Ideas for games and activities with your children

I have always been impressed by the saying, “An idle mind is a devil’s workshop”; this particularly applies to planning activities and games for children when they are indoors. These activities and games could be elaborate like planning a dance party or small and quiet like making a fluffy nest of blankets and pillows on the floor and having a little story time. Kids have a lot of energy which is to be channelized in a productive manner.

Here are some ideas of indoor games and activities for children:You could create activities like making a homemade telescope with a paper towel roll, or set up a miniature train and village, or build skyscrapers with blocks or Lego.You could test how well kids know their favorite foods, by blindfolding them and asking them to guess the mystery food they were fed based on the flavor.

You could organize an indoor picnic and ask each child to name an item packed in the picnic basket; recite the first person’s item and add new ones as you go.

Children could be encouraged to play musical cushions; similar to musical chair with cushions spread out on your living room floor.

Younger kids could be encouraged to collect toy cars and have a mini car wash in the sink. One other game could be pickup sticks where the child that picked up all the sticks being the winner. A memory or concentration game for young and grown up kids would be a great hit; set up a group of stuffed animals and then taking one away and ask your child to guess what’s missing.

Have a DIY beauty/spa day, by doing each other's nails and hair; also learn to whip up homemade body lotion and lip balm.

Create a touch-and-feel box by cutting a hole out of an old shoebox and filling it with different items; each child has to identify the item by its feel. One more indoor activity is blowing bubbles that are safe for indoor use.

Make greeting cards for festive seasons like Diwali, Christmas, New Year for your loved ones especially grandparents who would love their grandchildren’s artistic skills. Children could get cozy with pillows and blankets and have a story time. You could also play a game of singing along or sing karaoke.

Kids would love to have a pillow fight. Some may also love to build a pillow fort.

If you have a basement or large space, children could try the crab walk or wheelbarrow.

Kids could be encouraged to collect family photos and make an album/collage.

Children could be encouraged to set up an indoor hopscotch grid or balance beam on the floor by using masking tape. They could also create their own home Twister game using masking tape and colored paper.

Kids could play “Follow the Leader” or “Pat a Cake”.

A special family dinner could be cooked; kids would also love to bake and decorate sugar cookies and make cupcakes as dessert.

Kids would love to make marshmallow toys using mini-marshmallows and pretzel sticks. They would also enjoy making giant new crayons out of broken old crayons.

Cut up pictures from magazines and newspapers and create a collage. Kids could also collect family picture and paste them in albums or make collages.

Kids could sit in a circle in a circle or around the fire and tell each other ghost stories. They could also make their own bookmarks for story time.

Kids could play a game by placing a balloon between one another’s torsos and seeing how far one could walk without dropping it. They could also play ‘keep it up’ with a balloon.

You could set up an indoor basketball game with a bucket and a rolled up sock. Children could also be encouraged to set up indoor bowling using empty water bottles and a tennis ball. Pick favorite animals or people and play the “who am I” or “what is it” guessing game. I am sure your kids will enjoy these ideas and activities for children.