45 games
Checked October 2026

Active Indoor Games for Kids

Active indoor games you can play with your kids: balloons, tape, cushions and socks, in a hallway or one room.

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One Song, a New Rule Every Chorus1. Put on one song the children like and dance. Nobody sits down until it ends.2. Each time the chorus comes around, a parent calls a new rule: only high up, only down low, only one foot, only elbows.3. The rule lasts until the next chorus.4. In the last chorus, every dancer follows the rule they liked best.Space: one cleared room. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: music.
Tape Ladder Footwork1. Stick down a ladder of ten tape rungs, each about one big step from the next.2. On the first pass, run through with one foot in every space.3. On the second, put two feet in every space, quick as you can. On the third, go sideways.4. Then each player invents a pattern, such as "in, in, out, out", and everyone else has to copy it.Space: a hallway. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 5. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: painter's tape.
Hallway Shuttle, One Line Farther Each Time1. Stick four tape lines across the hall, a few steps apart.2. From the start, run to the first line, touch it with a hand and run back.3. Then to the second line and back, then the third, then the fourth.4. Rest for ten breaths. On the next go, move like a bear to the first line, a frog to the second, a crab to the third and a kangaroo to the fourth.Space: a hallway. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 3. You need: painter's tape.

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Balloon games 7

Before It Lands 1. Throw one balloon straight up. Before it touches the floor, do one job, then catch it: clap three times. 2. Each round, the parent adds a job to the list: touch the floor, spin around, touch a wall. 3. A balloon that lands sends you back to one job. 4. Take turns, and see how long a list each player can finish. Ask about latex allergy first. With children under eight, an adult blows up the balloon, stays in the room and picks up every piece of a popped one at once. Space: one cleared room. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: one balloon.
Crab Walk With a Balloon on Your Belly 1. Sit on the floor, put your hands behind you and lift your hips to make a table. 2. A helper sets a balloon on your belly. 3. Crab-walk to the far wall without letting it roll off. If it does, stop, sit, put it back and carry on. 4. Count how many crossings the family can make in a row with no drops. Ask about latex allergy first. With children under eight, an adult blows up the balloon, stays in the room and picks up every piece of a popped one at once. Space: a hallway. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 5. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: one balloon.
Crawl and Blow to the Door 1. Put one balloon on the floor at one end of the hall. 2. On hands and knees, move the balloon to the far door using only puffs of breath. No hands, no nose. 3. Stop for a rest whenever you feel puffed. 4. With two or more players, give each a balloon of their own color and a lane along one wall. Ask about latex allergy first. With children under eight, an adult blows up the balloon, stays in the room and picks up every piece of a popped one at once. Space: a hallway. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 5. Kids: 1 to 3. You need: a balloon for each player.

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Balloon games, continued

Feet-Only Keep-Up on Your Backs 1. Everyone lies on the rug with heads together in the middle and feet out, like the spokes of a wheel. 2. A parent drops one balloon over the middle. 3. Keep it in the air with feet only, calling a number for every kick. 4. When it lands, sit up, touch your toes five times and lie down for the next try. Ask about latex allergy first. With children under eight, an adult blows up the balloon, stays in the room and picks up every piece of a popped one at once. Space: one cleared room. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: one balloon and a rug.
Get Dressed Before It Lands 1. Lay out a hat, a scarf, a pair of mittens and a big shirt for each player. 2. On go, tap a balloon into the air and keep it up with one hand while you put everything on. 3. If the balloon lands, take one thing off again. 4. The first player dressed with the balloon still in the air wins. A parent plays too, with clothes that are far too small. Ask about latex allergy first. With children under eight, an adult blows up the balloon, stays in the room and picks up every piece of a popped one at once. Space: one cleared room. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 5. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: a balloon each, and a hat, a scarf, mittens and a big shirt each.
Sit, Kneel, Stand: One Tap at Each Level 1. Start sitting on the floor with a balloon. Tap it up. 2. Before the next tap, get to your knees. Tap again, and get to your feet. Tap again, and go back down to your knees, then to sitting. 3. One tap at each level, all the way up and all the way down, is one trip. 4. Count the trips you can make before the balloon lands. A parent goes at the same time and usually loses. Ask about latex allergy first. With children under eight, an adult blows up the balloon, stays in the room and picks up every piece of a popped one at once. Space: a spot to stand. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 5. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: a balloon for each player.
Wall to Wall Without a Landing 1. Start with your back against one wall. Tap a balloon up and keep tapping as you walk to the opposite wall. 2. Touch the wall with your free hand, turn and come back. 3. Each crossing without a landing counts one. 4. Make it harder as the count climbs: tap with one finger, then with your head, then with a knee. Ask about latex allergy first. With children under eight, an adult blows up the balloon, stays in the room and picks up every piece of a popped one at once. Space: one cleared room. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: one balloon.

