Working from home sounds like a dream but, when you have your wonderful children running underfoot, getting anything done can be a huge challenge, right?
I work from home and have twins and when my twins are home, productivity goes down.
But, when this happens, I am ready with indoor games for kids!
Oh yea!
While the obvious answer nowadays seems to be to place a screen in front of your child’s face in order to distract them, most moms want to avoid this (or use it as a last ditch effort like I do when the noise is too much!).
So how do you keep your little darlings occupied long enough to get some work done?
It take some effort and creative juices, but you can have fun with engaging indoor games for your child to play while you hunker down at the laptop to make some progress on your work.
Here I’ve listed 91 indoor games for you!
These games are geared toward a range of ages – while some may be advanced for little kids, there are plenty they can use for some fun activities indoors.
There are even a few that work as well if you only have one child.
Hopefully there is a game or two (or three or four) on this list that will keep your little one busy enough so you can concentrate on working from home.
Learn how to work from home with this free email course!
91 Indoor Games for Kids
Many of these indoor activities use things that are already in the house. While I do mention board games and smart speaker games, I’m sure you can use this list of indoor games for kids as a guideline.
Plus, these games aren’t messy like those clever ways I keep my kids busy so I can work!
Board/Table Games
Board and table games are a great way to keep your little ones entertained and a good inside game to play! There are many to choose from that are appropriate for a variety of age ranges.
1. Candy Land
Candy Land is a great board game for younger children. Players use colored cards to move around the board. The first person to the finish wins.
2. Guess Who
This game is perfect for two players! In Guess Who, each player has a character card and use “yes” or “no” questions to determine who the other player is.
3. Monopoly Junior
Based on the popular board game, Monopoly Junior is designed for younger kids and simplifies the rules of the original game.
We bought this game for our twins over the holidays and guess what?
My husband hated the game! He grew up on traditional Monopoly and just couldn’t play the game. While my son felt this was the best indoor game, my husband ended up buying the regular version of Monopoly and taught my 7 year old twins how to play that game (and me since I never played this game growing up!).
Boy oh boy, my son thought THIS was the best indoor game around. He took it to school and wants to play it every day.
4. Sorry
The object of Sorry is simple: players draw cards to move their pieces around the board, bumping players back to the beginning as they do so.
5. Game of Life
In the Game of Life, players move around a board, experiencing life as they find a career, get married, have kids and buy a house.
6. Zooreeka
Cranium’s Zooreeka is a strategy game that involves gathering and trading resources in order to build a zoo.
7. Dominoes
Dominoes is a classic logic game that requires players to match the numbered dots on small tiles – creating a path as they attempt to use all of their dominoes to win.
Card Games
With a single deck of cards, your kids can enjoy a variety of good inside games and keep themselves occupied while you get some work done!
8. Go Fish
Perfect for children, Go Fish is an easy game in which players ask each other for cards in order to make pairs and eliminate their hand.
This was the the first card game we introduced to the twins and they love this game!
9. War
In War, the deck of cards is divided completely among players. Keeping their cards in a pile and face down, players simultaneously flip a card.
Whoever has the highest card wins all the cards flipped. The person with the most cards once all cards have been played wins the game.
10. Crazy 8’s
Each player is given 8 cards and must play cards on a pile by matching suit or number.
However, there are other rules to the game such as – 8’s change the suit, 2’s make the next player pick up two cards, Jacks skip a turn, etc.
Check out the full instructions here.
11. Snap
Snap is a two player game almost like War. Instead of the highest card winning the hand, players must yell “SNAP!” if the cards flipped match. Whoever says it first wins the cards.
12. Solitaire
Not all children have siblings, so for those who play solo, Solitaire is a perfect game to pass the time. Check out how to play here.
13. Old Maid
The object of this game is to not end up with the Old Maid! With a regular deck of cards, one of the Queens is removed in order to create the Old Maid, as players take turns choosing from each others hands in order to make a pair. The person with the Old Maid at the end loses.
Here are the full instructions.
14. Cheat
The key to winning this game requires players to trick each other in order to get rid of all their cards. Check out how to play here.
Dice Games
Not only are dice games fun but they also help your kids develop their math skills. To make the games extra engaging, grab some big foam dice from your local dollar store and explore these indoor games for kids.
15. Beetle
This adorable dice game combines rolling and drawing as players try to complete a picture of a beetle.
Each die roll determines which body part of a beetle to draw and the first person who completes their beetle wins.
Each number on the die corresponds with a different body part (1 – Body, 2 – Head, 3 – A Leg, 4 – An Eye, 5 – An Antenna, 6 – The Tail) and parts must be drawn in a certain order. For instance, the body must be drawn before the head, legs or tail and the head before the eyes and antennas.
