Indoor games for kids come in handy when there’s no school, or when the weather conditions are too harsh outside. The best part about these games is that they are equally educational and fun, and will surely keep your children entertained for long hours. They also help you spend meaningful time with your little ones and also allow you to teach valuable lessons and life skills to them.
So sit back, relax, and prepare to turn a dreary day into a fun one with these joyful indoor games and activities for kids.
9 Fun Indoor Games For Kids
Pitching Pennies
Pitching pennies is an interesting game that helps develop your child’s hand-eye coordination. Similar to beer pong, this game is suitable for the entire family and can keep you and your child entertained for hours.
You will need:
- Small currency coins or pennies
- Large-sized paper or plastic drinking cups
How to play:
- Place a cup on a table or chair and hand your child five coins.
- Ask your child to take a couple of steps away from the cup, and then try aiming the coins at the cup.
- Ask your child to toss the coins, one at a time, into the cup.
- Take note of the number of coins they toss at the cup, and then move on to the next participant after five chances.
- You can also play the game using ping pong balls or marbles.
Listening Game
This game is both fun and educational for younger kids. It exercises your child’s listening abilities by compelling them to concentrate.
You will need:
- Some miscellaneous items that have a distinct sound
How to play:
- Collect items such as vessels, books, pens, toys, combs, and bottles, which have unique sounds.
- Place the items on the table and ask your child to make a mental note of them.
- Now, take the items away and ask your kid to turn to the other side or close their eyes.
- Pick an item and make a sound with it, if your child guesses correctly, they score a point.
- Continue playing until one of you reaches the highest score.
Pen and pencil games
There are a number of pen and pencil games that you can play at home. These games activate thinking in your kids and can also help them explore their creative sides.
You will need:
- Pencil/ pen
- Plain sheets of paper
- An eraser
Games that you can play:
- Tic tac toe: This is a game played on a 3X3 grid square. The first player puts an ‘X’ on one of the grids, and the second player puts an ‘O.’ The first person to get three Xs or Os in one line (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal) wins.
- Name, place, animal, thing: Divide a plain sheet of paper into four parts—name, place, animal, and thing. Set a timer for a few seconds and let one of the participants, for instance, your child recite the alphabet silently. When the timer stops, your kid has to say out loud the letter they stopped at, and the players have to use that letter to write down the names of a person, place, animal, and thing. The last one to finish gets the lowest score.
- Pictionary: This game is similar to charades. However, in this game, instead of acting out, the participant has to express the word or phrase by drawing.
Big Bubble
Why keep all the bubble fun restricted to outdoors? Bring this fun game indoors and make it into a competition of who makes the biggest or long-lasting bubble.
You will need:
- Water
- Dishwash soap
- Drinking straws
How to play:
- Take two drops of dishwashing soap on a plate.
- Add a bit of water to it, and mix slowly until small bubbles or suds start to form.
- Ask your kid to carefully dip the straw into the suds, and blow on them gently and slowly.
- Enjoy the fun and watch how big the bubble starts to form on the plate.
Indoor Obstacle Course
This is a great activity that encourages physical movement in your children and also allows them to tire themselves out. Just ensure that your house is completely child-proofed to avoid any kind of injuries to the participants.
You will need:
- An exercise ball
- Chairs
- Hula hoops
- Blankets
- Any other additional item that you may think is useful
How to play:
- Create an obstacle course for your child and have specific rules regarding how to maneuver around each of the obstacles.
- For instance, if there is a table or a chair, tell your kid that they have to crawl under it. Similarly, if there’s a hula hoop, they have to use the hoop 2-3 times before going to the next course, and so on.
- Your child gets a score only if they are able to pass all the obstacles as the rules intended.
Puzzles
When you cannot step outdoors to play, pick up a few puzzles to keep your child engaged and also activate thinking in them. The best part about puzzles is that besides keeping your child entertained, they help enhance key skills, such as vocabulary, and teamwork, and even refine their problem-solving skills.
You will need:
- Lots of puzzle books, games, and ideas
Games that you can play:
- Picture puzzles: These are fun, but they won’t keep your child occupied for too long unless there are more than 25-30 pieces in it.
- Picture puzzle book: This is a great option, given you can keep working on one puzzle after the other to keep your child engaged.
- Word puzzles: If you want to improve your child’s vocabulary skills, then you should definitely try playing word puzzles. This will help your child manipulate different words to form new ones.
Build A Fort
You won’t need any cement or boulders to build this fort indoors. Just gather a few things from around your house, and you are all set!
You will need:
- Some essential items that you will need include blankets, pillows, cardboard boxes, sticks, and furniture, such as chairs and tables.
Types of forts that you can build:
- Cardboard forts: This is probably one of the easiest forts to build indoors. All you need to do is gather a few large boxes and join them using tape. Build it any way you want, but make sure that it has adequate space for your kid to sit or sleep comfortably in it.
- Blanket and furniture fort: Empty a table and cover it completely with a large bed sheet or blanket. Fold the blanket up in the front to create an entrance or opening to the fort.
- Pillow forts: These are the most popular among children, as they are soft and fun to make. You will need a lot of different types of pillows for this activity. You can also use stacks of towels or blankets and some sturdy furniture to hold the fort.
Dominoes
Stacking up dominoes and then watching them fall one by one is an extremely thrilling and satisfying experience! Plus, this game helps build concentration and spatial awareness in your kids and also strengthens their problem-solving skills. So you can say that the game of dominoes is equal parts fun and educational.
You will need:
- A dominoes game set
How to play:
- Stack up the dominoes and encourage your child to help you with the arrangement and design.
- Once it’s all ready, you can ask your kid to flip the first domino and set it off while you record the video.
Reading Books
Nothing beats the pleasure and joy of staying under the warmth of the blankets and reading a good book on a rainy or cold day. If you are familiar with the feeling, why not let your child experience it too?
You will need:
- A book or two
How to:
- Pick a book each and have a designated time for reading during the day.
- When you are on a break, encourage your child to talk about the book, and what morals did they learn from them.
- If your kid is too young to read on their own, narrate the story to them.
Also read:
Best parenting books: These parenting books offer you the right guidance and tips required for child care and management.
How to teach your kids to read: In this post, we have listed helpful strategies that will help you build reading skills in your little one.
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