Games to Play With Siblings

Games for two or three kids of different ages, each made fair for the youngest: press Pick 3 new games.

Games to Play With Siblings

  1. Director, Actor, Audience: Change Jobs Every Scene1. The director gives the actor a scene in one sentence: you are a cat who has just seen snow. 2. The actor plays it for half a minute. 3. The director may call one change: slower, sadder, as a robot. 4. The audience claps and says one thing they liked. 5. Everyone moves one job around. Fair for the younger one: when they are the director, the other two must do exactly what they say. Players: 3. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  2. A Drawing That Grows by One Thing a Day1. Pin a big sheet of paper where you both pass every day. 2. Each of you adds exactly one thing a day, when the other is not looking: a tree, a dragon, a hat on the dragon. 3. No words on the sheet, and no changing what is already there. 4. On the seventh day, look at it together. 5. Take turns telling the story the picture has become. Fair for the younger one: whatever they add stays, and the older one has to make it fit. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 5 min. Props: a big sheet of paper and crayons.
  3. Five Envelopes, Five Secret Missions1. On Sunday each of you writes five small, kind missions for the other and seals them in envelopes marked Monday to Friday: make me laugh at breakfast without talking, hide a drawing in my shoe. 2. Open one each morning. 3. Do the mission that day without being caught doing it. 4. Tick a chart on your door when it is done. 5. On Saturday, each guess what the other's five missions were. Fair for the younger one: a grown-up or the older one writes theirs down for them, word for word. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 5 min. Props: ten envelopes, paper and a chart.

Next step Hand games for two

How it works

These games to play with siblings are for two or three kids of different ages. Each one has a line that says how to make it fair for the younger one, and some are played as one team.

Read the full guide

Pick by where you are

The All games menu sorts the list by place: Two of you, one room, Back-seat games for the car, and Bedroom and bunk-bed games after lights-out, which are played in whispers. Games that last all week take a few minutes a day.

When the age gap is big

Choose Games where the little one has the edge. In Hide Where the Big One Cannot Fit, small hiding places are the rule. In Toy Name Quiz, the Little One Is the Expert, the questions are about their own toys.

Tips
  • Team games stop the scorekeeping: in Sock Catch Over a String Net every catch counts for both of you.
  • A third player joins most two-player games here. Under More filters, choose 3 of you.

Questions and answers

What are good games to play with your sister or brother at home?

Paper Plate Floor Hockey, Toy Car Curling Down the Hall and Tape Line Copycat Crossing need one room and things from around the house. Each says how the younger player gets a wider goal to shoot at, a closer line or the first turn.

What can siblings play in bed after lights-out?

Quiet games from two beds: Knock Once for Yes: Twenty Questions From Bed is answered by knocking on the bed frame, Flashlight Ceiling Letters writes on the ceiling with a spot of light, and The Story That Continues Tomorrow Night stops at an exciting moment.

What can three siblings play together?

Games with three jobs that rotate. In Mapmaker, Captain, Digger one draws the map, one reads it and one searches. Detective, Hider, Witness and Whisper, Draw, Act Around the Triangle work the same way, so nobody is left out.

Which games stop arguments about who won?

The ones played as a team: Rug Raft Rescue, Both on Board, A to Z Before We Arrive, One Team and Secret Word at Dinner, Team Sibling. You win or lose together, against the clock, the trip or the grown-ups.