16. Yahtzee
Yahtzee is a classic indoor game for kids that involves 13 rounds of rolling 5 dice.
Players use the combination of numbers rolled to determine a score which is then written on a score card. The player with the highest score at the end of the 13 rounds wins.
You can find the full instructions for Yahtzee here.
17. Knock Out
This games uses two dice. Each player chooses a “Knock Out” number between 6 and 9 (the same number can be chosen by more than one player). Players then take turns throwing both dice and adding the numbers together.
If a player throws another player’s “Knock Out” number, that player is knocked out of the game until the next round.
The winner is the last player left.
18. Pig
To play Pig, each player takes one turn to roll the dice over and over, adding up the points as they go along. However, if they roll a 1, they lose all of their points and have to pass the dice to the next player.
Players can choose to keep rolling or stop and pass their turn (and keep their score).
The first player to reach 100 points wins.
19. Dice Story Telling
For dice story telling, each number corresponds to something that happens in the story.
For example, one could mean that the main character meets someone or something while two changes the location of the story.
You can find this game, and other fun dice games, here.
Whiteboard Games
While you could easily play these games on paper, using a dry erase board is a more environmentally friendly choice with less to clean up after!
20. Hangman
This classic game is easy for children of any age to play! One player thinks of a word and the others guess letters until the puzzle is solved – or the player completes a stick-man picture for every wrong guess.
Now that my twins know how to read sight words we love to play hangman after dinner. It’s become sort of a tradition and I secretly help them learn their spelling words for the week this way!
21. Tic Tac Toe
The beauty of using the whiteboard is that your kids can simply erase a completed game and play over and over.
22. Win Lose or Draw
Players take turns drawing pictures that the other players have to guess. The game can be made more challenging by drawing out phrases such as song or movie titles.
23. Hand Tracing
Remember making hand turkeys in elementary school? Or hand elephants? Your kids can trace each other hands and then use their imaginations to fill in the space to create animals and other objects.
24. Boxes
This indoor game is played by making a grid of dots and drawing boxes by connecting them. Each player takes a turn drawing a line.
When a player completes a box, he or she puts their initial in it. Whoever has the most boxes when the grid if filled wins!
Games with Painter’s Tape
Painter’s tape, or masking tape, can be used to set up a ton of super fun games! The bonus of using this tape is that it doesn’t leave any sticky residue behind when you clean it up.
And, my twins LOVE painter’s tape.
25. Tightrope Walk
Use the painter’s tape to create a long line on the floor. Have children take turns walking on the “tightrope” without falling off.
26. Mazes
You can use the tape to create mazes on the floor that children have to follow and solve.
27. Car Tracks
Create a car track using painter’s tape on the floor or a table. Kids can then use toy cars to race or drive on the track.
28. Hopscotch
Create this traditional outdoor game inside by create tape squares and numbers on the floor.
29. Doorway Spiderweb
Run some painter’s tape across a door frame to make a spider’s web. See if your kids can make it through without getting stuck or let them throw balloons at the sticky side.
30. Pick Up Sticks
This is like the classic Pick Up Sticks game but, instead of piling sticks, you layer painter’s tape on a table or floor in strips. Your kids then need to remove the layers of tape without ripping any pieces.
31. Tape Tic Tac Toe
Instead of playing Tic Tac Toe on a white board, create a grid on the floor. Kids then have to use their hands and feet as X’s and O’s to create lines.
32. Tape Letters
Give your kiddos free reign with the painter’s tape by letting them spell their names or simply make letters on the floor.
Balloon Games
Balloons are such a versatile play-thing that, apart from these suggestions, I’m sure your little ones will take it upon themselves to come up with their own inside games, too!
33. Balloon Races
Give your kids some balloons and a finish line – see who can blow their balloon across it first.
34. Balloon Hockey
Grab some empty wrapping paper tubes, turn some laundry basket on their sides and let your kids play balloon hockey!
35. Balloon Waddle
Get your little ones to hold an inflated balloon between their knees and waddle around the room. You can even incorporate this into an obstacle course.
36. Balloon Rockets
To create a balloon rocket, inflate the balloon (without tying it) and tape a straw onto the side. Let the balloon deflate before running a long piece of yarn through the straw.
Tape the yard on both ends across the room. Children stand at one end of the yarn, blow up the balloon and release it. The balloon rockets along the yarn path!
37. Balloon Catch
To create a challenging and fun balloon catch game, grab a simple kitchen funnel and see if your kids can catch the balloon with it.
38. Popcorn Pickup
Next time you receive a package with packing peanuts, save them for this fun (and kind of science-y) game.
Get your kids to rub the balloon on furniture or their hair and see how many packing peanuts they can pick up using static electricity.
39. Balloon Cup Shooters
Take a balloon, a plastic cup and a ping pong ball and create a balloon cup shooter. Full instructions here!
