Games for kids at home have saved more afternoons than any toy we know of. It is 4 pm, it is raining, school is shut, and somebody has just said “I’m bored” for the sixth time. You do not need a shopping trip to fix that. You need a balloon, some tape, a pencil and about ten minutes of your own energy.
At Taki Taki Games we watch children play all day, and the games they go back to are rarely the fancy ones. So here are 35 games for kids at home that work in a normal flat, with normal furniture, using things already in your kitchen drawer. We have sorted them by what you have on hand and how much noise you can take today.
Ten quick picks if you are in a hurry
Short on time? These are the ten games for kids at home we would start with. Each one is explained further down.
| Game | Best for age | Players | You need |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simon Says | 3+ | 2 or more | Nothing |
| Freeze Dance | 3+ | 2 or more | Music |
| The Floor Is Lava | 4+ | 1 or more | Cushions |
| Balloon Tennis | 4+ | 2 | A balloon |
| Scavenger Hunt | 4+ | 1 or more | A list |
| Tic-Tac-Toe | 5+ | 2 | Paper, pencil |
| Ludo | 5+ | 2 to 4 | Ludo board |
| Dumb Charades | 6+ | 4 or more | Nothing |
| Name, Place, Animal, Thing | 7+ | 2 or more | Paper, pencil |
| Carrom | 7+ | 2 to 4 | Carrom board |
Why games for kids at home are worth the mess
The World Health Organization says children aged 5 to 17 need an average of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a day. On a rainy day or during exam season, that is hard to hit. Active games for kids at home count toward it.
There is more to it than exercise, though. A round of Ludo teaches a six year old to wait for a turn and to lose without flipping the board. Charades gets a shy child talking. And games for kids at home are the one screen break that does not feel like a punishment, which is probably the real reason parents search for them.
Nothing to buy and nothing to set up. These games for kids at home need only people. Keep them in your back pocket for power cuts, long waits and lazy Sundays.
1. Simon Says
One person is Simon and gives orders. Players obey only when the order starts with “Simon says”. Anyone who moves on a plain order is out. Speed it up as they get better.
Age: 3+ | Players: 2 or more
2. Freeze Dance (Statue)
Play a song and let everyone dance. Stop the music without warning. Whoever is still moving sits out the next round. For little ones, skip the elimination and ask for animal poses.
Age: 3+ | Players: 2 or more
3. I Spy
Pick something in the room and say “I spy something red” or “something starting with B”. The others guess. It sounds too simple to work, yet it can fill twenty minutes.
Age: 3+ | Players: 2 or more
4. Dumb Charades
Act out a film, animal or cartoon without speaking while your team guesses. Give younger kids easy prompts like “brushing teeth” or “elephant”. Older kids can handle movie titles.
Age: 6+ | Players: 4 or more
5. Name, Place, Animal, Thing
Pick a letter. Everyone writes a name, a place, an animal and a thing starting with it, as fast as they can. Unique answers score ten, shared answers score five. Strictly speaking you need paper, but most families play it aloud in the car.
Age: 7+ | Players: 2 or more
6. Chinese Whispers
Sit in a line. The first child whispers a sentence to the next, and so on. The last one says it aloud. The result is usually nonsense, and that is the whole point.
Age: 5+ | Players: 5 or more
Active indoor games to burn energy
When they are bouncing off the sofa, telling them to sit still never works. Active games for kids at home give that energy somewhere to go. Move the centre table first.
7. The Floor Is Lava
Scatter cushions, mats and folded towels across the room. Kids cross from one end to the other without touching the floor. Add a timer once they have the hang of it.
Age: 4+ | You need: cushions or mats
8. Indoor obstacle course
Crawl under a chair, hop over a pillow, walk a tape line, then spin three times. Let the children design round two themselves. They will make it harder than you would.
Age: 4+ | You need: chairs, pillows, tape
9. Balloon Tennis
Blow up a balloon and keep it off the ground using hands or paper plate rackets. A balloon is slow and soft, so nothing breaks. In our experience it holds attention longer than most other games for kids at home.
Age: 4+ | You need: one balloon
10. Tape hopscotch
Mark a hopscotch grid on the floor with masking tape and number the boxes. Toss a rolled sock instead of a stone. The tape peels off clean afterwards.
