Kids Activities

Being at home can be hard on kids who are used to socialising every day with their friends at school or with their wider family members so where we can we’ve tried to make sure that our kids can see their friends and family online. It’s great to find some games kids can play on zoom (or Skype, Facetime or Houseparty, whatever works for you) as having a conversation with someone online that you can’t actually physically play with can be a little awkward. Also our usual ‘what have you guys been up to’ isn’t really cutting the mustard these days. We’ve been at home, everyone’s been at home. With that in mind I thought I’d share our favourite games that kids can play online with each other or with family members such as Grandparents.

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Kids Playing Games Online

Obviously when your kids are playing games online with family or friends it goes without saying that you will still need to exercise the same levels of common sense that you would when they are going online normally. Whether you are using zoom, houseparty, facetime or skype make sure that you are happy with how the program works and that you know who they are talking with. Obviously there will also be differences depending on the age of your child for example if you want your three year old to chat to Grandpa online you’re going to need to help out a lot more than you would for a ten year old! Some of these games will need zoom so they can play with more than one other person at a time while for others facetime will be fine – go with the one that’s right for you.

Scavenger Hunt

Our scavenger hunt for zoom is tried and tested with my kids and their cousins. I’ve made a free printable with all the scavenger hunt items to find which you can download plus there’s some tips there too for playing a successful gave with (hopefully!) no cheating. My kids loved this one especially the final item which is one that got shared in our family Whatsapp group too.

Lego Challenge

Ok, not quite a game but this is one that my kids have played over Facetime with friends from school. We’ve been doing the 30 Day Lego Challenge from The Shirley Journey and I picked a challenge from that for the kids to do together. It kept both sets of kids happy for about half an hour while us mums managed to drink a cup of tea – result!

A Quiz

Quizzes are great for kids but you’ll obviously need to make sure that the questions are suitable for all the kids taking part, some subjects like football can be really popular with some kids while others (ok, this is my kids) will know literately nothing about it. Be sure that the questions you know have something for everyone that’s playing and as with the scavenger hunt make sure that your kids can’t see the answers.

Guess Who / Battleship

Now obviously both of these games require the other person playing to have the same game as you but if they do then you’re onto a winner! Guess Who* is a favourite with my kids and it’s simple enough for even quite young kids to play (with a bit of help from a parent) while Battleship* is suitable for older children. You could even buy a spare game online to send to a family member or if you can’t get hold of one then try asking parent friends if any of them have the same game so that you can set up a play date online for your kids.

Charades

I have literally just taught my kids (six and eight) how to play charades so that we can play it on zoom this weekend with other members of our family! You’ll remember from your youth that charades is a book, film, song or TV programme and that you need to sign how many words there are, you can also let the other players know if a word ‘sounds like’ something else. For this game both of my kids managed to think of some films and books that they could act out, Disney films are particularly good for charades as they’re ones that lots of people know. y for the

Ideas for Kids Charades to Play on Zoom or Facetime:

• The Little Mermaid
• The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe
• The Good Dinosaur
• Black Panther
• The Faraway Tree
• Up!
• Star Wars
• The Cat In The Hat

Snakes and Ladders

This is a better one to play with grandparents rather than with other kids as you need to be happy that someone else will be moving your marker around the board! Let your kids have the snakes and ladders* game and both your child and the family member they’re playing with online will need a dice. Take turns to roll your dice and let your kid move the markers around the board. This is a good way for your child to practice their maths too – ‘I rolled a two and I’m on four at the moment, what number do you need to move me to?’

What’s in the Box?

Get each team playing to put something from their house in a box and then the other people playing have to ask questions to guess what it is. You can only answer yes or no.

Bingo

Grab an online printable Bingo game and agree that your kids will have the first sheet, someone else will have the next sheet etc and then choose someone to call the bingo cards.

Simon Says

For this one you’ll probably need to be online on a separate one to your kids so you can judge who the winner is but it’s a fun way to keep your kids active while their online.

Musical Statues

Again you’ll probably want a separate zoom account to your kids for this one so you can see what everyone is up to and see the winner but it can be a good excuse to pop some music on and have a dance!