Active games and indoor activities are a great way to get everyone in the family moving, giggling, and away from their screens. To help you get the family up and about, here is a list of five easy indoor active games that adults and children can play together.
- Musical Statues
A classic party game that can be played anywhere you have control of the music. This game gets you and your kids dancing whilst developing their listening and concentration skills.
How to play:
- Gather your group together and choose someone to be the “DJ” The DJ will choose some music and control the music throughout the game.
- When the music begins, everyone starts dancing/moving around.
- When the DJ stops the music, everyone has to freeze and hold still like a statue.
- Anyone who continues moving or fails to freeze is out of the game.
- The game continues when the DJ resumes the music.
- The last player standing wins.
- Keeper of the keys
Keeper of the keys is a stealth and strategy game that helps kids practice their balance, listening skills and focus.
How to play: .
- First, choose who will be ‘keeper of the keys’ and invite them to sit on the chair in the middle of the room.
- Place a set of keys beneath the chair and blindfold the ‘keeper of the keys’.
- Everyone else in the room must then choose a starting place by the wall.
- Everyone else must then try to take the keys without the ‘keeper’ noticing or hearing them.
- If the ‘keeper’ hears someone attempting to steal the keys, they must point to where they think the thief is, or where the keys have been taken. If correct, the player who has been caught must return to their original spot and start again.
- Once the keys have been successfully stolen, the ‘keeper’ (with blind fold removed) gets one guess to see who has the keys.
- Bring me…
This is a simple game that requires quick thinking and helps children practice their searching and finding skills.
How to play:
- Grab a pen and paper to keep score.
- Each player takes it in turns to request an item by saying “Bring me (item)” This can be as specific as you like eg. Oven glove. Or something of a specific shape or color. It could also be something only your family would know eg. Bring me one of my favorite snacks.
- The first person to return with a correct item gets a point.
- The game ends whenever you as a group decide to (so long as everyone has had the same amount of turns).
Below are more examples of requests you can use:
- A selfie on a device
- Something with a disney character on it
- Something edible
- Something that is completely green
- Chapstick
- A penny, a nickel, a dime, and a quarter (exactly)
- A liquid
- Something that feels cold
- Something in the shape of a cube
- Charades
Charades is a very popular and well known game that helps develop quick thinking and communication skills.
How to play:
- Divide players into two teams.
- Choose a player from one team to be the first to act out a word or phrase.
- The player selects a word or phrase from a predetermined category (such as movies, books, or famous people) without telling anyone else what it is. If you have smaller children you can make this simpler by putting a selection of books or character toys in a box for them to pick from.
- The player then acts out the word or phrase using only gestures, without speaking, while their team tries to guess what it is.
- The team has a limited amount of time (usually one or two minutes) to guess the word or phrase.
- If the team guesses correctly, they earn a point, and play passes to the other team.
- If the team is unable to guess correctly within the time limit, the other team gets a chance to guess the word or phrase for a point.
- Play continues with players taking turns acting out words or phrases until all players have had a chance to participate, or until a predetermined number of points has been reached.
- Don’t drop the balloon
Don’t drop the balloon is a great game for concentration, focus and balance. The rules are simple, everyone gets a balloon. Each player must then keep their hands behind their back but keep the balloon from touching the ground. They must not use their hands but continue to keep the balloon up in the air until the timer goes off.