Games to Play for Father's Day

Contests he plays, judges or loses with good grace: press Pick 3 new games.

Games to Play for Father's Day

  1. One Fold Each Until the Map Lies Flat1. Give each team a paper road map, fully opened. 2. The first player makes one fold and passes it on. 3. Each player may make one fold or undo one fold. 4. The first team to hand him a map folded flat, with the cover on the outside, wins. Players: 4 to 12 in teams. Time: 8 min. Props: a paper road map for each team.
  2. His Best Play, Acted at Quarter Speed1. He describes the best sporting moment of his life in three sentences. 2. The family casts the parts and acts it out in slow motion on the lawn. 3. He stands to one side and gives the commentary. 4. If the replay gets a detail wrong, he calls for another take, up to three. Players: 3 to 10, and Dad. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  3. Exactly Seven Seconds1. He picks a short route, such as to the tree and back, and a number of seconds. 2. Each player must cover the route in exactly that time, counting in their head. 3. He holds the stopwatch and says nothing until they finish. 4. Closest to the target wins the round. Running fastest is no help. Players: 2 to 10, and Dad. Time: 10 min. Props: a stopwatch.

Next step Games for the whole family

How it works

These games to play for Father's Day put him in the middle: he judges the trick shots, runs the kids' obstacle course and is timed telling his longest story. Nothing here is played near a lit grill.

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Before, during and after the cookout

While the food is cooking, keep everyone on the lawn with Back-yard contests he judges or plays, well away from the grill. Cookout-table games are for the table once he has sat down. Save Skill relays for when the plates are cleared.

Father's Day party games for a club breakfast

Choose For a room of many fathers in the All games menu. Most are played by table or by a show of hands, and none asks anyone about his own children.

Tips
  • Let the children win the handicap games honestly: a tennis ball is a real handicap.
  • Gather the relay gear the night before: a tie, a road map, a sleeping bag, a flashlight.

Questions and answers

What can young kids do for Dad on Father's Day?

Choose Games the children run for him. Pit Crew for Dad's Chair takes thirty seconds and no skill, Build Him a Throne uses cushions, and Paper Tie Fashion House ends with a tie he wears all day.

What games work at a Father's Day cookout?

Table games that do not need him to leave his plate: Groan and You Lose: Dad Jokes Face to Face, Pack Like Dad and His Long Story in Thirty Seconds. Lawn contests such as Reverse-Park the Wagon are set up away from the grill.

What if Dad does not like being the center of attention?

Make him the judge. In Invent a Trick Shot, Dad Attempts It and Exactly Seven Seconds he scores other people for most of the game, and the skill relays are team games he can referee.

Are there Father's Day games for grandfathers too?

Yes. Under More filters, choose Seated for games played from a chair. Every Car He Has Driven, in Order and Oldest Gadget in the Drawer get better the more years there are to sort.

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All 40 games

Back-yard contests he judges or plays 8

  • Catch Ladder: Ten Ways to Catch 1. Dad and one player stand five paces apart with a soft ball. 2. Work up a ladder of ten catches: two hands, right hand, left hand, after one clap, after a spin, and so on. 3. A drop sends the pair down one rung. 4. Each child takes a turn as his partner. The pair that climbs highest in three minutes wins. Players: 2 to 8, and Dad. Time: 15 min. Props: a soft ball.
  • Dad Runs the Kids' Course 1. The children design an obstacle course from what is in the yard: around the tree, under the bench, a hop between two shoes. 2. They walk him through it once. 3. He runs it against the clock. 4. Each child then tries to beat his time, and he may change one obstacle before the rematch. Players: 2 to 6, and Dad. Time: 15 min. Props: a timer and whatever is in the yard.
  • Exactly Seven Seconds 1. He picks a short route, such as to the tree and back, and a number of seconds. 2. Each player must cover the route in exactly that time, counting in their head. 3. He holds the stopwatch and says nothing until they finish. 4. Closest to the target wins the round. Running fastest is no help. Players: 2 to 10, and Dad. Time: 10 min. Props: a stopwatch.
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Back-yard contests he judges or plays, continued

