Games for kids are tons of fun and will be sure to get everyone laughing – children and adults alike. There are inside games for rainy days or outside games for fun in the sun. Here are a few of our top picks to get the kiddies giggling.
I Spy
What you’ll need: All you need is at least 2 plays
How to play: One player selects an object that is in sight of both players, such as a Tree, and say “I spy with my little eye something that begins with the letter T”. The other player looks around and tries to guess the object.
How to win: Guess the most objects by the end of the game
Hopscotch
What you’ll need: Chalk or another way to draw on the ground that can be rinsed off afterwards, and a stone or something to throw onto the squares. You can play with yourself, or friends!
How to Play:
1) Draw a hopscotch design on the ground using chalk. The squares should be large enough to fit one foot.
2) Throw a flat stone or similar object to land on square one. If you throw outside the lines you miss your turn and pass the stone to the next player.
3) When your stone lands on 1, you hop on one foot OVER the square with the stone on it, and hope the rest of the squares on one foot, using two feet on the double squares. If you misstep or put your foot down, you’re out and must start again.
4) Once you have hopped to the end, hop back again, and stop one square before your stone and bend and pick it up without falling over! When you have your stone, pass it to the next person.
5) When it becomes your turn again, this time you throw your stone on square 2, and repeat (by NOT hopping on square 2, just all the other squares.).
How to Win: Your goal is to complete the course with the stone on each square. The first person to do this wins!
Musical Jars
What you’ll need: Glass Jars, Spoons, food colouring, two or more players.
How to Play:
1) Fill the jars with differing levels of water (one filled to the top, one a quarter way, halfway, etc) and add a different food colouring to each jar.
2) Give a spoon to each child and ask them to gently tap each jar – and note the different sounds caused by the varying levels of water in the jars.
3) Arrange the jars in order from highest to lowest water levels, so that the kids can clearly hear the notes go from high to low.
4) If they are really enjoying themselves, you can ask them to close their eyes and listen to your tap – and ask them to guess which jar you are tapping (this is where the food colouring helps, as they can more easily guess ”the red jar”.
Duck Duck Goose
How to Play:
1) All of the children except one sit in a circle facing one another. The remaining person goes around the circle, tapping each child gently on the head saying “Duck” each time.
2) When the tapper says “Goose!”, the child who has tapped jumps up and chases the tapper around the circle.
3) The tapper then tries to outrun the Goose and get all the way back to the Gooses spot without getting tagged.
4) If the tapper succeeds, the goose becomes the new tapper and the game continues. But if the goose catches the tapper, the tapper continues they walk around the circle.
Sleeping Lions
How to Play:
1) All of the children except one or two Hunters, lie down on the floor in sleeping positions.
2) They are to lie completely still, and the Hunters walk through the room, trying to make them laugh by telling jokes or saying funny things, but they cannot touch the lions.
3) Once a lion has moved, they get up and join the Hunters.
Hot Potato
What you’ll need: A ball, toy or stuffed sock, music, and a group of children.
How to Play:
1) The children sit in a circle and the music starts.
2) As the music plays, players pass the “hot” potato around the circle.
3) The player caught holding the ‘hot’ potato when the music stops is out, and the game continues.
How to win: Be the last player left!
Budgetdirect.com.au. (2020). Fun party games for kids. Retrieved from https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/interactives/kids-games/