22 indoor party games

Name bowl in three rounds

Players

6 to 20, in two teams

Minutes

30 to 45

Ages

12 and up

You need

Slips of paper, pens, a bowl and a one-minute timer

1. Each player writes five names on separate slips: famous people, fictional characters or people everyone in the room knows. Fold them into the bowl.
2. Round one: a player has one minute to get their team to guess as many names as possible by describing them without saying the name.
3. Round two uses the same slips, but the clue giver may say only one word per name.
4. Round three uses the same slips again, acted out with no words at all.
5. Teams keep every slip they guess. The most slips over the three rounds wins.

Team charades

Players

6 to 30, in two teams

Minutes

20 to 40

Ages

8 and up

You need

A list of prompts and a timer

1. Split into two teams on opposite sides of the room.
2. A player takes a prompt, such as a film, a book or an everyday task, and acts it out without speaking.
3. Their team has one minute to guess it. Agree on a few signals first, such as fingers held up for the number of words.
4. A correct guess scores a point, and play passes to the other team.
5. Choose a new actor each turn until everyone who wants a go has had one.

Draw and guess

Players

4 to 20, in teams

Minutes

20 to 30

Ages

8 and up

You need

Paper or a whiteboard, markers, a word list and a timer

1. Show the word to the artist without the team seeing it.
2. The artist draws it with no letters, numbers or spoken hints.
3. Their team has one minute to name it.
4. For a faster game, one artist from each team draws the same word at once, and the first team to guess scores.

Open the material: Drawing game word generator

Paper telephone

Players

6 to 15

Minutes

15 to 20

Ages

8 and up

You need

A small stack of paper and a pen for each player

1. Everyone writes a short phrase at the top of their own stack, such as 'a dog learning to surf'.
2. Pass the stack to the left. The next player reads the phrase, moves that sheet to the back and draws the phrase on the next sheet.
3. Pass again. The next player looks only at the drawing, moves it to the back and writes what they think it shows.
4. Keep switching between writing and drawing until each stack returns to its owner.
5. Owners show their stacks page by page. Nobody scores; the fun is seeing how far each phrase changed.

Hum the song

Players

4 to 20, in two teams

Minutes

15 to 20

Ages

10 and up

You need

Slips with well-known song titles, or a list on a phone

1. Write song titles most of the room will know on slips, and fold them into a bowl.
2. A player draws a slip and hums the tune without words.
3. Teammates get 30 seconds to name it.
4. If they miss, the other team gets one guess to steal the point.

Sardines

Players

6 to 20

Minutes

20 to 30

Ages

6 and up

You need

A house with a few roomy hiding places

1. Mark any rooms that are off limits before starting.
2. One player hides while everyone else counts to 60 in one room.
3. Everyone splits up to search. A player who finds the hider quietly squeezes into the same spot.
4. The hiding place fills up until the last searcher finds the whole group.
5. Whoever found the hiding place first is the next hider.

Plate-on-head drawing

Players

4 to 20

Minutes

10 to 15

Ages

6 and up

You need

A paper plate and a marker for each player

1. Everyone holds a paper plate flat on top of their head.
2. The host calls out a scene one piece at a time: a house, a tree next to it, a sun, a cat on the roof, a path to the door.
3. Players draw each piece on the plate without looking.
4. Take the plates down and compare. Score a point for each piece in roughly the right place, or vote for the best one.

Living room trivia

Players

4 to 20, in teams of 2 to 5

Minutes

30 to 45

Ages

12 and up

You need

Printed questions with answers, an answer sheet per team and pens

1. Split into teams and give each a sheet and a pen.
2. Read three rounds of ten questions, pausing after each for teams to agree on one answer.
3. Swap sheets between teams and mark them as the host reads the answers.
4. Add up the rounds. Break a tie with one question whose answer is a number; the closest guess wins.

Without a printer: Read the questions from a phone or laptop. Teams number any sheet of paper for their answers.

Open the material: Printable trivia questions and answers

Musical statues

Players

5 to 30

Minutes

10

Ages

3 to 10

You need

Music you can pause

1. Play music while the children dance.
2. Pause it without warning. Everyone freezes in place.
3. Anyone who moves after the music stops sits out one song, then rejoins.
4. For very young children, skip the sitting out and cheer the best frozen pose.

Musical chairs

Players

6 to 20

Minutes

10 to 15

Ages

4 to 10

You need

Chairs, one fewer than the number of players, and music

1. Set the chairs back to back in a line.
2. Children walk around the chairs while the music plays.
3. When it stops, everyone sits on the nearest chair. The child left standing is out.
4. Take away one chair each round. The last child seated wins.
5. For a gentler version, the child left standing takes over the music instead of sitting out.

Pass the parcel

Players

5 to 20

Minutes

10 to 15

Ages

3 to 8

You need

A small prize wrapped in one layer of paper per child, with a sticker or treat between layers, and music

1. Wrap the prize in layers, with a small treat or sticker between each layer.
2. Children sit in a circle and pass the parcel while the music plays.
3. When the music stops, the child holding it removes one layer and keeps what is inside.
4. Time the stops so that each child unwraps a layer.
5. The child who removes the last layer wins the prize.