Age: 4+ | You need: masking tape, a sock
11. Bottle bowling
Line up six empty plastic bottles at the end of a corridor and roll a soft ball at them. Add a little water to each bottle if they fall too easily. Keeping score is sneaky maths practice.
Age: 3+ | You need: bottles, a soft ball
12. Scavenger hunt
Write a list: something round, something blue, something that smells nice, a spoon. First one back with everything wins. For kids who cannot read yet, draw the items. It is also one of the easiest games for kids at home to repeat, since a new list makes a new game.
Age: 4+ | You need: a list and a bag
13. Sock basketball
Roll socks into balls and shoot them into a laundry basket. Move the basket back a step after every score. It also happens to get the laundry sorted.
Age: 3+ | You need: socks, a basket
14. Animal walk races
Race across the room as a crab, a frog, a bear or a snake. It looks silly and is real exercise. Expect them to sleep well that night.
Age: 3+ | You need: floor space
Games for kids at home with paper
A sheet of paper and a pencil is enough for an hour of play. These games for kids at home are also the quietest ones, which matters when a baby is asleep or a parent is on a call.
15. Tic-Tac-Toe
Draw the grid, take turns with X and O, and get three in a row. Play best of five. When it gets too easy, switch to a four by four grid.
Age: 5+ | Players: 2
16. Dots and Boxes
Draw a grid of dots. Players take turns joining two dots with a line. Whoever closes a box writes their initial inside and goes again. Most boxes wins.
Age: 6+ | Players: 2 to 3
17. Hangman
One player thinks of a word and draws a dash for each letter. The others guess letters before the drawing is complete. It is a decent spelling drill that does not feel like homework.
Age: 7+ | Players: 2 or more
18. Pictionary
Write words on chits, fold them and drop them in a bowl. One player draws while the team guesses within a minute. No letters or numbers allowed.
Age: 6+ | Players: 4 or more
19. Paper plane contest
Everyone folds a plane. Test for longest flight, then for best landing on a target. Let them redesign between rounds, because that is where the learning happens.
Age: 5+ | Players: 1 or more
Classic Indian indoor games kids still love
Some of the best games for kids at home are the ones our parents and grandparents played. Most families already own at least two of these.
20. Carrom
Flick the striker to pocket your coins before your opponent does, then go for the queen. It builds patience and aim. A sprinkle of carrom powder makes a real difference.
Age: 7+ | Players: 2 to 4
21. Ludo
Roll the dice, move your four tokens around the board and get them home first. Play the physical board if you can. It is slower than the app, and better for it.
Age: 5+ | Players: 2 to 4
22. Snakes and Ladders
Roll, climb the ladders and slide down the snakes. No skill is needed, so a four year old can beat a grandparent. That is exactly why small kids adore it.
Age: 4+ | Players: 2 to 4
23. Antakshari
One team sings a song. The next team starts a song with the last letter of the previous one. It is one of the few games for kids at home that works across three generations.
Age: 6+ | Players: 4 or more
24. Passing the Parcel
Wrap a small gift in many layers of newspaper. Pass it around while music plays. When the music stops, the holder removes one layer. Tuck a silly task inside each layer for extra laughs.
Age: 4+ | Players: 5 or more
25. Lemon and spoon race
Balance a lemon on a spoon and walk from one wall to the other. Dropping it means starting again. Indoors, a small potato is less likely to roll under the sofa.
Age: 5+ | Players: 2 or more
Party games for kids at home
Hosting a birthday in your living room? You do not need an entertainer for the first hour. These party games for kids at home handle groups of six to fifteen with almost no props.
26. Musical Chairs
Set out one chair fewer than the number of children. They walk around while music plays and sit when it stops. Remove a chair each round. Use floor cushions if space is tight.
Age: 4+ | Players: 6 or more
27. Treasure hunt
Hide five or six clues around the house, each leading to the next, with a small prize at the end. Use picture clues for younger children and riddles for older ones.
Age: 5+ | Players: 2 or more
28. One minute games
Stack ten cups into a pyramid, move sweets with a straw, or keep two balloons in the air. Each child gets sixty seconds. Of all party games for kids at home, these are the easiest to judge.
Age: 6+ | Players: 4 or more
29. Hot Potato
Sit in a circle and pass a soft ball while music plays. Whoever holds it when the music stops is out. It is over in five minutes, so it fills the gap before cake nicely.
