thinks of an object, and another person has 20
questions to guess what it is!
Variations – Instead of a thing, one person thinks of something in a category
such as famous people or occupations.

24. Charades
If you haven’t played this classic game, then you need to. Right now! For full
instructionsclick here.

Variations – All secret words come from a theme such as movies. Or play with a
partner and compete against other sets of partners.

25. Sock Wars

The setup of this game can actually be as fun as playing it. Divide into two
teams, create some sock balls from pairs of socks, and then each team creates
its fort! Blankets, pillows, chairs, and couches are all fair game. Once you have
built your elaborate fort, make sure all breakables are cleared away and start
throwing! If a kid is hit then they are out for the remainder of the game. The last
team standing wins.

Variations – If you have enough Nerf equipment, swap it out for the socks.

Indoor games for kids of all ages!

26. Board Games
Here is a list of board games that I enjoyed as a kid (OK, as an adult too :-))

a. Candy Land
b. Sorry!
c. Monopoly
d. Chutes and Ladders
e. Chess
f. Checkers
g. Pictionary
h. Scrabble
i. Twister
27. Card Games
I’ve played these kid-friendly card games innumerable times.

a. War (instructions)
b. Crazy Eights (instructions)
c. Rat Slap (instructions)
d. Spoons (instructions)

28. Paper Games

Classic games that are fun to play anytime!

a. Hangman (instructions)
b. Dots and Boxes (instructions)
c. Tick-tack-toe (instructions)

29. Alphabet Game

This one is all about coming up with themes. I’ve listed some below to get you
started. Within your chosen theme, take turns with letters of the alphabet and
come up with things in the theme. For instance, in the theme “Animals”, you
would have anteater, baboon, carp, duck, etc.

a. Animals
b. Countries and US states
c. Famous people (many sub-categories here, actors, actresses, etc)
d. Household items
e. Kitchen items
f. Food
g. Drinks
h. Movies
i. Cartoon characters

Variations – Normally played in the car, start from “A” and say things that you
see while driving.
30. Dice Games
Fun with dice!

a. Beetle (instructions)
b. Dice chess (instructions)
c. Yahtzee (instructions)
d. Farkle (instructions)