Tape on the floor 8

Hallway Shuttle, One Line Farther Each Time 1. Stick four tape lines across the hall, a few steps apart. 2. From the start, run to the first line, touch it with a hand and run back. 3. Then to the second line and back, then the third, then the fourth. 4. Rest for ten breaths. On the next go, move like a bear to the first line, a frog to the second, a crab to the third and a kangaroo to the fourth. Space: a hallway. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 3. You need: painter's tape.
Hand on the Square, Foot on the Circle 1. Tape four shapes on the floor close together: a square, a triangle, a cross and a circle. 2. A parent calls a hand or a foot and a shape, such as "left hand, triangle". 3. The player puts it there and keeps it there while the next call comes. 4. After five calls, hold the pose for a count of five. Then the tangled player calls for the next one. Space: a spot to stand. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 5. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: painter's tape.
Jump the Numbers 1. Tape a grid of four boxes on the floor, two by two, and write 1, 2, 3 and 4 in them. 2. The jumper stands in box 1. A parent calls three numbers, such as "three, two, four". 3. The jumper jumps to each box in that order, two feet together. 4. A clean run earns one more number on the next call. Swap, so that the child calls numbers for the parent. Space: a spot to stand. Noise: loud. Youngest player: age 5. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: painter's tape and a marker.
Racetrack on Hands and Knees 1. Tape a racetrack loop around the edge of the cleared room, wide enough for a toy car. 2. Each driver crawls a lap on hands and knees, pushing a toy car along the track with one finger. 3. A car that leaves the track goes back to the last corner. 4. Run three laps, then turn around and drive the track the other way. Space: one cleared room. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: painter's tape and a toy car for each driver.
Step Only in the Gaps 1. Stick down a tangle of crossing tape lines over a stretch of floor, like a spilled box of straws. 2. Cross from one side to the other, stepping only in the gaps. A foot on a line sends you back to the start. 3. Cross again on tiptoe, then backward. 4. For the last crossing, carry a cup with a little water in it. A parent has bigger feet and needs the same gaps. Space: one cleared room. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: painter's tape and a plastic cup.
Tape Ladder Footwork 1. Stick down a ladder of ten tape rungs, each about one big step from the next. 2. On the first pass, run through with one foot in every space. 3. On the second, put two feet in every space, quick as you can. On the third, go sideways. 4. Then each player invents a pattern, such as "in, in, out, out", and everyone else has to copy it. Space: a hallway. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 5. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: painter's tape.
Three Lines, Three Ways to Move 1. Stick down three lines of tape across the room: one straight, one zigzag and one made of short dashes. 2. Walk the straight line backward. Hop the zigzag from corner to corner. Jump the dashes with two feet, from gap to gap. 3. Go around the three lines as a circuit. 4. After each lap, the child changes one rule, such as "the straight one on tiptoe". Space: one cleared room. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: painter's tape.
Up From the Floor on the Clap 1. Stick a start line at one end of the hall. Runners lie on their tummies behind it, chins on their hands. 2. A parent stands at the far end and makes noises: a cough, a stamp, a whistle. Nobody moves for those. 3. On a clap, everyone jumps up, runs to touch the far wall and walks back. 4. Start the next round lying on your back, then sitting cross-legged facing the wrong way. Space: a hallway. Noise: loud. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 3. You need: painter's tape.