Age: 4+ | Players: 5 or more
30. Pin the Tail
Stick a poster of an animal on the wall. Blindfold each child, spin them once and let them try to pin the tail in place. Mark each attempt with initials.
Age: 4+ | Players: 4 or more
Quiet and brain games for calm afternoons
Not every game has to be loud. Quiet games for kids at home suit the hour after lunch, or any day you have a headache.
31. Memory card match
Lay a deck of cards face down. Turn over two at a time and keep the pairs you find. Start with ten pairs for small children.
Age: 4+ | Players: 1 to 4
32. Memory tray
Put ten small objects on a tray. Give the kids thirty seconds to look, then cover it and secretly remove one. They guess what is missing.
Age: 5+ | Players: 2 or more
33. Jigsaw puzzles
Pick a puzzle a little above their level and leave it on a table for a few days. People drift over and add a piece. Among games for kids at home, it is the rare one that works without a schedule.
Age: 4+ | Players: 1 or more
34. Build a fort
Drape bedsheets over chairs and hold them with clothes pegs. Add pillows and a torch. The building is the game, and then it becomes the reading corner.
Age: 3+ | Players: 1 or more
35. Story round robin
One person starts a story with a single sentence. The next adds a sentence, and so on. The plots get ridiculous within a minute.
Age: 5+ | Players: 3 or more
Which games suit which age?
Not all games for kids at home work for every child. A rough guide:
Ages 3 to 5: Keep rules to one line. Simon Says, Freeze Dance, bottle bowling, animal walks, Snakes and Ladders and fort building all work. Skip elimination, because being “out” ends in tears at this age.
Ages 6 to 8: At this age, games for kids at home need rules and a winner. Try the scavenger hunt, Ludo, Tic-Tac-Toe, Dots and Boxes, Pictionary and the obstacle course with a stopwatch.
Ages 9 to 12: Parents looking for indoor games for 6 to 12 year olds often find this older group the hardest to please. Give them strategy and a bit of competition: carrom, Name Place Animal Thing, Hangman, Dumb Charades, one minute games and the paper plane contest.
Tips for safe and easy play at home
A few habits make games for kids at home easier on everyone.
- Clear a play area first. Move the centre table, glass items and anything with sharp corners.
- Tiled floors and socks do not mix. Go barefoot for running games.
- Keep marbles, coins and carrom pieces away from children under three.
- Set a finish line before you start. “Three rounds, then snack” avoids most arguments.
- Make tidying the last round. Fastest to fill the toy basket wins.
Frequently asked questions
What are 10 fun indoor games for kids?
Simon Says, Freeze Dance, The Floor Is Lava, Balloon Tennis, a scavenger hunt, Tic-Tac-Toe, Ludo, Dumb Charades, Name Place Animal Thing and carrom are ten games for kids at home that rarely fail. All ten are in the quick picks table above.
What are the best games for kids at home with no equipment?
Simon Says, I Spy, Dumb Charades, Chinese Whispers, Antakshari and animal walk races need nothing at all. Add a pencil and paper and you get five more.
Which games for kids at home work for a single child?
The obstacle course against a timer, sock basketball, paper planes, jigsaw puzzles, fort building and memory card match. A parent joining for even ten minutes helps a lot.
What are 10 fun activities I can do at home besides games?
Bake something simple, paint, plant seeds in a pot, build with blocks, read aloud, make a family photo album, do a science experiment with baking soda, put on a puppet show, write a letter to a grandparent or have a dance session.
Are online games for kids at home a good idea?
In small doses, yes. A learning app or a short video game is fine. We would still pair every screen session with one of the active games for kids at home from this list, since children need to move.
How long should games for kids at home last?
For under fives, ten to fifteen minutes per game is plenty. Older kids can go for forty five minutes or more on carrom or a treasure hunt. Stop while it is still fun.
Games for kids at home: start with one tonight
You do not need all 35. Pick one no equipment game, one paper game and one that makes them run. That covers most moods, and you now have enough games for kids at home to last through the monsoon and the summer break as well.
And when the living room starts to feel small, bring them over to Taki Taki Games. We have the space, the games and the staff, and you get to sit down for a while. Until then, blow up a balloon and see what happens.
