Indoor Activities for Kids: Games to Play at Home

It’s a “stay at home” kind of day. Maybe the weather isn’t on your side, or the little one isn’t feeling well. Whether it’s the weather, a cold, or some other reason, sometimes we need to find creative new ways to entertain our children when they can’t go outdoors. Why not find some fun indoor activities to play together?

Just because they can’t go to the park doesn’t mean the day has to be boring! This is where games to play at home come in. Whether it be inventing your own games, making up your own rules, playing board games, or other entertainment, coming up with games to play indoors can also be very fun for children. In most cases, all it requires is a bit of imagination.

With that in mind, here are six of our favorite indoor activities to play with your little one on those stay-at-home days.

 

6 Indoor Activities for Kids

The best part about staying indoors is that it can be an excellent opportunity to spend quality time together as a family. Having fun and laughing together, creating memories, building relationships—these are all essential to family bonding, and a rainy day can be an ideal opportunity to do just that. You might even find that you enjoy these games to play at home as much (or even more) than your child!

 

Stop!

An all-time classic, fun for both children and adults. Not only will you have a great time, but you will also have to use your memory and use quick thinking as in this game, the fastest wins…

Playing is very simple. Each player will need paper and a pen or pencil. Draw a few columns and in each one, put a category into each column, an animal, a city, a color… whatever you like. Then, pick a letter at random and start the clock! The first player to fill each category with a word that begins with that letter wins the round and must shout STOP!

 

Miming Games

This miming game is another classic game that is played by both adults and children, and one of our preferred indoor activities for kids.

Usually, you should try to mime movie titles (generally easier for children) but you can also mime animals or just about anything. Divide up into two groups and try to get your team to guess what you are describing using only your body movements. The other team can try and guess what they are watching as well, there are guaranteed laughs! It’s also a great way to exercise the imagination and creativity of children.

 

Taboo

Similar to miming games but with a difference, in this game you can talk! But be careful! During each round, a player must describe a topic to everyone else, without using any of the forbidden words (taboo words) that have previously been defined. For example, you must try to describe an airplane without saying airport, air, fly… A real head-scratcher whilst having fun with the family.

 

Guess Who?

An all-time classic that is great fun and must be familiar surely. Write on some post-its the names of various famous people than children will recognize easily (a good idea is to use characters from their favorite stories, children’s movies, etc) and then stick them onto your forehead so that the rest of the group can see ours but they can’t see theirs. From there, you must all ask yes or no questions until somebody guesses correctly the character on their post-it.

 

Wordchains

This game is perfect for children to test their memories and creativity. The game is quite simple: you must say a word, then the next person must say a word that begins with the last letter of the word before. For example, cat, train, night, turtle, etc., until somebody can’t find a word or repeats a word that has already been used. The aim of the game is to be quick, do you think you can win?

 

Word Memory

Now it starts getting harder. The first person must say a word, then the next person must repeat that word and say a new word, the third person must say both words and another new word, and so on. You can choose to play by using words that begin with the same letter, or related to the same topic, whatever you prefer. The player who forgets a word in the chain loses. What a great game to play at home!

 

Benefits of Indoor Activities for Kids at Home

With this list of activities, you will have a great time together at home, playing as a family. Before you know it, that storm may have passed and you can get back outdoors. These games are fun to play and they will also help children to learn new things, improve their vocabularies, improve their capacity of expression, and will also help them to stay active even when being stuck indoors. The next time it starts to rain, they will be the first ones to suggest playing their favorite one.

Another benefit if the kids play indoors is that these play-at-home activities present a great chance to introduce academic content. In the street or the park, they jump, run, hop… which is great, of course, but at home, you can take advantage of finding a game that is fun, educational and will contribute to their development. Having fun and learning at the same time. Sounds good, right?

And, of course, if you want your kids to have fun at home while they learn English and important skills for the 21st century, Lingokids can definitely help you with that. Download our app and enjoy!

So, what do you think of these games for children? Not only will you have a great time during cold wet afternoons, you’ll also provide your children with opportunities to learn.

 

Now it’s your turn: What is your favorite game to play at home with your children? Tell us in the comments!

If you loved this post, we have some other ideas we think you’ll like! Check out our posts on memory games for children and games for 3-year-olds.

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