Cushion and laundry basket games 7

Blanket Sled Delivery 1. Spread a blanket on a smooth floor, well away from stairs and table corners. 2. The rider sits in the middle and holds the edges. A parent takes two corners and pulls the sled down the hall at a walk. 3. Then the child is the puller: load the sled with soft toys and deliver one to each room. 4. Swap riders at every stop. Space: a hallway. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 3. You need: a blanket, a smooth floor and soft toys.
Cushion Against Cushion, Push to the Line 1. On carpet, mark a line with tape. A parent and a child kneel on either side of it, each holding a sofa cushion in front of the chest. 2. Press the two cushions together. 3. On go, each pushes. Knees stay on the floor and nobody pulls away suddenly. 4. The parent gives ground slowly until the child has pushed them a full step back. Two children can push one parent together. Space: a spot to stand. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 2. You need: two sofa cushions, carpet and tape.
Fill It Faster Than I Empty It 1. Put every soft toy in the house in a laundry basket in the middle of the room. A parent sits beside it. 2. On go, the parent tosses toys out of the basket in every direction, one at a time. 3. The children run, fetch and drop them back in. 4. If the basket is ever empty, the parent wins. When the parent's arms give out, the children win. Space: one cleared room. Noise: loud. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: a laundry basket and a pile of soft toys.
Push the Heavy Basket to the Depot 1. Fill a laundry basket with books until it is heavy but still slides. 2. The driver pushes it along the hall, hands on the rim, to the depot at the far end. 3. At the depot, take out one book and push the basket back. 4. Keep going until the basket is empty. Then load it up again, one book a trip, the other way. Space: a hallway. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 3. You need: a laundry basket and a stack of books.
Row the Basket Boat 1. On a smooth floor, a child sits in a laundry basket with knees up. 2. Reach over the sides and push on the floor with both hands, like oars, to row the boat backward down the hall. 3. Row to the far wall, turn the boat around and row home. 4. With two baskets, race. With one, a parent counts the strokes and the rower tries to do it in fewer. Space: a hallway. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 2. You need: a laundry basket and a smooth floor.
Take the Sofa Apart, Build It in the Hall 1. Every cushion on the sofa has to move to the far end of the hall, one cushion a trip. 2. Carry each one a different way: on your head, hugged to your chest, behind your back, between two players. 3. Build the sofa again on the hall floor, with every cushion in its right place. 4. Sit on it for a count of ten, then carry it all home and put it back properly. Space: a hallway. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: the cushions of one sofa.
Turtle Shell Crawl 1. The turtle gets on hands and knees. A helper turns a laundry basket upside down on the turtle's back as a shell. 2. Crawl across the room without the shell sliding off. 3. If it slides, stop and let the helper put it back. 4. Lay a row of cushions across the middle as hills for the turtle to climb over on the second crossing. Space: one cleared room. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: a laundry basket and a few cushions.

Sock games 7

Bear Crawl Floor Polishers 1. Pull an old sock over each hand, and keep your own socks on your feet. 2. Get into a bear crawl: hands and feet on the floor, knees off it. 3. Polish the hall floor from one end to the other without a knee touching down. 4. Come back as a crab, polishing with your feet and hands the other way up. A parent inspects the shine. Space: a hallway. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: two old socks for each player and a smooth floor.
Hallway Sock Soccer, Goals Under Two Chairs 1. Stand a chair at each end of the hall. The space between its legs is the goal. 2. Roll three socks into one tight ball. 3. Play in socks, one against one or two against two, kicking along the floor only. No hands, and nothing kicked above the knee. 4. First to five goals. A parent on their knees makes a fair match for a small child. Space: a hallway. Noise: loud. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: two chairs and three socks rolled into a ball.
The Hoop That Walks Away 1. Roll every clean pair of socks in the drawer into a ball. 2. A parent holds a laundry basket on one hip and walks slowly around the room. 3. The children throw sock balls into the basket from wherever they stand, then run to pick up the misses. 4. Every sock that goes in lets the parent take one step farther away. Play until every sock is in. Space: one cleared room. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: a laundry basket and a drawer of rolled socks.
Jump and Tap the Hanging Socks 1. Tape four strings of different lengths to the top of a door frame, and tie a sock to the end of each. 2. The lowest sock should be just above the child's reach, and the highest a good jump up. 3. Jump and tap each sock in turn, from lowest to highest. 4. Ten taps on the highest sock a player can reach ends the turn. Shorten the strings as the jumps get better. Space: a doorway. Noise: loud. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 3. You need: four socks, string and tape.
Sock Shot Put Down the Hall 1. Fill one sock with three other socks and knot the top. 2. Stand behind a tape line at one end of the hall, with every door along it shut. 3. Push the sock from your shoulder, like a shot put, as far as you can. 4. Mark where it lands with tape and your name. Three throws each, then three with the other arm. Space: a hallway. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: four socks and tape.
Sock Skate, Longest Glide 1. Clear a smooth floor, and check that there are no stairs, rugs or table corners anywhere near. Mark a start line with tape. 2. One skater at a time takes three running steps in socks and glides from the line. 3. Arms out, knees bent. Mark where the glide stops with a strip of tape. 4. Three goes each. The longest glide wins, and the parent's mark is the one to beat. Space: a hallway. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 5. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: socks, a smooth floor and tape.
Two Sock Balls on the Backs of Your Hands 1. Roll two pairs of socks into balls. Hold your hands out flat, palms down, and have a helper set one ball on the back of each. 2. Walk a route through the house that a parent names, such as "to the bathroom door and back". 3. On the way, sit down on the floor once and stand up again without dropping either. 4. A dropped ball goes back on where it fell. Fewest drops wins. Space: one cleared room. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 5. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: two pairs of rolled socks for each player.

