Fun Game Ideas for Kids
- Games can keep kids occupied and entertained.kids image by Marzanna Syncerz from Fotolia.com
Whether you are planning games for a birthday party or looking for ways to entertain your children on the weekends, games can expend energy in a safe and fun manner. Choose games that will get your kids moving and laughing, and tailor them to suit the ages and skill level of each child. - On a day when your kids can't find anything to do or when they are driving you crazy in the house, set up an activity scavenger hunt. Make up a list of activities that the kids must convince people to do, like sing a verse of a popular song or do 10 jumping jacks. Send them out with a digital camera and a clear idea of their distance boundaries and who they can talk to; kids must find neighbors, friends or other kids and get them to perform the activities on the list. Each moment can be captured on photo or video, which the kids can watch later for a laugh and to prove their success.
- For an active game, play Ghost in the Graveyard. This is a particularly fun game around Halloween or at night in your back yard. Establish a safe base to start, such as the back steps or a large rock. Designate one person to be "it": he or she is the ghost. While the ghost counts to 12 with his or her eyes closed, the other players must run and hide. At 12, the ghost yells, "midnight," and runs to find the other players, who must get safely back to home base before they are tagged. If a person is tagged, they must become a ghost as well, helping the first ghost tag other people; alternately, you can have a person freeze in place once they are tagged, making an obstacle on the way to home base.
- On days when children have to stay inside, have them build toothpick towers. Start with a box of toothpicks and a few bags of marshmallows, both large and miniature. Give the kids an equal amount of each, and set a timer for 15 minutes. Using the supplies, kids must build the tallest tower possible; the person with the tallest intact structure at the end of the time limit wins. You can also give kids the freedom to build the craziest structure, the most beautiful, or have them recreate famous structures out of their marshmallows and toothpicks.
- For a fun party game or family evening, play paddle-less ping pong. Remove the net from the ping pong table and line players up on either end; if you have a large number of people, you can have some players stand on the side. Instead of using paddles, players must blow on the ping pong ball. If the ball goes off the table, the other team gets a point. For a large group, set up small targets that can be knocked over by the ball, like army figurines, and have each team try to knock over the other team's targets. Each is worth a point, and the first team to reach a certain point value wins.
