14 Great Indoor Game Ideas For Your Kids To Break The Lockdown Boredom

Are you also on a quest to find some possible-at-home fun activities and games that your kids can engage in and cope with cabin fever in these social-distancing-times?

We understand the dilemma of all parents constantly trying to adapt to these precarious times with rules and guidelines changing every day.

 It is significant to keep the children occupied with productive activities or games that keep them creative, joyous and entertained.

These games require bare-minimum props and are super energy-busting, keeping your little ones active and compensate for missing out on all the physical activity outside the home.

1. Obstacle course 

There are multiple ways to create an obstacle course or maze with different things such as pillows, duct tape pattern on the floor, crepe paper strips, books or practically anything that will act as a hurdle to be crossed. Create hurdles that need to be navigated through or jumped over, crawl from under to reach an imaginary destination. For older children who can navigate better, this can be done blindfolded also. The obstacle course games are fun and get their heart pumping while developing spatial awareness and problem-solving skills. To make it even more exciting, give a time limit to cross the hurdles and reach the end of the course. With more kids in the house, use the duration taken to complete the course to compete between them and with a single child, motivating them to break their own previous record!

2. Mission impossible 

If you have small corridor kind of spaces in the house, this game is a complete must do with your kids. Use any tape or thick rope threads, crepe paper stripes (makes it very difficult), create a maze by sticking these to opposite walls of the corridor at different angles and directions. The kids have to pass through them without tearing any thread down. Mission impossible feels would be high with this sneaky spy-mood fun game that enhances natural balancing senses and problem-solving skills. You can increase the interest by putting a pretend-artifact at the end of the hallway that the spy has to save from thieves.

3. Balance it out

Another fun game that is easy to create with minimum props and efforts. Use any tape that is easy to peel off the floor without damaging it and create a path in any direction, length with added zig-zags and spirals to make it fun. The child has to walk on the tape without losing balance till the very end, and no step should fall off the tape path. Make it more fun by challenging the kids to move backwards on the tape path!

4. Tongue twisters and Memory Games 

Tongue twister games are fun in groups, and with the zoom meets at our disposal, this fun game has seen a turnaround in recent times. The kids can actually enjoy the same game on zoom meets, where only one parent has to monitor, and the laughing riot will not cease for hours. Every kid in the game has to say the tongue twister correctly and try to beat the time of the previous player. Similarly, memory games where each participant has to add another word to the already existing sequence of words made by other players. The longer the game, the longer is the pressure to memorize the trail. If any kid forgets a word in between, the laughter and energy put in by other players to correct will set the right happy mood at home.

5. Bowling alley 

Make your own bowling alley at home with paper cups, plastic water bottles and use the same tape to mark the path. If it doesn't bother you, leave the tape in place and let your child play this game any time he/she wants to. They would also have a great time placing the make-shift bowling pins for the game. Bring variation in the game, by placing glasses or bottles in the shape of a pyramid and they have to bring it down in the given number of chances/balls. The kids will love to build the cup/bottle pyramid every time, as it is a game in itself.

6. Balloon up 

Just blow up some balloons and compete to see who can keep the balloon in the air for a long time without dropping it even once. This is a great game that can be played on zoom with all your kid's friends to make the competition better! To make it even better, ask each player to blow up their own balloons or blow up a new balloon every time they drop their balloon, making them restart after each drop.

7. Dominoes

Making a dominoes maze is super time-consuming, with the demand for creative planning and concentration. It is already gaining popularity in India and is an enjoyable way to improve balancing and precision skills. Creating a good domino maze needs more than two hands, so grab this game from various online options and enjoy the quality and constructive family time together!

8. Sack race

Literally an ancestral game that never seems boring or goes out of fashion. Get a sack, jute bag or pillow sack (any fabric that is not slippery) in which the feet can be tied together. The kids have to jump and bounce to move forward to the goal with both feet tied up. If your household has more than one kid, this game will be the favourite and perfect to get their hearts pumping and get the daily dose of physical activity.

9. Spoon your lemon

Another treasure from our own childhood, balancing the lemon on the spoon and walking to the goalpost. This is a great game for preschoolers to introduce them to the sensory realm. They learn to focus, balance while maintaining their eye towards the goal. For older children, try it blindfolded or walking backwards. This game is good if you have a single child at home trying to improve his own performance. Also, who is stopping the adults and parents from participating as well! Go go go!

10. Red light-Green light

A popular, cheery group game that can be played on zoom among friends, at least until the Covid-19 situation improves. One of the participants has to pretend to be the traffic light referred to as the "Den" and stand at a distance of at least 5-6 meters from the other players. The den will call out the 'green light', and all the players will start running towards the den. When the den calls 'red light', they should stop immediately. The player found moving after hearing 'red light' will have to start from the starting point. For Zoom games, fix the similar distances at each player's house, and they have to follow the instructions of the den. You can introduce variations as per the age of children by adding yellow light as a cue to move in super slow motion, or maybe include other colours for crawling, hopping, or walking backwards.

11. Bubbles Shooting

All you need is a bubble Gun or a simple bubble wand/stick available easily in the market. The younger kids would enjoy this the most, as the bubbles fascinate them like fairyland! The kids have to pop the bubbles before they fall on the floor. This is easy to arrange and can be done any time, the kids will jump around, laughing out loud, busting their daily dose of energy!

12. Jenga

A block game where you have to build a tower and then remove pieces from between without the tower collapsing. This can be played with dominoes tiles also. Younger kids might not be able to strategize how to remove the blocks, but will surely love to build towers from them! while older kids can play with the family and learn the science of balance and pressure techniques!

13. Hoopla

Remember how this game was the star game at fairs or fetes at school. with everything closed, create a hoopla game with basic material easily available at home, and see the kids love to compete! You can use, paper plates or unused cardboard to make the rings and a cardboard tube from kitchen paper roll to make the stand. Make more than one stands and place them at different angles and directions to add more excitement to the game!

14. Corners 

A classic memory game that can be played according to the age of kids. Assign a name such as favourite characters, books to nooks or corners of the house and stick name cards in those corners to make it easier. For younger kids use colour names that they recognise. The supervisor parent or the den stands in a place with eyes closed and counts to ten, the other players have to run and stand any one of the corners and when the den calls the name of one of the corners, all the people standing in that corner are out of the game. This goes on repeat and when there are only 4 players left, each player has to choose a different corner. The last person remaining is the winner! This is also a great game to play online with friends, where every player paints or marks circles in the room for each corner.

We have picked these games that are easy to deploy at home and can be played on zoom with friends also with little arrangements done by parents at their respective homes. You can also join in with your kids to share some fun-filled family time. These games are great for virtual birthday parties as well.

Do share your game ideas and click lots of pictures.

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