Follow and copy games a parent plays too 8

Elevator to the Tenth Floor 1. Everyone crouches as low as they can go: this is the basement. 2. A parent calls the floors from one to ten, slowly. With each floor, everyone rises a little, until they are on tiptoe with arms up at ten. 3. Then the operator calls floors in any order, and the elevators rush to the right height. 4. Hand the job of operator to a child, who usually sends the parent up and down a great deal. Space: a spot to stand. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: nothing.
Follow Your Elbow 1. A parent calls one part of the body, such as "elbow". 2. Everyone walks around the room as if that part were pulling them along, with the rest of the body following. 3. Call a new part every few steps: a knee, the nose, the top of the head, the belly button, a heel. 4. Let each child call three parts. Finish with "everything at once". Space: one cleared room. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: nothing.
Jungle Story on the Move 1. A parent starts telling a story about a walk through the jungle. Everyone walks on the spot. 2. Each time an animal comes into the story, everyone moves like it until the next one turns up: a snake on the floor, a monkey swinging, a frog jumping, a tiger creeping. 3. The children choose what the walkers meet next. 4. End the story with everyone as a sloth, moving as slowly as they can back to the sofa. Space: one cleared room. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: nothing.
Kid Is the Coach 1. The child is the coach and invents three exercises, each with a name, such as "the windmill" or "the angry flamingo". 2. The coach shows each one. 3. The parent has to do five of each while the coach counts and corrects. 4. Then swap, so that the parent invents three and the child does five of each. End with all six in a row, side by side. Space: a spot to stand. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 3. You need: nothing.
Mirror, Then Shadow 1. A parent and a child stand face to face. The child moves slowly and the parent copies like a mirror: arms, knees, faces. 2. Swap who leads. 3. On the word "shadow", the leader turns around and walks off through the house, and the other follows one step behind, copying every move. 4. Swap again at each room. Space: one cleared room. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 3. You need: nothing.
New Leader at Every Door 1. Line up behind a leader, who chooses a way to move: marching, tiptoeing, sliding sideways, walking like a giant. 2. Everyone follows through the house, copying. 3. Each time the line goes through a doorway, the leader drops to the back and the next in line leads with a new move. 4. Go around the whole house twice. A parent is in the line and takes a turn. Space: one cleared room. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: nothing.
Popcorn in the Pan 1. Everyone crouches down small on the rug, like popcorn in a pan. 2. A parent turns up the heat with words: "warm", "hot", "hotter". The popcorn wiggles more with each one. 3. On "pop", everyone jumps as high as they can and keeps popping around the room. 4. On "lid on", everyone drops back down small. Let each child work the stove once. Space: one cleared room. Noise: loud. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: nothing.
Remote Control: Play, Pause, Rewind 1. One player holds a pretend remote. Everyone else moves around the room. 2. The remote calls "play" for walking, "fast forward" for a jog on the spot, "slow motion", "pause" for a freeze and "rewind" for walking backward the way you came. 3. Call the buttons quickly, so that nobody stands still for long. 4. Pass the remote on after ten calls. Space: one cleared room. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: nothing.

