As a mom, I know how hard it is to keep the kids entertained all day long, especially indoors. Trust me, I have been a stay-at-home mom for over 17 years. Over the years I have collected a list of some of the very best indoor games for kids that will keep the kids entertained for hours! As a bonus, some of them are even quiet games for when you need a little peace or someone has a work call!
I promise this list of indoor games will become your go-to list that you turn to when you need to keep the kiddos busy and entertained indoors! If you need more ideas don’t forget to grab these 20 games to play when bored for even more entertainment for the kids!
Ready to get started?!
Indoor Games for Kids
When finding the games for kids to play it is important that you find ones that are age appropriate. These indoor games are perfect for younger kids as well as older kids.
Hide and Seek
Hide and Seek is a game that the kids never get sick of! At a young age kids can learn to play this by helping adults or older kids count and hide with them. As they get bigger, this is a game that they can play on their own.
To play hide and seek you will need to pick someone to be it. When playing with younger kids we let everyone take turns being it.
The person who is it, will count with their eyes closed to 20. Yes! Sometimes it is not exactly counted correctly, but that will come with time. As they are counting, everyone else hides. When they are done counting, the person who is it announces, “Ready or not, here I come.” Everyone else then stays in their place as quietly as they can while the person tries to find them. They will find every person and the last one to be found wins!
Kids will play this time and time again!
Shaving Cream
Shaving cream activities I think make every list of activities, because we love it so much! I know it made our list of fun activities for 3 year olds and it is definitely getting added to this list too!
Grab a can of shaving cream and place some on the table. Let your child manipulate it with their hands spreading it.
Then have them write their name, draw pictures, anything they want! If you have more than one child my kids love to play tic tac toe in the shaving cream together. Another fun favorite with a bunch of kids is simple charades.
Shaving cream is a great sensory activity that kids will want to do every dingle day if you let them!
Balloon Ball
Mom hack, always have a bag of balloons! These will keep the kids busy indoors and having fun! You might be thinking what can they do with a balloon, well I usually ask, “What can’t they do with a balloon?”
Here are some indoor Balloon games:
- Balloon Volleyball- Create an invisible line and see who can not have it drop on their side.
- Balloon Tennis– Played the same as balloon volleyball, but you will create fun rackets. Paper Plates and paint mixing sticks taped together make great rackets for endless fun.
- Last One to Touch it– That’s right! Try to be the last one to touch it before it hits the ground. This becomes a little crazy and you might want to clear the room a bit before playing.
- Balloon Race- Grab a couple of balloons and some straws to see who can blow the balloon to the finish line first.
- Balance the balloon- Grab a spoon and a spoon and walk around the house balancing the balloon. The catch is you can’t use any body part to hold the balloon on the spoon. The person who can do this for the longest wins!
- Balloon Hockey- If you have some pool noodles sitting around the house, play some balloon hockey with the kids. We always have the front door be the goal. If it hits it it’s definitely a GOOOOOAAAAAL!
- Penguin Waddle- Stick the balloon in between your legs and waddle to the finish line without dropping it. Throw in some obstacles for an even bigger challenge.
Hopscotch
On a rainy day or a day that is just too hot outside, bring hopscotch indoors. Just grab some blue painter’s tape that comes off easily and create a hopscotch board. Your kids will have fun playing hopscotch and you will love them getting their energy out all at the same time.
Hit the Note
This game is fun for kids of all ages, but is better when kids know letters, numbers, or words.
On a sticky note you will want to write (for younger kids) numbers 1-10 or letters (A-Z). Attach these to a blank wall. Then you will take a soft ball or a pair of rolled up rocks and tell them a letter or number and have them toss the object at the correct note. If they hit the right paper they get to take it down and earn a point. At the end of the game, see who gets the most points.
You can also do this on the floor or you can tape colored squares to the ground and have the kids hit a certain color.
Games for Older Kids
These indoor games for kids are great for older kids to play and younger kids with help.
Bowling
Okay I know what you are thinking, this can get really dangerous, but with the right materials you can create a fun indoor bowling game. We love to use 2 liters and a soft ball. Then they will roll the ball and try to knock down the pins.
To make it even more creative and exciting you can have certain things you have to do while bowling. This could be standing on one foot, bowl with your eyes closed, the sky’s the limit.
Musical Chairs
If you don’t mind the kids a little crazy, we all know that the kids will play musical chairs for hours.
Grab a chair for everyone playing minus one and then have the kids start going around the circle of chairs while the music plays. Once the music stops everyone tries to sit in a chair as fast as they can. The person who doesn’t have a chair is out. Remove a chair and then play again until there is only one person left sitting in a chair.
If you want to increase the activity of this game a little bit more you can spread teh chairs throughout the room so everyone has to strategically find a chair when the music stops. Either way the kids will have a blast with this indoor game for sure.
What’s Missing?
If you want to test your kids memory skills then you will want to play what’s missing with them. In this game you have a tray with several different objects on it. Let everyone look at it and then one person takes the tray out of the room and removes one of the objects. They then bring the tray back into the room and everyone tries to guess what is missing off the tray. The person that gets it right gets to remove the next object.
Charades
Charades is one of those games that you are never too old for! Divide into teams and then pick a card of what you are to act out. Once you begin your team has 39 seconds to a minute to try and guess what you are acting out. If they guess it correctly in the allotted time your team gets a point. If they don’t guess it the other team has only 1 guess to try and get it right. If they do, they steal the point! Charades is a great family activity to do on family game night.
Murder in the dark
If you have a group of older kids then Murder in teh dark is the perefct game for you. In this game you will want to have a moderator (best for an adult to begin), 1 muder, 2 detectives, and the rest common people. (If you have lots of kids you can add other murders and detectives) The moderator will have everyone go to sleep and only the murder will wake up. They will point at someone to kill and then go back to sleep. The detectives will then wake up when the moderator tells them to and they will point to someone in the room to see if they are the murderer. The moderator will then nod their head yes or no and then they will go to sleep. The moderator will tell everyone to wake up and announce who died in the night. This person is out and cannot speak.
At this point in the game, the group tries to determine who the murder is with a discussion. Two people are nominated and the group votes who will die. The person with the most votes dies and they announce what they were. Everyone goes to sleep and then you play another round. If you find the murder before everyone dies then the team wins!
This game is best for tweens, teens, and adults. It is full of strategy manipulation and lying and is hours of fun entertainment.
There you have it! 10 of the very best indoor games to keep the kids entertained! What game would you add to the list? Share in the comments!