  • His Best Play, Acted at Quarter Speed 1. He describes the best sporting moment of his life in three sentences. 2. The family casts the parts and acts it out in slow motion on the lawn. 3. He stands to one side and gives the commentary. 4. If the replay gets a detail wrong, he calls for another take, up to three. Players: 3 to 10, and Dad. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Invent a Trick Shot, Dad Attempts It 1. Each player invents a trick shot with a soft ball and a bucket: off the fence, over the shoulder, from a chair. 2. They get three tries to make it once. 3. He judges the shots that went in for difficulty and style. 4. Then he must attempt the winning shot himself, with the inventor as his coach. Players: 2 to 8, and Dad. Time: 15 min. Props: a soft ball and a bucket.
  • Keep-Ups With a Handicap 1. Each player counts how many times they can keep a ball in the air with feet, knees or head. 2. The children use a full-size light ball. 3. He uses a tennis ball. 4. Best of three tries each. If he still wins, he moves to a table tennis ball. Players: 2 to 8, and Dad. Time: 10 min. Props: a light ball, a tennis ball and a table tennis ball.
  • Reverse-Park the Wagon 1. Chalk a parking space on the driveway, a little bigger than a child's wagon or a wheelbarrow. 2. Each driver pulls forward past it, then pushes the wagon backward into the space. 3. He stands at the curb and scores each try for distance from the lines. 4. A wagon parked without touching chalk scores full points. Then he parks it himself. Players: 2 to 8, and Dad. Time: 10 min. Props: chalk and a wagon or wheelbarrow.
  • Three-Step Play Scratched in the Dirt 1. He scratches a three-step play in the dirt, or draws it on his palm: run to the tree, cut left, catch the pass. 2. Two children study it for ten seconds. 3. They run it with a soft ball while a third player tries to get in the way. 4. A completed pass scores. Then the children draw up a play and he has to run it. Players: 3 to 8, and Dad. Time: 15 min. Props: a soft ball.

Cookout-table games 8

  • Championship Commentary on the Salad 1. One player is the announcer and holds a spoon as a microphone. 2. They describe whatever he is doing at the table as if it were a championship final. 3. After thirty seconds the spoon passes on. 4. He awards a point to the announcer who made the passing of the salad sound most like a last-minute winner. Players: 3 to 10, and Dad. Time: 8 min. Props: a spoon.
  • Every Car He Has Driven, in Order 1. He writes each car, truck or bike he has owned on a separate card, by color and kind, and shuffles them. 2. The family lays the cards in the order they think he owned them. 3. He moves the wrong ones, one at a time. 4. For each card he moves, he owes the table a story of one sentence about that car. Players: 3 to 10, and Dad. Time: 10 min. Props: cards and a pen.
  • Groan and You Lose: Dad Jokes Face to Face 1. Two players sit face to face across the picnic table. 2. They take turns telling one dad joke each. 3. It is a straight-face game with a script: the first to laugh or groan aloud loses the round. 4. Winner stays on. He is the last challenger, and the table decides whether his groan counted. Players: 4 to 12. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • His Long Story in Thirty Seconds 1. The family chooses one of his favorite long stories. 2. He has thirty seconds to tell all of it. 3. Anyone may tap a glass with a spoon when he leaves the point, and each tap costs him two seconds. 4. If he reaches the ending in time, he may tell the long version over dessert. Players: 3 to 12, and Dad. Time: 5 min. Props: a timer and a spoon.
  • Oldest Gadget in the Drawer 1. He brings five gadgets from a drawer or the garage to the table. Nothing with a blade. 2. The family puts them in order from the one he has owned longest to the newest. 3. He gives the real order. 4. A point for each in the right place, and the oldest gets a round of applause for still working. Players: 3 to 10, and Dad. Time: 8 min. Props: five household gadgets.
  • Pack Like Dad 1. Name a trip: one night camping, a day at the lake. 2. Everyone writes the five things he would pack first. He writes his own five in secret. 3. He reads his list. 4. A point for every match. The thing nobody guessed is explained at length, as it always is. Players: 3 to 10, and Dad. Time: 8 min. Props: paper and pens.
  • Point to Where He Drove Us 1. Open a road atlas or a paper map on the table. 2. He names a place the family has driven to together. 3. Everyone puts a finger on the map where they think it is, on three. 4. Closest finger scores. The winner names what they remember of that trip. Players: 3 to 8, and Dad. Time: 10 min. Props: a road atlas or a paper map.
  • Things Borrowed From Dad 1. Before the meal, each family member fetches one thing of his that they borrowed and never gave back. 2. Put them all in a box. 3. He lifts them out one by one and guesses who had each. 4. A right guess gets the thing back with an apology, and a wrong one lets the borrower keep it another week. Players: 3 to 8, and Dad. Time: 10 min. Props: a box.