More tools

Browse Acting and Drawing

All 38 games

Two of you, one room 7

  • Hold the Pencil, Move the Paper 1. One of you holds a pencil still, point down on a sheet of paper, and never moves it. 2. The other one slides the paper around underneath to draw a house, a fish or a face. 3. No talking about what it is. 4. The pencil holder guesses the picture. 5. Swap jobs. You both score when the guess is right. Fair for the younger one: the older one holds the pencil first, which is the harder job. Players: 2. Time: 8 min. Props: paper and a pencil.
  • Paper Plate Floor Hockey 1. Tape two goals on the floor at opposite ends of the room. 2. Each player kneels in front of their goal with a paper plate as a stick. 3. Slide a plastic bottle cap along the floor and try to get it over the other goal line. 4. Knees stay down, and the cap stays on the floor. 5. First to five goals. Fair for the younger one: the older player's goal is twice as wide. Players: 2. Time: 10 min. Props: two paper plates, a bottle cap and tape.
  • Rug Raft Rescue, Both on Board 1. A rug or a blanket is the raft, and both of you sit on it. 2. Scatter ten soft toys on the floor around the raft, just out of reach. 3. Rescue every toy without anyone touching the floor: use a broom handle, a belt or a lasso of string. 4. You win together when all ten are on board. 5. Time it and try to beat it. Fair for the younger one: the younger one chooses which tool each of you gets. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 10 min. Props: a rug, ten soft toys, a broom and string.
Show all 38 games (35 more)

Two of you, one room, continued

  • Sock Catch Over a String Net 1. Tie a string between two chairs as a net. 2. Sit or kneel on each side and throw a rolled-up sock over the string for the other to catch. 3. Count the catches in a row out loud, as one team. 4. After every ten, both shuffle back a little. 5. Write down your best run and try to beat it tomorrow. Fair for the younger one: you are on the same team, so every catch counts for both of you. Players: 2. Time: 8 min. Props: string, two chairs and a rolled-up sock.
  • Tape Line Copycat Crossing 1. Stick a long line of tape on the floor, with one zigzag in it. 2. The first player crosses it in a special way: backward, on tiptoe, with a book on their head. 3. The second player has to copy it exactly. 4. Then the second player invents the next way. 5. A step off the line gives the other player a point. Fair for the younger one: they invent first, so the older one is always the copier at the start. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 8 min. Props: tape.
  • Toy Car Curling Down the Hall 1. Tape a square target at the end of a hallway. 2. Take turns to roll a toy car from the start line with one push, four cars each. 3. Cars may bump each other out of the way. 4. When all eight have stopped, the car nearest the middle of the target scores a point for its owner. 5. Play six ends. Fair for the younger one: they roll from a line two big steps closer. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 10 min. Props: eight toy cars and tape.
  • You Design the Course, I Run It 1. One of you builds an obstacle course from cushions, chairs and tape lines: over this, under that, three hops here. 2. The designer has to run it first to prove it can be done. 3. The other one runs it against a timer. 4. Swap jobs and build a new course. 5. Fastest run of the day wins. Fair for the younger one: take one second off their time for each year of the age gap. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 15 min. Props: cushions, chairs, tape and a timer.

Games where the little one has the edge 7

  • Hide Where the Big One Cannot Fit 1. This is hide-and-seek with one new rule: the hiding place must be too small for the seeker. 2. The seeker counts to thirty out loud in the hall. 3. The hider tucks in behind a curtain, under a desk or between the sofa and the wall. 4. Never hide inside anything with a door or a lid that shuts. 5. Found within two minutes? Swap. Not found? The hider calls out and hides again. Fair for the younger one: small places are theirs alone, so they are the better hider every time. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Knee-High Sticker Hunt 1. A grown-up, or a third sibling, hides twelve stickers around one room, none higher than the younger player's knees: under shelf edges, on chair legs, behind the door. 2. Both players hunt at once. 3. Walk on your knees or crawl; no standing up. 4. Peel off each sticker you find and put it on your sleeve. 5. Most stickers wins. Fair for the younger one: everything is at their eye level and below the older one's. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 8 min. Props: twelve stickers.
  • Know-It-by-Heart Book Quiz 1. The younger player picks a picture book they know by heart. 2. The older player gets two minutes to look through it. 3. The younger player holds the book so that only they can see, and asks five questions about the pictures: what is on the dog's head, what color is the door. 4. One point for each right answer. 5. Then the older player picks a book for a quiz back. Fair for the younger one: they choose the book, and it is one they have heard a hundred times. Players: 2. Time: 8 min. Props: two picture books.
  • Rule Maker Catch 1. Sit facing each other and roll or toss a soft ball back and forth. 2. After every five catches, the younger player adds a rule that both must follow: clap before you catch, say a color when you throw. 3. Rules pile up; none is ever dropped. 4. Whoever forgets a rule gives the other a point. 5. Play to five points. Fair for the younger one: they make every rule, and the rule maker remembers best. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 8 min. Props: a soft ball.
  • Small Hands Against Kitchen Tongs 1. Put ten building bricks or pom-poms in a tall, narrow jar for each player, with an empty bowl beside it. 2. On go, move everything from your jar to your bowl, one piece at a time. 3. The younger player reaches in with a hand. 4. The older player may use only kitchen tongs. 5. First empty jar wins; then swap jars, not tools. Fair for the younger one: a small hand fits the jar and tongs are slow, on purpose. Players: 2. Time: 6 min. Props: two tall jars, two bowls, twenty bricks or pom-poms and tongs.
  • Toy Name Quiz, the Little One Is the Expert 1. The younger player lines up ten of their own toys and says each one's name once. 2. The older player gets one minute to learn them. 3. The younger player mixes up the row and points to a toy. 4. The older player has to give its name. 5. Ten right is a perfect score; the expert decides whether close is good enough. Fair for the younger one: they made up the names, so they can never be wrong. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 8 min. Props: ten toys.
  • Under-the-Chairs Crawl Course 1. Line up four chairs and drape a blanket over two of them to make a tunnel. 2. The course goes under every chair and through the tunnel, on hands and knees or flat on your tummy. 3. Time each player with a slow count out loud. 4. Touching a chair leg adds two to the count. 5. Lowest count wins; then make the tunnel longer. Fair for the younger one: the smaller you are, the easier the chairs are to clear. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 8 min. Props: four chairs and a blanket.

