1. Pitching Pennies
This game will help in building your child’s hand-eye coordination.
What You Will Need
- Pennies or currency coins
- Large sized paper or plastic drinking cups
How to Play
- Place the cup on a chair on the table in front of the children
- Give each child 5 coins each
- You can ask the child to take a few steps away from the cup in accordance with his age
- Explain to your child that he has to toss the coins, one at a time, into the cup
- The person with the most coins in the cup wins
Suggestion
You can use marbles or ping pong balls in place of pennies to play this game.
2. Indoor Bowling
Create a simple bowling alley in your house and have fun. This game is also ideal for hand-eye coordination in children.
What You Will Need
- Flat floor space to play
- Ten empty bottles or soda cans
- Plastic ball or a tennis ball
- Tape
- Marker
- Spray paint (non-toxic)
How to Play
- Using the tape, create a bowling lane
- Peel off the wrappers of the cans and the bottles and spray paint them. Allow them to dry
- Arrange the bottles at the end of the lane. You may arrange it like bowling pins or stack them on top of each other to form a pyramid
- Ask the child to strike this arrangement using the ball
Suggestion
You can even opt for readily available bowling set in case you have one.
3. In and Out Hangman
This game can be engaging for young kids and may even be a fun way to learn.
What You Will Need
- White or blackboard
- Marker or chalk
- Set of questions and answers or words and hints
How to Play
- Ask your child a question and on the board draw tiny blanks to correlate with the number of letters in the answer. Allow enough space between two words to make it easier for the child to guess the answer
- Instruct your child to guess one letter in the answer and one letter that isn’t in it alternatively.
- Your child is allowed seven wrong guesses, which is the number of steps it takes to complete a hangman figure
Suggestion
You can make the game exciting for your child by asking about his favourite toys, movies, etc.
4. Pictionary
Pictionary is a fun game that requires one player to draw an image indicating the word, where the other player has to guess it correctly.
What You Will Need
- Paper or board
- Pencil or marker
How to Play
- Write down different words on pieces of paper and drop them in the bowl
- Ask your child to pick up the pieces and draw it on the board without telling you what it is. Alternately, you can draw, and he can guess
Suggestion
You can make this game more fun by having groups and competing against each other.
5. Sock Toss
Using some folded up socks and a bucket, you can enjoy a game of mini basketball right at home.
What You Will Need
- Space to play
- Socks
- Bucket
How to Play
- Roll up the socks into little balls and tie them
- Place the bucket in one place and ask your child to move a few steps away from it
- You can then take turns to throw the sock balls into the bucket. Move further away from the bucket after each turn
Suggestion
It can be made challenging for older kids by using buckets with a narrower opening.
6. Indoor Obstacle Course
You can build an obstacle course around child-proofed areas; this is a fun option for kids of various ages.
What You Will Need
- Chairs
- Blankets
- Exercise ball
- Hula hoops
- Anything else that may be useful
How to Play
- Set up the course as space permits and as you would like it and make the rules
- Each obstacle may require a different way to cross through it. For example, ask your child to pass from under a chair or pass through the blanket tunnel twice before he could move on to the next obstacle.
- He will be given a point only after successfully completing each obstacle
Suggestion
Child-proof the area before setting up an obstacle course to avoid any injuries.
7. Follow the leader
If you have several kids at home, this activity can be great fun and is one of the easiest ways to get the kids to follow what you are doing.
What You Will Need
- A list of simple activities
- Space to play
How to Play
- Select different themes for the game. It could be physical activity, gestures, or expressions
- You can be the leader or give each child a chance to be the leader
- All the players will have to mimic what the leader does, jumping, dancing, laughing, etc
Suggestion
This game can be the perfect excuse to squeeze in some exercise when kids are bound inside the house.
8. Puzzles
Give your child access to various puzzles that can be both engaging and educational.
What You Will Need
- Different kinds of a picture or word puzzles
How to Play
- Explain to your child that he needs to set the pieces of the puzzle together to form a picture in case of a picture puzzle
- If you have younger children, you can try some 3D puzzles toys
- Words puzzles are excellent for older kids in order to improve their vocabulary
Suggestion
Keep some puzzle books handy at home that can be given to your child when you cannot get out.
9. Card games
Simple card games are great for kids in order to mould their logical reasoning and colour and number identification.
What You Will Need
- A deck of cards or two
How to Play
- You can play simple kids card games like spoons, trash, cards, memory card (needs two decks), crazy eights (where you need to get rid of all your cards), etc.
- Go fish is a simple card game that is ideal for pre-schoolers.
Suggestion
You can always opt for Uno, which can be a fun alternative.
