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This is part 2 of the article – Indoor Games for Kids.
Pom Pom Straw Race
This is a fun rainy day activity that can be played by younger children on the floor or older kids at a table.
All the kids get a pom pom and a regular drinking straw.
You can use a belt or an old piece of string to make a finish line.
Each child places their pom pom at the starting line and when someone says go, they blow like crazy into the straw and try and move the pom pom forward across the finish line.
This is a great game to play at you child’s birthday party!
Who Am I?
This is a fun guessing game that any number of people can play.
One person thinks of a famous person (cartoon characters can be used also to make it more fun for younger kids) and gives the initials.
The other players take turns asking questions and trying to guess who the person is.
The person who gives the initials can only answer yes or no to the questions.
Questions should be geared towards narrowing down who the person could be such as: “Is this person real?”, “Are they living now?”, “Are they an actor, politician, singer?” and so on.
You can only guess who you think the person is after getting a yes answer to your question.
If you get a yes answer to your question but can’t guess who the person is, then you get to ask another question until you get a no answer.
The person who correctly guesses who the famous person or cartoon character is wins the game and they get to come up with the famous person or cartoon character for the next round.
Indoor Scavenger Hunt
This is a great game for kids of all ages and can provide lots of family fun for you and your kids.
To play indoor scavenger hunt, simply make up a list of items scattered throughout the house that your children need to search for and then see how many of those items they can find in a set amount of time.
The game is more fun if you select items from all over the house, including bedrooms, the kitchen, the living room and even the bathroom.
Depending on the ages of the kids playing, you may want to include easy to find objects as well as some that are a little more difficult to find.
Cup Pong
Okay, I admit it. I stole this game from the classic game of beer pong but it can be modified into a great game for kids!
I’ve played this game with my children and grandchildren and we all had a great time and lots of fun!
To play, all you need is 5 or 6 of those plastic cups you use at picnics and parties and a small ball that bounces well, such as a ping pong ball.
Once you’ve lined the cups up at one end of the table, the kids stand at the opposite end of the table and take turns trying to bounce the ball off the table and into one of the cups.
When I play with my grandchildren I put little treats into the cups so that when one of them manages to bounce the ball into a cup, there’s a little surprise waiting for them.
Small boxes of raisins, miniature candy bars, and other little treats all work well for this game.
It also makes a great party game for kids and you can put prizes from the dollar store into the cups.
Sock Wars
Like all parents, my kids seemed able to always lose one sock out of a pair until I had a collection of unmatched socks that would fill a laundry basket!
One day when the kids were forced to stay inside and were extremely bored and picking on each other, I decided what they needed was an invigorating ‘snowball’ fight.
Unfortunately it was a rainy fall day with no snow in sight, so I balled up all of those odd socks and divided the kids into two teams.
I moved the dining room table against the wall and lined up the chairs in the middle of the room with one team on either side of the chairs.
Then I divided the balled up socks and let them go at it.
Within minutes, the kids were pelting one another as they laughed and had a great time. Gone was the boredom and there was no more squabbling for the rest of the day!
Dance Party
When my kids were growing up, I made a rule that once a week we’d turn off the television and shut off the video games.
It soon became apparent that with a houseful of restless kids, something needed to be done.
So I’d put on all my oldies and the kids and I would have a dance party.
At the time, my kids ranged in age from 3 to 16 and everyone would join in the fun, dancing the night away.
We slow danced, fast danced and even tried a few line dances!
It was great fun and everyone always ended the night in a good mood. A dance party makes for wonderful family bonding time!
Clothes Pin Drop
Another simple game to play with your kids is to give them an empty coffee can or plastic bottle with a wide lid and four or five clothes pins.
Have your child place the jar between their feet at the toe level, then try to stand up straight and drop the clothes pins into the jar.
It can be great fun and they can become quite competitive trying to see who can get more pins into the jar!