Games the children run for him 8

  • Build a Scarecrow Dad 1. The children borrow his hat and jacket, with permission, and a broom, a pillow and a chair. 2. They have five minutes to build a second Dad. 3. He stands beside it for a photo. 4. The rest of the family judges how good the likeness is, and he names one thing the copy does better than he does. Players: 2 to 5, and Dad. Time: 10 min. Props: his hat and jacket, a broom, a pillow and a chair.
  • Build Him a Throne 1. Two teams of children each build a throne from cushions, boxes and blankets. 2. They have five minutes. 3. He sits in each for a count of ten. 4. He scores them for comfort, for looks and for whether he could get out again. He takes his lunch in the winning throne. Players: 2 to 6, and Dad. Time: 10 min. Props: cushions, boxes and blankets.
  • Clues Only Dad Can Solve 1. With help from another adult, the children write five clues that only he could answer: where you taught me to ride a bike. 2. Each answer is a place at home where the next clue is hidden. 3. It is a clue trail whose clues come from his own history. The children follow him and may not help. 4. The last clue leads to his card. Players: 1 to 5, and Dad. Time: 15 min. Props: five written clues and a card.
  • Foil Trophy Presentation 1. The children get a roll of aluminum foil, two paper cups and ten minutes. 2. They build a trophy and decide what it is for. 3. One child makes a speech of three sentences. 4. He accepts it with a speech of his own and names the trophy's place on the shelf. Players: 1 to 5, and Dad. Time: 15 min. Props: aluminum foil and two paper cups.
  • The Kids Are the TV 1. He holds an imaginary remote control. 2. Each child is a channel: weather, sports, a cooking show, the news about the family. 3. When he points and clicks, that channel starts. When he clicks elsewhere, it stops mid-word. 4. After five minutes he says which channel he would watch all day. Players: 2 to 6, and Dad. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • Paper Tie Fashion House 1. Each child cuts a tie shape from paper and decorates it for him. 2. One by one they present their tie and say which occasion it is for. 3. He wears each for ten seconds. 4. He chooses one to wear for the rest of the day, taped to his shirt, and keeps the others in a drawer. Players: 1 to 6, and Dad. Time: 15 min. Props: paper, scissors, pens and tape.
  • Pit Crew for Dad's Chair 1. He sits in his chair and the children are the pit crew. 2. On go they have thirty seconds to bring a drink, a footstool, a hat and something to read. 3. Each crew member has one job. 4. He times the stop and asks for one improvement. The second stop has to beat the first. Players: 2 to 5, and Dad. Time: 5 min. Props: a chair, a drink, a footstool, a hat and something to read.
  • Three Photos, Directed by the Kids 1. The children are the directors, and he is the model. 2. They direct three photos: a hero pose, a surprised face and asleep on the job. 3. Each director may move one of his arms and give one instruction. 4. The family votes for the photo that goes on the fridge. Players: 1 to 5, and Dad. Time: 8 min. Props: a phone camera.

Skill relays 8

  • Batteries In, Light On 1. Put a flashlight on a table for each team, with its batteries beside it. 2. The first player loads the batteries, switches it on, shows the beam, then takes the batteries out again. 3. The next player repeats it. 4. First team with every player done wins. He referees any light that only flickers. Players: 4 to 12 in teams. Time: 8 min. Props: a flashlight with batteries for each team.
  • Coil the Rope, No Tangles 1. Lay a long rope or an extension cord in a heap for each team. Nothing is plugged in. 2. The first player coils it into neat loops and hands the coil to him. 3. He holds one end and lets the coil drop: if it runs out without a knot, it passes. 4. He heaps it up again for the next player. First team through wins. Players: 4 to 12 in teams. Time: 10 min. Props: a long rope or an unplugged extension cord for each team.
  • Fold, Throw, Fetch Relay 1. Each player folds a paper plane at the start line. 2. The first player throws. The next player throws their own plane from where the first one landed. 3. A paper plane contest measures one throw: this measures the team, and the far fence is the finish. 4. The team that gets there in fewer throws wins. Players: 4 to 12 in teams. Time: 15 min. Props: a sheet of paper each.
  • Match Each Nut to Its Bolt 1. Tip eight bolts of different sizes into one bowl and their eight nuts into another, for each team. 2. One player at a time picks a bolt, finds its nut and threads it on by hand. 3. A wrong nut goes back in the bowl. 4. First team with eight matched pairs wins. The parts are small, so this one is for adults and older children. Players: 4 to 12 in teams. Time: 10 min. Props: eight nuts and bolts and two bowls for each team.
  • One Fold Each Until the Map Lies Flat 1. Give each team a paper road map, fully opened. 2. The first player makes one fold and passes it on. 3. Each player may make one fold or undo one fold. 4. The first team to hand him a map folded flat, with the cover on the outside, wins. Players: 4 to 12 in teams. Time: 8 min. Props: a paper road map for each team.
  • Pack the Paper Trunk 1. Draw the outline of a car trunk on a large sheet for each team. 2. Cut ten shapes from cardstock to stand for luggage: two big suitcases, a cooler, a tent, bags of odd shapes. 3. Teams take turns placing one piece each inside the outline. 4. The first team to fit all ten pieces flat, with none overlapping, wins. Players: 4 to 12 in teams. Time: 10 min. Props: large paper, cardstock shapes and scissors.
  • Roll the Sleeping Bag Into Its Sack 1. Lay a sleeping bag flat beside its stuff sack for each team. 2. Pairs roll the bag, get it into the sack and pull the cord. 3. The next pair pulls it out, lays it flat and starts again. 4. He checks that each bag is really inside its sack before the handover. Players: 4 to 12 in teams. Time: 10 min. Props: a sleeping bag and its sack for each team.
  • Tie a Tie Relay 1. Each team has one necktie. 2. The first player ties it on themselves in any knot that holds, shows the judge, takes it off and passes it on. 3. He is the judge and may tug each knot once. 4. First team through wins. Players who have never tied one get a ten-second lesson from him first. Players: 4 to 12 in teams. Time: 10 min. Props: a necktie for each team.

