• 30 games
  • Checked October 2026

Astronaut Party Games

Training stations, moon rock hunts and rocket relays for a birthday, plus crew missions and a set for adults.

Astronaut Party Games

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  1. Rocket Relay: Body, Fins, Nose Cone1. A building relay. At the far end each team has the parts of a rocket: a cardboard tube, a paper plate for a launch pad, three paper fins with tape already on them and a paper cone.2. The first runner stands the tube on the pad. The next three tape on one fin each, and the fifth sets the cone on top. On a small team, runners go twice.3. When the last runner is home, the whole team counts down from ten out loud and jumps at liftoff.4. A rocket that falls over during the countdown is mended by one runner, and the count starts again.Youngest player: age 5. Players: 4 to 15. You need: a cardboard tube, a paper plate, three paper fins, a paper cone and tape for each team.
  2. Planet Corners1. Four corners, with eight planets and nobody out. Tape the names of the eight planets around the room or the yard.2. The commander covers both eyes and counts down from ten while everyone tiptoes to a planet.3. Still not looking, the commander names one planet. Everyone standing there gets a star sticker, and one of them becomes the next commander.4. Play eight rounds. An empty planet means the commander counts down again.Youngest player: age 5. Players: 5 to 20. You need: eight paper signs, tape and star stickers.
  3. Drop the Lander Onto the Landing Site1. The clothespin drop, with a moon to land on. Draw a big gray moon with craters on poster board, mark one landing site with a cross and lay the poster flat on the floor.2. Each child gets three clothespins, the landers, marked with a dot of their own color.3. Stand tall with your toes at the edge of the poster, hold a lander at nose height over the moon and let go.4. After three drops each, the lander lying nearest the cross wins. A lander that bounces off the poster is lost in space.Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 16. You need: poster board, markers and three clothespins for each child.
  4. Astronaut Training Stations1. An obstacle circuit, with a training card to stamp. Set up five stations: walk a tape line heel to toe, do ten star jumps, crawl under a row of chairs, carry a ball on a spoon around a cone, and throw three foil balls into a box.2. Give every child a card with five empty boxes, and start one or two children at each station.3. A helper at each station stamps the card when the job is done.4. A full card earns a paper mission badge. Nobody is timed, and a station may be tried again.Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 16. You need: tape, chairs, a spoon and a ball, a cone, foil balls and a box, cards, a stamp and paper badges.
  5. Catch the Meteor Shower1. A catching game. Each child holds an open paper bag and stands inside a marked patch of floor or grass.2. Two grown-ups stand outside the patch with a pile of crumpled paper meteors and lob them high and gently for the length of one song.3. Catch as many as you can in the bag before they land. A meteor on the ground stays there.4. Count the bags. In the second round, children pair up: one catches by hand and drops each meteor into the partner's bag.Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a paper bag for each child, a pile of crumpled paper and music.
  6. Ten, Nine, Eight: Pass the Rocket1. Hot potato, on a countdown. Sit in a circle and pass a cardboard-tube rocket from hand to hand.2. Everyone counts down from ten together, one number for each pass.3. Whoever holds the rocket at "liftoff" jumps up, flies it once around the outside of the circle and sits down again.4. That child chooses how the next countdown is said: in a whisper, in a robot voice or very fast. Nobody is out.Youngest player: age 4. Players: 4 to 16. You need: a cardboard tube.

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Birthday games for ages 5 to 10 12

