Indoor Kid’s Games – Not For Children Only

Games are one of the more important activities for toddlers and adults to interact and bond. Some of these are well-known, and some are enjoyed not just by children. Adults can be children, too, at least on rainy days.

Hot Potato

The “potato” here has to be something soft and lightweight (a small plastic ball, perhaps or a very small stuff toy) that cannot break if it falls on the floor or gets thrown onto something hard.

This is actually a version of the musical chair. Music is played and the “potato” gets passed around. When the music stops, the “potato” suddenly gets “hot” and has to be thrown to the next child.

If there is no music, and someone is still holding the potato, she is out. Whoever drops the potato is counted out too.

Animal charade

This is going to be great if there are silly children around. Children sit around in a circle and one child goes into the center.

The “animal” child acts out with NO SOUND only a very small portion of any animal action (a lion’s roar, a rabbit jump, etc.) he imagines and get the group to guess it. The animal child stretches the action if nobody gets it. Anyone guessing correctly gets to play the animal.

Hot Lava

Put some papers on the floor as “stones” to step on, the rest of the floor is a flood of “hot lava” from a volcano. There are two sets of “stones” for each team to travel, with parts that merges, meaning there are only a stone or two for use.

The object of the game is to transfer “dinosaurs “eggs” (rolled up socks) one by one from one end of the room to the other. The fun part is when two teams will fight out the parts where there is only one stone to step on.

Any “accident” and the team member has to start from the starting line again.

Trip to Spain

Two children from each team are blindfolded. Once they are, the floor will be littered with soft objects (stuffed toys, pillows) as the obstacle course.

The blindfolded children are then made to walk and go to the end of the room across the obstacle course. Their team mates will guide each one of them, meaning telling them where to go to avoid hitting objects on the floor.

It is fun because both teams will be shouting directions and there will be shouting. The first one to reach the goal wins for his team.

Zoo 

There will be pairs of children for this game. Each pair will represent an animal they want. (Make sure there are no duplicates.)

The children will all be securely blindfolded and scattered around the room. At the signal, they will look for their pair using only SOUNDS of their animal. There will be barking, meowing, clucks, quack-quacks and all kind of animal sounds in the room.

The winning team is the one who met each other first.

Considerations 

Prizes could be candies and other goodies. Disputes and arguments (if any) shall have the game restarted. Any game wanted by the children to be played over and over should be played, unless there will be objections. Indoor kid’s games should be enjoyed, not disputed.

• Guessing Games: In this game you have to blindfold the young child. When they cannot see anything you have to jingle keys or snap your finger and have them guess what the sound was. This will help them to think of what things sound like.

• Hot or Cold: A great indoor toddler activity that teaches the child to listen. In this game the adults tell the toddler where to go in the room to find what is hidden and the child has to listen to the adults and make it to the object. The adults cannot say things like "a little more" or "step forward" they can only say hotter or colder. Hotter means that they are getting closer and colder means that they are getting further away from it.

• Memory: A game played with a deck of cards that are laid face down so the children cannot see the other side. This indoor toddler activity is modified for toddlers to use only 4-8 cards so they can easily find the mates to begin with. Going from the left of the dealer and continuing clockwise you take turns flipping over two cards to see if they are a match. If they are you get another turn. Then when all of the cards are gone you count up your mates and see who has the most and that is the winner.

• Hand Puppets: Needing some fun for those rainy days? This is a great way to pass away the time when the weather is looking bad. All you need for this indoor toddler activity is some hand puppets for the adults so they can put on a show or you need enough hand puppets for all so they can play it together. A glove with faces painted and hair attached on the fingers make great hand puppets/finger puppets.

• Story Time: The best time spent with your child is reading a good story to them. It helps them to have inspiration and want to read for themselves and they can learn to read at a younger age. You could have an older child read to them or the adult that is watching them can read to the toddlers. Usually this gets the children making some interesting stories up from the pictures. Tip!! A good story before naps or bedtime helps them to unwind and settle down.

• Indoor Tents: Build the tent out of blankets and your kitchen chairs or other household furniture. Use pillows, stuffed animals or anything soft for the sides and flooring. We used some old sheets and tied some string to the four corners. I then tied them to door handles, bedposts, or baby cribs for their roof. Just be sure it is sturdy and nothing will fall on them while playing. One of our children's favorites and will keep them busy for hours!