For a room of many fathers 8

  • Advice in Seven Words 1. Each table talks for three minutes about the best advice a father or a father figure ever gave anyone there. 2. The table boils its favorite down to exactly seven words. 3. A speaker from each table stands and delivers it. 4. The room counts the words on its fingers, and the host writes all the sevens on one sheet for the newsletter. Players: 12 to 100 in tables. Time: 10 min. Props: paper and pens.
  • Biggest Bunch of Keys in the Room 1. Everyone holds up their key ring. 2. The host counts upward: stay standing if you have more than three keys, more than six, more than ten. 3. The last one standing must say what the oldest key on the ring opens. 4. If he no longer knows, the runner-up wins. Players: 12 to 150. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • Line Up by Your First Set of Wheels 1. Ask the room to line up along the wall by the year they got their first car, bike or bus pass. 2. It is a line-up mixer with a rule that starts stories. 3. Going down the line, each person says the color and one thing that was wrong with it. 4. The newest and the oldest shake hands in the middle. Players: 12 to 80. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Loudest Tie, Applause Decides 1. Ask every guest on the invitation to wear or bring the loudest tie he owns. 2. Each table sends its boldest tie to the front. 3. It is a ballot by applause, as for any loud-shirt contest, with one extra rule: the owner must say who gave it to him. 4. The winner wears a paper rosette on the tie. Players: 12 to 100 in tables. Time: 10 min. Props: a paper rosette.
  • Name the Ten Things in the Toolbox 1. Put ten small hardware items in a tray for each table, each with a numbered tag. Nothing with a blade. 2. Tables pass the tray around and write a name for each number. 3. The host reads the names as the store labels them. 4. Most right wins. The host also reads out the best wrong name. Players: 12 to 80 in tables. Time: 10 min. Props: trays of ten numbered hardware items, paper and pens.
  • Pancake Count From the Kitchen 1. The kitchen keeps a tally of every pancake served. 2. Halfway through the breakfast, each table writes a guess at the final total. 3. Guesses go to the head table. 4. At the end, the cooks announce the number. The closest table is served first next year. Players: 12 to 150 in tables. Time: 5 min. Props: a tally kept by the kitchen, paper and pens.
  • Reassemble the Click Pen 1. Take a retractable pen apart for each table: barrel, spring, refill, button. 2. Put the parts in an envelope. 3. On go, each table puts its pen back together. 4. The first table to write the name of the club with it wins. Tables with a spare part left over start again. Players: 12 to 80 in tables. Time: 5 min. Props: a retractable pen in pieces for each table.
  • Who Carries the Most Ancient Item? 1. Each table has two minutes to find the oldest thing anyone at it is carrying right now: a ticket stub, a photo, a coin, a key. 2. One person from each table holds the object up and says how old it is. 3. The host picks the three oldest and hears the story of each in one sentence. 4. Applause decides between them. Players: 12 to 100 in tables. Time: 10 min. Props: none.

How this list was compiled: Our suggestions, written for this site for a Father's Day at home with the family, with one set for a club or church breakfast where many fathers are guests. The wording is ours, and the player counts and times are our estimates. Nothing is played near a lit grill, no tool with a blade is used, and no game involves alcohol or asks about anyone's family. No outside source was used: the list states no date, history or traditional rule as fact. Licence: own work