Hot and cold

Players

3 to 15

Minutes

10

Ages

3 to 8

You need

A small toy to hide

1. One child leaves the room while the others watch the host hide the toy.
2. The child comes back and starts searching.
3. The group calls 'warmer' as the child gets closer and 'colder' as they move away.
4. When the toy is found, the finder hides it for the next round.

Sleeping lions

Players

5 to 30

Minutes

10

Ages

3 to 8

You need

Floor space

1. Children lie still on the floor as sleeping lions.
2. One or two hunters walk among them and try to make them move or giggle by telling jokes or pulling faces, without touching anyone.
3. A lion who moves gets up and becomes a hunter.
4. The last lion still asleep wins. Play it to settle the room before food or a story.

Hallway bowling

Players

2 to 12

Minutes

15 to 20

Ages

3 to 10

You need

Ten empty plastic bottles, a soft ball and tape to mark a line

1. Set the bottles in a triangle at the end of a hallway. A little water in each makes them harder to knock down.
2. Mark a rolling line with tape.
3. Each child gets two rolls per turn. Count the bottles knocked down.
4. Play five turns and add up the scores. Move the line closer for the youngest players.

Balloon volleyball

Players

4 to 16, in two teams

Minutes

10 to 15

Ages

4 and up

You need

A balloon, and a string or a row of chairs as a net

1. Stretch a string between two chairs at about shoulder height, or set a row of chairs across the room.
2. Teams sit or kneel on each side.
3. Tap the balloon over the net. A team scores when the balloon touches the floor on the other side.
4. Play to 11 points. Add a second balloon when the game gets easy.

Simon says

Players

4 to 30

Minutes

5 to 10

Ages

3 to 8

You need

Nothing

1. The leader gives instructions such as 'Simon says touch your nose' or 'Simon says hop on one foot'.
2. Players follow an instruction only if it starts with 'Simon says'.
3. Anyone who follows an instruction without it sits down for one round.
4. Hand the leader role to a new child every few minutes.

Limbo

Players

4 to 20

Minutes

10

Ages

4 and up

You need

A broom handle or a length of ribbon, two people to hold it, and music

1. Two people hold the broom handle level at chest height.
2. Players take turns bending backward to pass under it without touching it, and without putting their hands on the floor.
3. After everyone has passed, lower the bar a little.
4. A player who touches the bar or falls is out. The last one under wins.

Bubble chase

Players

Any number, with grown-ups

Minutes

5 to 10

Ages

1 to 3

You need

A bubble wand and bubble mix, and a clear floor

1. Clear a space and sit the toddlers with their grown-ups.
2. Blow bubbles slowly over the group.
3. Toddlers reach, clap or stomp to pop them.
4. Wipe the floor afterward, since bubble mix makes it slippery.

Bedsheet parachute

Players

4 to 12, with grown-ups

Minutes

10

Ages

1 to 4

You need

A flat bedsheet and a few soft balls or small stuffed toys

1. Grown-ups and older children hold the edges of the sheet.
2. Put the soft balls or toys in the middle.
3. Lift and lower the sheet together to bounce them, slowly and then quickly.
4. Toddlers can take turns sitting under the sheet while the grown-ups lift it high.

Spoons

Players

3 to 10

Minutes

15 to 20

Ages

7 and up

You need

A deck of cards, and spoons, one fewer than the number of players

1. Put the spoons in the middle of the table. Deal four cards to each player; the dealer keeps the rest face down.
2. The dealer draws a card and passes one card face down to the left, always keeping four. Each player does the same with the card passed to them, and the last player discards.
3. The first player with four cards of the same rank takes a spoon, quietly or with a grab.
4. As soon as one spoon goes, everyone grabs one. The player left without a spoon takes a letter, starting with S.
5. A player who has spelled SPOON is out. The last player in wins.

Pig, the card game

Players

3 to 13

Minutes

10 to 15

Ages

6 and up

You need

A deck of cards

1. Take out one set of four matching cards for each player, such as four kings, four sevens and four twos for three players, and shuffle them.
2. Deal four cards to each player.
3. Everyone picks one card to pass face down to the left at the same moment, then picks up the card they received.
4. When a player holds four of a kind, they quietly touch their nose. Everyone else touches theirs as soon as they notice.
5. The last to touch their nose takes a letter of PIG. Spell PIG and you are out.

Cheat

Players

3 to 8

Minutes

15 to 25

Ages

8 and up

You need

A deck of cards, or two decks for six or more players

1. Deal out the whole deck.
2. Players take turns placing one to four cards face down on a pile and saying what they are, going up in order: aces, then twos, then threes.
3. A player may lie about the cards they put down.
4. Anyone can call 'cheat'. Turn the cards over: if the player lied, they pick up the whole pile; if not, the caller does.
5. The first player to get rid of every card wins.