  • Asteroids Into the Craters 1. A beanbag toss, with foil asteroids. Lay three hoops or boxes on the ground as craters, at two, three and four steps from a line. They score one, two and three. 2. Each child throws five balls of crumpled foil. 3. An asteroid has to stay in the crater. One that bounces out scores nothing. 4. The last asteroid is thrown with the other hand and counts double. Crews add up their scores. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 14. You need: three hoops or boxes and five balls of crumpled foil.
  • Astronaut Training Stations 1. An obstacle circuit, with a training card to stamp. Set up five stations: walk a tape line heel to toe, do ten star jumps, crawl under a row of chairs, carry a ball on a spoon around a cone, and throw three foil balls into a box. 2. Give every child a card with five empty boxes, and start one or two children at each station. 3. A helper at each station stamps the card when the job is done. 4. A full card earns a paper mission badge. Nobody is timed, and a station may be tried again. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 16. You need: tape, chairs, a spoon and a ball, a cone, foil balls and a box, cards, a stamp and paper badges.
  • Catch the Meteor Shower 1. A catching game. Each child holds an open paper bag and stands inside a marked patch of floor or grass. 2. Two grown-ups stand outside the patch with a pile of crumpled paper meteors and lob them high and gently for the length of one song. 3. Catch as many as you can in the bag before they land. A meteor on the ground stays there. 4. Count the bags. In the second round, children pair up: one catches by hand and drops each meteor into the partner's bag. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a paper bag for each child, a pile of crumpled paper and music.
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Birthday games for ages 5 to 10, continued

  • Draw the Alien From the Report 1. A listen-and-draw game. Everyone has paper and a crayon and sits where nobody can see a neighbor's sheet. 2. Mission control reads a report one line at a time, with a pause after each: "It has three eyes on stalks. Its body is shaped like a pear. It has six short legs and one long tail. It is wearing a hat." 3. Draw each line as you hear it. No rubbing out. 4. Hold the drawings up together, and let each child name their alien. Then a child makes up the next report of five lines. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 16. You need: paper and crayons.
  • Drop the Lander Onto the Landing Site 1. The clothespin drop, with a moon to land on. Draw a big gray moon with craters on poster board, mark one landing site with a cross and lay the poster flat on the floor. 2. Each child gets three clothespins, the landers, marked with a dot of their own color. 3. Stand tall with your toes at the edge of the poster, hold a lander at nose height over the moon and let go. 4. After three drops each, the lander lying nearest the cross wins. A lander that bounces off the poster is lost in space. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 16. You need: poster board, markers and three clothespins for each child.
  • Gravity Off, Gravity On 1. Freeze dance, in slow motion. While the music plays, gravity is off: everyone floats around the room with slow giant steps and drifting arms. 2. When the music stops, gravity is back on, and everyone sits down on the floor at once. 3. The last one down is not out. That child goes to mission control and chooses when to stop the music next. 4. For the final round, float backward. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 3 to 20. You need: music.
  • Line Up the Planets 1. A line-up race, with the eight planets. Write one planet on each of eight cards and hand them out. A lamp or a yellow ball at one end of the room is the Sun. 2. On "go," the card holders stand in a line in order from the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune. 3. For children under 7, tape the order to the wall beside the Sun. With more than eight children, the others are mission control and may point. 4. Shuffle the cards, swap the jobs and try to beat your own time. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 4 to 16. You need: eight cards, a marker and a lamp or a yellow ball.
  • Moon Rock Hunt With One Gold Rock 1. An egg hunt, with moon rocks. Crumple gray paper into rocks bigger than a child's fist, wrap one in yellow paper and hide them all. 2. Children hunt in crews of two or three, with one bucket for each crew. 3. A crew may hold five rocks. After that it helps the other crews by pointing. 4. The gold rock is the rare sample. The crew that finds it carries it to mission control, and the cake or the favors come out for everyone. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 16. You need: gray paper, one sheet of yellow paper and a bucket for each crew.
  • Planet Corners 1. Four corners, with eight planets and nobody out. Tape the names of the eight planets around the room or the yard. 2. The commander covers both eyes and counts down from ten while everyone tiptoes to a planet. 3. Still not looking, the commander names one planet. Everyone standing there gets a star sticker, and one of them becomes the next commander. 4. Play eight rounds. An empty planet means the commander counts down again. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 5 to 20. You need: eight paper signs, tape and star stickers.
  • Rocket Relay: Body, Fins, Nose Cone 1. A building relay. At the far end each team has the parts of a rocket: a cardboard tube, a paper plate for a launch pad, three paper fins with tape already on them and a paper cone. 2. The first runner stands the tube on the pad. The next three tape on one fin each, and the fifth sets the cone on top. On a small team, runners go twice. 3. When the last runner is home, the whole team counts down from ten out loud and jumps at liftoff. 4. A rocket that falls over during the countdown is mended by one runner, and the count starts again. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 4 to 15. You need: a cardboard tube, a paper plate, three paper fins, a paper cone and tape for each team.
  • Straw Rockets to the Moon Sheet 1. A paper dart contest, launched from a straw. Roll a strip of paper around a pencil, tape it into a tube, fold one end over and tape it shut, and slide it off. Every child gets their own straw. 2. Slide the rocket over the straw, aim high and away from faces, and blow. 3. A gray sheet on the ground five steps away is the Moon. A rocket that lands on it scores one. 4. Five launches each. Everyone stays behind the launch line until a grown-up calls "all clear," then collects the rockets. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 12. You need: paper, tape, a pencil, a drinking straw for each child and a gray sheet.
  • Ten, Nine, Eight: Pass the Rocket 1. Hot potato, on a countdown. Sit in a circle and pass a cardboard-tube rocket from hand to hand. 2. Everyone counts down from ten together, one number for each pass. 3. Whoever holds the rocket at "liftoff" jumps up, flies it once around the outside of the circle and sits down again. 4. That child chooses how the next countdown is said: in a whisper, in a robot voice or very fast. Nobody is out. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 4 to 16. You need: a cardboard tube.