Bedroom and bunk-bed games after lights-out 6

  • Flashlight Ceiling Letters 1. One of you has a flashlight and points it at the ceiling. 2. Slowly write one letter with the spot of light, like a pen in the air. 3. The other one calls out the letter. 4. After three letters, write a whole short word, one letter after another in the same place. 5. Swap after each word. The light never points at a face. Fair for the younger one: for them, write big capital letters and say how many letters the word has. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 6 min. Props: a flashlight.
  • Knock Once for Yes: Twenty Questions From Bed 1. The player in one bed thinks of an animal. 2. The player in the other bed asks questions that can be answered yes or no. 3. Nobody speaks the answers: one knock on the bed frame means yes, two knocks mean no. 4. Count the questions on your fingers. 5. Guess it within twenty and you win; if not, the thinker wins and whispers the answer. Fair for the younger one: when they are guessing, the animal has to be one from their own picture books. Players: 2. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • One Minute in the Dark 1. One of you holds a watch or a clock with a light. 2. The timer whispers go and both of you count sixty seconds in your heads, with no tapping. 3. When you think a minute is up, whisper now. 4. The timer says how many seconds each of you really waited. 5. Closest to sixty wins and holds the watch next. Fair for the younger one: they play for thirty seconds while the older one plays for sixty. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 5 min. Props: a watch or a clock with a light.
  • The Story That Continues Tomorrow Night 1. One of you starts a story in a whisper and tells for one minute. 2. The other takes over and tells the next minute. 3. Go around twice. 4. Whoever is telling last has to stop at an exciting moment and say, to be continued. 5. Tomorrow night the other one starts from there. See how many nights one story can last. Fair for the younger one: they choose the hero and what kind of creature it is. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
  • Three True Things From Today and One Invented 1. Lying in bed, one of you tells four short things about today. 2. Three really happened, and one is invented. 3. The listener may ask one question about each. 4. Then the listener says which one was made up. 5. Swap. A point each time you fool the other one. Fair for the younger one: they may ask two questions about each thing, not one. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 6 min. Props: none.
  • Where Did the Tap Come From? 1. One of you shuts their eyes. 2. The other taps once, gently, on something near their own bed: the wall, the bed frame, a book, the lamp base. 3. The listener points to where the sound came from and says what was tapped. 4. One point for the place and one for the thing. 5. Three taps, then swap. Fair for the younger one: the older one must say the thing as well as the place; they need only point. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 5 min. Props: none.

