INSIDE GAMES THAT ARE FUN
If you are cooped up inside the house with the kids and need something to do, this is the article for you! We are going to take a look at some fun games to play inside, including board games, card games, and much more.
These games are perfect for when you have decided to spend the night at home with the family or it is raining outside. Most of these games don’t require any special planning and can provide hours of cost-effective entertainment for the family!
Board Games
Board games have seen quite a resurgence in recent years. Along with the old favorites like Life, Chess, Scrabble, and Monopoly, there are some new games on the market that are incredibly engaging and fun. Some of the best new board games include:
Lost cities
Hive
Jaipur
The Castles of Burgundy
There are literally hundreds of different board games to enjoy for people of all ages!
Baking Cookies
Baking cookies or some other kind of treat is a perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon. The whole family can enjoy what you make and it is a fun process when the kids are involved. They can create cookies that have funny faces or are shaped to look like their favorite television character.
Card Games
There are many different games that can be played with a deck of cards including old maid, go fish, poker, solitaire, blackjack, rummy, hearts, and bridge. You can also pull out the Uno deck or play a more advanced role-playing card game like:
Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot (ages 12 and up)
Sneaky cards (ages 10 and up)
Loot (ages 10 and up)
Edge of the Empire (ages 12 and up)
Flashlight games
Flashlight games are a great option for playing inside at night or during a blackout. Some of the best flashlight games include:
Hide and seek
Just like regular hide and seek but with flashlights
Shadow puppets
Shine a light at the wall and make some characters with your hands or objects. You can then act out scenes from your favorite movie or TV show! It is a great way to enhance the creativity of your children.
Flashlight freeze
Have everyone perform a crazy dance to some music in a dark room. Have one person shine the light randomly on a person every 30 seconds or so. That person has to stop dancing immediately. If they don’t they are out!
Ghost stories
A bit of a spookier one for older kids only. Get some interesting ghost stories and urban myths from the Internet and tell them while seated in a circle.
Music Games
There are many fun games to play inside that involve music including:
Name that tune
This game is a ton of fun! Simply play the first 5 or 10 seconds of a random song and see if anyone can name the song title and the musical artist.
Dancing contests
This is a great way to get some exercise and entertain the kids. Have each child choose a song and dance for a minute. Everyone votes on who is the best dancer and they win a treat.
Lip sync contests
Lip syncing can be hilarious. Get the kids and adults involved and combine the lip syncing with elaborate some dance moves.
Make your own music video
You can even pull out some instruments, play a song and record it to create your own music video! It will be a lot of fun and you will have a funny video to look back on in the future.
Build a fort!
Build an elaborate fort in your lounge room to keep the kids entertained. You can use cushions, couches and sheets to create a castle for the little ones. It can keep them entertained for hours.
Indoor ski races
Simply cut up some shoe-sized pieces of cardboard and attach them to your children’s feet. Then race around the house without lifting your feet off the floor.
Balloon tennis
You only need a balloon and a piece of string for this one! Tie the string between two objects to form a net, then hit the balloon to one another, keeping score. Make it even more exciting by using two balloons.
Create an artwork
You can explore your creative side by creating some art. You could use coloring books, or create an original artwork using plaster, papier-mâché, crayons, or paints. There are so many interesting things that you can create and it really helps children to become more creative.
Computer games
Computer game consoles like the Nintendo Wii can be fun for the whole family. This console has a variety of active games that involve physical movement. The entire family can get enjoyment out of it, including the older relatives.
Miniature golf
If you have a putting wedge and golf ball in the house, you can make a miniature golf course and play a round! Use plastic cups as the holes and add a variety of obstacles to each fairway including toys, books, and other objects.
Make paper airplanes
This is a great way to get kids interested in engineering and science! Make a variety of paper planes with different designs to discover which plane flies the furthest.
Indoor sumo wrestling
This one is hilarious and fun! Get as many pillows as you can find from around the house. Use some industrial tape to attach them to two “sumo warriors” who will be wrestling. It works best if both combatants have so many pillows attached that they can’t move their arms.
Animal charades
This is fun to play with young children. Write the names of animals on separate pieces of paper. Have each participant draw a piece of paper from the pile and make the sounds and movements that the animal makes. Everyone else has to guess what animal they are.
Raining cloud craft
This is a nice game to teach your kids how to be creative. If it’s a rainy day and they have to play inside, make them recreate the reason that they’re inside. It can be a painting or a cotton ball and construction paper type of artwork. Just about anything that comes to mind will suffice. The main idea is to create something from scratch and make it as artistic as you can. That’s it. No other factors matter, as there is no scoring system nor strictly-imposed rules on what you can or can’t craft.
Window painting
Use easily-washable paint or temporary markers to let your kids draw their ideal scene on the windows so they can cover the way the rain looks in a creative manner. Just make sure to dry out any condensation first so that your kids’ paintings won’t be ruined from the get-go. As an extra idea, you can try convincing your kids to clean the window afterward as a fun way to get a chore done.
The Floor Is Lava
This one’s a classic that has inspired many generations of kids’ lives. The rules are as simple as they can be: the floor is lava and you lose the game if you touch it. You can jump around the house on chairs, sofas, tables, and whatnot with the simple goal of avoiding the floor. If you fall on the floor during a jump, you’re automatically disqualified from the game.
Tornado in a jar
This classic scientific experiment never ceases to amaze the innocent mind of a child. Have your kids fill a jar with water and dish soap and then shake it thoroughly to form a tornado in a jar. They’ll love it and it will keep them distracted for quite a while until the sun shines again and they can go outside.