Quick resets for a wet afternoon 8

Countdown From Ten, a New Move Each Number 1. Together, pick a move for ten: ten jumps. Do them. 2. Pick a different move for nine, such as nine toe touches, then for eight, such as eight spins. Take turns choosing. 3. Work all the way down to one, which is one very long, slow stretch up to the ceiling. 4. If there is energy left, climb back up from one to ten with the same moves. Space: a spot to stand. Noise: loud. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: nothing.
Fewest Steps Around the Table 1. Walk one lap of the kitchen table with your normal steps, and count them. 2. Now do a lap in fewer steps. The strides have to get longer and lower. 3. Keep going, a few steps fewer each lap, until you cannot take one step off. 4. Write each player's lowest number on the fridge. Long legs get no extra credit. Space: one cleared room. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: nothing.
Hold Up the Wall 1. Everyone picks a stretch of bare wall and puts both hands flat on it. 2. On go, push as if the wall were falling and you had to hold it up. Feet back, arms straight. 3. A parent counts slowly to twenty. 4. Shake out your arms, then hold up the wall with your back, sitting against it on an invisible chair, for another count of ten. Space: a spot to stand. Noise: quiet. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: nothing.
Ice, Water, Steam 1. A parent calls one of three words. On "ice", everyone freezes stiff. 2. On "water", everyone flows around the room, low and smooth, around the furniture. 3. On "steam", everyone rises on tiptoe and floats and jumps as lightly as they can. 4. Call them in any order, faster and faster, and end on "ice" so that the room is still. Space: one cleared room. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: nothing.
Laps Before the Toast Pops 1. Put bread in the toaster and push the lever down. 2. Everyone starts doing laps of the kitchen table, or of the hall, and counts them. 3. When the toast pops, freeze where you are. 4. Write the number of laps on a slip and stick it on the fridge. Next time there is toast, try to beat it. Space: one cleared room. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: a toaster and bread.
One Song, a New Rule Every Chorus 1. Put on one song the children like and dance. Nobody sits down until it ends. 2. Each time the chorus comes around, a parent calls a new rule: only high up, only down low, only one foot, only elbows. 3. The rule lasts until the next chorus. 4. In the last chorus, every dancer follows the rule they liked best. Space: one cleared room. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: music.
Touch Every Door Handle in the House 1. Before anyone moves, each player guesses how many door handles the house has, cupboards not included. 2. On go, everyone walks fast through the house and touches every handle once, counting out loud. No running on stairs. 3. Meet back at the front door and compare counts. 4. The closest guess chooses what gets counted next time: light switches, windows or taps. Space: one cleared room. Noise: lively. Youngest player: age 4. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: nothing.
Your Age in Jumps at Every Doorway 1. Start at the front door. 2. Walk through the house. In every doorway you come to, stop and do as many star jumps as you are years old. 3. A parent comes along and does the same, which takes a good deal longer. 4. Finish back at the front door. Count how many doorways the house has while you go. Space: a doorway. Noise: loud. Youngest player: age 3. Kids: 1 to 4. You need: nothing.

How this list was compiled: Our suggestions, written for this site for a parent at home with one to four children and energy to burn. The wording is ours, and the youngest ages, the space and the noise are our estimates. Nothing is played on stairs or on furniture, nobody is thrown at, and nothing here is exercise or health advice. Every balloon game carries the line on children under eight, after the balloon label in US Consumer Product Safety Commission safety alert 5087 (https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/5087.pdf) and the choking prevention page of the American Academy of Pediatrics (https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/injuries-emergencies/Pages/Choking-Prevention.aspx), both read on 2026-10-09. Licence: own work

How it works

These active indoor games for kids are for a parent with one to four children, a hallway and a wet afternoon. Each says the space it needs, how noisy it gets and its youngest age. Everything comes from the house.

Read the full guide

Games to play with kids indoors, by what you have

A roll of painter's tape sets up every game under Tape on the floor. A laundry basket is a boat, a turtle shell and a moving hoop. If the only thing to hand is the children, Follow and copy games a parent plays too need nothing at all.

Fun games to play inside without wrecking the place

Nothing here is played on stairs or on the furniture. Sofa cushions come down to the floor first, and every door along a hallway is shut before anything is thrown.

In an apartment, choose Quiet for downstairs under More filters: those games have no jumping or stomping.
End on a slow game, such as Follow Your Elbow or Elevator to the Tenth Floor.

Questions and answers

How do I tire out my kids indoors?

Pick games where they carry, push or crawl. Push the Heavy Basket to the Depot, Bear Crawl Floor Polishers and Fill It Faster Than I Empty It use the whole body and fit in a hallway or one room.

What active games can I play with one child?

All of these. A parent is the other player in games such as Mirror, Then Shadow, Jump the Numbers and Cushion Against Cushion, Push to the Line.

Are balloons safe for indoor games with young kids?

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission warns that children under eight can choke on uninflated or broken balloons. An adult blows them up, stays in the room and throws away the pieces of a popped one at once. Ask about latex allergy first.

What indoor games burn energy in a small space?

Hold Up the Wall, Jump the Numbers and Countdown From Ten, a New Move Each Number need only a spot to stand. Under More filters, choose A spot to stand to see them all.