Back-seat games 6

  • A to Z Before We Arrive, One Team 1. You are one team against the trip. 2. Find the letter A on a sign, a truck or a storefront, and call it out. 3. Then B, then C, in order. 4. Either of you may spot a letter, and license plates do not count. 5. Reach Z before the car stops and the team wins. Stuck on Q or X for ten minutes? Skip it and go on. Fair for the younger one: you win or lose together, and the letters they spot count the same. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 20 min. Props: none.
  • Five Fingers, Five Car Colors 1. Hold up one hand. 2. Give each finger a car color and say them out loud: thumb red, first finger white, and so on. 3. When you see a car in one of your colors, fold that finger down. 4. A car counts for whoever calls it first. 5. First to make a fist wins. Fair for the younger one: they pick their five colors first, so they get the common ones. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Get Them to Say Banana 1. Before the car sets off, each of you secretly tells a grown-up one ordinary word, such as banana or Tuesday. 2. For the next ten minutes, try to get your brother or sister to say your word. 3. You may ask questions and tell stories, but you may not say the word yourself. 4. A point when they say it. 5. Pick new words and play again. Fair for the younger one: the older one has to pick a harder word, one that does not come up every day. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Hum Across the Bridge 1. When a bridge or a tunnel comes into view, each of you picks one note. 2. Start humming as the car reaches it. 3. Hum your own note the whole way across, breathing whenever you need to, without sliding onto the other one's note. 4. Whoever is still on their own note at the far end scores a point. 5. If you both make it, you both score. Fair for the younger one: they pick their note first, and the older one has to find a different one. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
  • One Bump, One Line Drawing Swap 1. Each of you has a pad and a pencil and starts drawing anything. 2. Every time the car goes over a bump or around a corner, swap pads. 3. Carry on with the other one's drawing as if it were yours. 4. No erasing. 5. At the next stop, give each drawing a title together. Fair for the younger one: they call swap whenever they like, as well as at the bumps. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 15 min. Props: two pads and two pencils.
  • Red Light Statues in the Back Seat 1. While the car is moving you may wriggle, dance in your seat and make faces, with seat belts on. 2. The moment the car stops, at a light or in traffic, both of you freeze like statues. 3. A grown-up passenger is the judge, or you judge each other. 4. The first one to move, blink hard or laugh loses the round. 5. Unfreeze when the car moves again. Fair for the younger one: they are allowed to blink and to breathe loudly. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 10 min. Props: none.

Games that last all week 7

  • A Drawing That Grows by One Thing a Day 1. Pin a big sheet of paper where you both pass every day. 2. Each of you adds exactly one thing a day, when the other is not looking: a tree, a dragon, a hat on the dragon. 3. No words on the sheet, and no changing what is already there. 4. On the seventh day, look at it together. 5. Take turns telling the story the picture has become. Fair for the younger one: whatever they add stays, and the older one has to make it fit. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 5 min. Props: a big sheet of paper and crayons.
  • Five Envelopes, Five Secret Missions 1. On Sunday each of you writes five small, kind missions for the other and seals them in envelopes marked Monday to Friday: make me laugh at breakfast without talking, hide a drawing in my shoe. 2. Open one each morning. 3. Do the mission that day without being caught doing it. 4. Tick a chart on your door when it is done. 5. On Saturday, each guess what the other's five missions were. Fair for the younger one: a grown-up or the older one writes theirs down for them, word for word. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 5 min. Props: ten envelopes, paper and a chart.
  • House Record Book, Two Columns 1. Keep a notebook of house records, with a column for each of you. 2. On day one, set five records each: longest one-leg stand, most sock catches in a row, fastest shoes-on. 3. Any day that week, either of you may try to beat your own number. 4. The other one is the official timer and writes it in. 5. On the last day, count who broke more of their own records. Fair for the younger one: each of you only ever races your own column. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 10 min. Props: a notebook, a pencil and a timer.
  • Secret Word at Dinner, Team Sibling 1. Each morning, the two of you agree on a secret word: giraffe, umbrella, pancake. 2. At dinner, work as a team to get a grown-up to say it. 3. You may not say the word yourselves or ask what something is called. 4. The team scores when a grown-up says it. 5. Tell the grown-ups the word at bedtime. Play all week, best of seven. Fair for the younger one: they pick the word on odd days and start the talk at the table. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Seven Days, Seven Duels 1. Write the days of the week on a sheet for the fridge. 2. Each day has one quick duel: a coin spin, a sock throw at a basket, a staring match, a one-minute cleanup. 3. Play it once that day, no rematches. 4. Whoever loses today chooses tomorrow's duel. 5. On Sunday the scores are read out, and next week starts level. Fair for the younger one: the loser picks the next duel, so they can choose what they are good at. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 5 min. Props: paper and a pen.
  • Team Jar, a Bean for Every Finished Game 1. Stand one jar where you can both see it and draw a line near the top. 2. You are one team. Every time you finish a game together, right to the end, drop in one dried bean. 3. A game that stops early earns nothing. 4. Shake the jar on Friday and guess the count. 5. When the beans reach the line, the team chooses Saturday's game for the whole family. Fair for the younger one: they drop the bean in every time. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 5 min. Props: a jar and dried beans.
  • The Traveling Toy, Hidden Once a Day 1. Choose one small toy to travel. 2. Each morning, whoever found it yesterday hides it somewhere in the house the other is allowed to go. 3. Part of it has to show. 4. The seeker may look whenever they like that day and gets one clue at dinner. 5. Found it? Mark a point on the fridge and hide it tomorrow. Fair for the younger one: when they are seeking, it is never hidden above their shoulders. Players: 2 to 3. Time: 5 min. Props: one small toy.