Scavenger Hunts
Keep your kiddos busy on a scavenger hunt while you get some work done. The beauty of scavenger hunts is that you can change the theme so no two games are alike!
It does require some set up from you but once that is all done, you leave it to your child or children to hunt for the missing items!
40. Object Scavenger Hunt
Make a list of objects for your kids to find around the house. You can also list the function of the object (“Something you brush your teeth with.”) to make it more challenging.
41. Puzzle Piece Hunt
Take one of your child’s puzzles and hide the pieces. They then have to find all of the pieces to complete the puzzle.
42. Paint Chip Color Hunt
Head to your local hardware or paint store and grab some of those free paint chips. Give one to each child and instruct them find objects that match their colors.
43. ABC Hunt
Have your child start with the letter “A” and find objects that match the entire alphabet.
44. Chase the Rainbow
Using the colors of the rainbow, get your kids to find objects of those colors and line them up to create a rainbow.
45. Follow the String
Using a skein of yarn, create a path around your home that your kids have to follow to find a hidden object.
46. Flashlight Hunt
Take any of these scavenger hunt ideas, turn off the lights or find a dark room, and get your kids to complete them using a flashlight!
Movement Games
Keep your kids moving and grooving (and potentially tire them out) with these fun indoor games for kids that require a lot of moving around:
47. Obstacle Course
Have your kids grab furniture and objects from around the house to make an obstacle course. They can crawl under chairs, over stools and hop from pillow to pillow.
48. Floor is Lava
The rules are simple: On the count of 3, the floor is lava! The kids have to hop and crawl along furniture and pillows to avoid touching the floor.
49. Hide and Seek
Everyone knows how to play hide and seek. What you may not know is that, if you only have one child, their hiding time is a great opportunity to sneak in a few quick tasks while you are “looking.”
(Just don’t let them hide for too long!)
50. Pillow Case Race
Have your little ones kneel on a pillow case and use their hands to scoot across the floor.
51. Target Practice
Set up some empty plastic bottles around the room and have your child throw soft balls at them to see if they can knock them down.
52. Exercise Videos
There are lots of great videos online that will lead your children through exercises such as dancing and yoga. You should check out Cosmic Kids Yoga, GoNoodle and The Learning Station.
53. Ball Pit
If you have a kiddie pool, bring it indoors and fill it with plastic balls to create a super fun ball pit!
54. Twister
Your kids will have a blast playing Twister! Players spin the spinner to see which body part goes on which colored circle.
Indoor Sports Games
Bring the fun of sports inside (without destroying your home) with these indoor sports games:
55. Ping Pong Ball Catch
Grab some plastic cups and a ping pong ball and let your kids play ping pong ball catch.
56. Basketball
You don’t need a court to play some indoor basketball! Set up some buckets or baskets around the room and allow your child to throw soft balls (or any soft object) into them.
57. Indoor Skating
Try this indoor skating activity: wrap waxed paper around your child’s feet and tape in place. They can then “skate” around the room!
58. Bowling
Dig out some plastic bottles from the recycle bin and set them up like bowling pins. You can even have your children fill them with water and glitter first!
59. Mini Golf
You can grab this super cute mini golf set or you can make your own course.
Tape plastic cups to the floor on their sides and create construction paper tunnels. Your kids can use empty wrapping paper tubes and ping pong balls.
60. Snowball Fight
Don’t worry about your home becoming a melted winter wonderland. Let your kiddos raid the socks drawers and throw “snowballs” at each other. They can even use blankets and furniture to set up forts~
61. Croquet
This croquet set is a perfect indoor game for kids – and the animal theme is too cute!
62. Bean Bag Toss
This easy to set up bean bag toss game also rolls up for convenient storage! Have your kids establish a starting point for tossing but continually move further away as the turns progress.
63. Ring Toss
This is a great hand-eye coordination game and a bit more challenging than the bean bag toss. This is also another easy to set up and clean up indoor game.
Quiet Games
For those tasks that need your absolute focus, you may want to consider setting up some quiet indoor games for your kids.
I actually wrote an article all about quiet games for kids here (but here are a few more ideas)!
64. Touch and Feel Bags
Kids, especially younger children, learn so much about their environment through their senses. Set up some bags with very items inside that provide different textures.
65. Sorting
Who says playing can’t be educational? Keep your little ones busy by having them sort objects.
They can sort their toys by color, their play food by food group or (if you’re looking for some help around the house) they can sort the laundry!
66. Memory
Memory is a game that require concentration. Paired cards are shuffled and placed down on a table. Players take turns flipping two cards to try and make a match.
As the game goes on, players have to keep track of previously flipped cards in order to make pairs.