Three of you 5

  • Detective, Hider, Witness 1. The detective waits outside the door. 2. The hider hides a small toy somewhere in the room while the witness watches. 3. The detective comes back and may ask the witness three questions that can be answered yes or no. 4. Then the detective gets three looks. 5. Found it? Everyone moves one job on: hider to witness, witness to detective. Fair for the younger one: when they are the detective, they get five questions. Players: 3. Time: 10 min. Props: a small toy.
  • Director, Actor, Audience: Change Jobs Every Scene 1. The director gives the actor a scene in one sentence: you are a cat who has just seen snow. 2. The actor plays it for half a minute. 3. The director may call one change: slower, sadder, as a robot. 4. The audience claps and says one thing they liked. 5. Everyone moves one job around. Fair for the younger one: when they are the director, the other two must do exactly what they say. Players: 3. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
  • Mapmaker, Captain, Digger 1. The mapmaker hides a treasure in the room and draws a map of where it is. 2. The captain gets the map but has to stay sitting on one chair. 3. The digger may move around but is never allowed to see the map. 4. The captain gives orders: three steps to the window, look under something soft. 5. Treasure found, everyone changes jobs. Fair for the younger one: they are the digger first, which is the job with all the moving. Players: 3. Time: 12 min. Props: paper, a pencil and a small treasure.
  • Three-Leg Home Relay, Beat Your Own Time 1. Plan a relay through the house in three legs: a crawl along the hall, hops across one room, a walk back with a cushion on your head. 2. Each of you takes one leg. 3. A grown-up or a kitchen timer keeps the time. 4. Tag hands to change over. 5. Run it three times, swapping legs, and write down the fastest. The other team is your own last run. Fair for the younger one: they choose their leg first. Players: 3. Time: 10 min. Props: a cushion and a timer.
  • Whisper, Draw, Act Around the Triangle 1. Sit in a triangle. 2. The first player whispers a word, such as octopus, to the second. 3. The second draws it on a pad for the third, who must not have heard. 4. The third acts it for the first, with no sounds. 5. Did the word come home the same? Everybody moves one seat around and starts a new word. Fair for the younger one: they start in the acting seat, where there is nothing to read or write. Players: 3. Time: 10 min. Props: a pad and a pencil.

How this list was compiled: Written by the Game Night Generator editors for two or three brothers and sisters of different ages at home, in our own words; ages, player counts and minutes are our estimates. Every game has a line that says how it is made fair for the younger one, and several are played as one team. Nothing here involves wrestling, tickling, dares or anything staked, and no game is played while a car door is open or a seat belt is off. The two traditional games were checked on 2026-10-03 against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hide-and-seek and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty_questions. Licence: own work