67. Mystery Socks
Grab a few pairs and socks and place random items in each one. Have your child hold the sock and, without looking inside, guess what the object is.
68. Playdough Treasure Hunt
Spread some playdough out on a tray and hide small objects in it. Your kids then have to carefully dig them out.
69. Lego
A bucket of Lego can go a long way to keeping your child busy while you get some work done! If more than two children are playing, have them take turns copying each other’s designs.
70. Threading Station
Throw some cut up straws and beads in a container and get your kids string them onto yarn and pipe cleaners.
71. Folded Fortune Tellers
Give your kiddos some paper and markers and get them to make some folded fortune tellers! They can fill the inside with fortunes and take turns “predicting” their future. Here are the folding instructions!
72. Paper Airplanes
Download some cool paper airplane designs – or find some on Pinterest – and have your kids fold up these cool flyers!
Musical Games
Music is a great way to keep kids engaged in games while having fun! Check out these musical games that will keep your little ones busy:
73. Hot Potato
Instead of designating someone as the controller of the music, this really cool hot potato game (that looks like an actual potato) plays and stops the music automatically!
74. Freeze Dance
The aim of the game is to stop when the music stops and stay completely still. Players that move are out.
There are a ton of YouTube videos for freeze dance songs, so no one has to man the music.
75. Musical Chairs
These same freeze dance songs can be used for a good old game of music chairs.
Switch it up a bit by using cushions, pillows or pieces of construction paper on the floor.
76. Karaoke
Let your little pop stars sing their hearts out with some karaoke! Any household object can be a microphone and YouTube has lots of kid-friendly karaoke videos.
77. Tissue Dance
Put some music on the stereo and a tissue on your kids head and see how long they can dance before it falls off.
Or, if you were like me, walk away for a few minutes and leave a tissue box next to your toddler and see what happens!
78. Sound Jars
Gather some plastic jars and let your kiddos fill them up with different objects. They can then shake them to see what kind of sounds it makes.
79. Animal Dance Party
Get some tunes going and have your kids take turns choosing an animal to dance like.
80. Draw the Music
This musical game also doubles as a quiet indoor game! Play a piece of music and have the kids draw what they hear and feel.
Educational Websites
You may be reluctant to put your children in front of a screen, but educational websites are certainly not as mind-numbing and pointless as YouTube videos.
Check out these sites that will keep your little ones engaged while giving their brain a good exercise:
81. PBS Kids
PBS offers this education site full of games and videos featuring characters from their kid’s shows such as Curious George, Daniel Tiger and Cat in the Hat.
82. Starfall Education
Starfall is a website used in many classrooms that focuses on reading, phonics and math through games, movies, books and songs.
83. Cool Math
Cool Math features free online math lessons, games and math-related activities.
84. FunBrain
This educational site offers math, grammar, science, spelling and history games for kids of all ages.
85. Scholastic
A popular publisher of children’s book, Scholastic has a website for kids that features games focused on developing reading skills.
86. Highlight Kids
Based on the popular kids’ magazine, Highlight Kids encourages children of all ages to play games, take surveys and discover fun crafts and recipes.
Google Home and Alexa Games
If you have a Google Home or Amazon Alexa, there are many indoor games your children can play simply by talking to the device.
As with any device that connects to the internet, you will want to make sure your children are safe.
You can check out this article for more information.
87. Akinator
For this game, players think of a character from anything (book, show, movie, etc.). Akinator will then ask a series of “yes” or “no” questions.
Based on the player’s answers, Akinator will guess the character – and is right the vast majority of the time!
88. Choose Your Own Adventure (Alexa)
For Alexa, your little ones can play this Choose Your Own Adventure game and make choices that affect how the story goes.
89. Kids Quiz (Alexa)
This Alexa game asks your kids various questions about anything from animals to science as well as brainteasers.
90. What’s Your Inner Animal (Google)
This fun personality quiz on Google Home will ask a simple set of questions to see what your child’s inner animal is.
91. Strangest Day Every (Google)
This is another interactive story, only for Google Home. Children make decisions that changes the course of the story.
Get Your Work On, Mama!
You may not be able to complete hours of work while your kiddos play these fun indoor games, but any time you can get to focus on your tasks is going to get you closer to your goals!
Even if it’s 5 minutes to respond to an email, 10 minutes to draft a blog post outline or half an hour to start an email list, progress means pushing your blog and business further with whatever time you have available.
And trust me, there are many days when I only have 30 minutes to work – for the entire day!
These activities are not going to go over perfectly with your little ones child. Prepare yourself for days when you will get nothing done.
It’s okay, because you’re a mom first and a mompreneur second!
Over to you – what’s your favorite indoor game your child loves the most? Share in the comments!
And, don’t forget to check out my other post on clever ways to keep kids busy (and are slightly messy!).
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