Crew missions for ages 9 to 12 8

  • Decode the Signal, Find the Supplies 1. A treasure hunt, with clues in number code. The key is A is 1, B is 2, and so on to Z is 26. Write four hiding places in code, such as 19-15-6-1 for SOFA. 2. Each crew of three gets the key and the first clue. 3. Every hiding place holds the next clue, one copy for each crew in that crew's color. A crew leaves the other colors where they are. 4. The last clue leads to the supplies: the party favors or the cake. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 3 to 12. You need: paper, colored pens and four hiding places.
  • Land the Astronaut, No Seat Belt 1. An egg drop, with an open cabin. Each crew of two or three gets a paper cup, four index cards, six drinking straws, an arm's length of tape and a table tennis ball, the astronaut. 2. Build a lander around the cup. The top of the cup stays open, and the ball sits loose inside it. 3. A grown-up drops each lander from shoulder height onto a hard floor. 4. The landing counts if the lander stays upright with the astronaut still in the cup. Landers that pass are dropped again from as high as the grown-up can reach. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a paper cup, four index cards, six straws, tape and a table tennis ball for each crew.
  • Mission Patch for the Party 1. A design contest. Each crew of two or three gets a paper plate and markers. 2. Design a patch for today's mission. It has to show the crew's names, the age the birthday child is turning and one thing the crew would take to space. 3. Each crew holds up its patch and explains it. 4. The birthday child gives every patch a title, such as most colorful or hardest to draw. The patches are taped up for the rest of the party. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 2 to 15. You need: paper plates, markers and tape.
  • Satellite Dish Catch 1. A game of catch, with a bowl for a mitt. In pairs, the thrower has ten balls of crumpled foil. The catcher stands four steps away and holds a plastic mixing bowl in both hands. 2. The thrower lobs the balls underhand, one at a time. The catcher catches them in the dish. 3. A ball that bounces out does not count. 4. After ten, swap jobs and add the two scores. Pairs with fourteen or more take a step back for the final. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 2 to 16. You need: ten balls of crumpled foil and a plastic mixing bowl for each pair.
  • Space Words From A to Z 1. An alphabet race, on paper. Each crew writes the alphabet down the side of a sheet. 2. In five minutes, write one space word beside as many letters as you can: asteroid, booster, comet. 3. Crews read their lists in turn. A word that another crew also has scores one, and a word that nobody else has scores two. 4. A word that is challenged stands if the crew can say what it is. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 2 to 16. You need: paper, pencils and a timer.
  • Sweep Up the Space Junk 1. A relay, with a broom. Scatter twenty balls of crumpled foil in a marked patch, the orbit. Each team has a broom and a box lying on its side at its own line. 2. The first runner sweeps one ball out of the orbit, between two cones and into the box. No kicking and no hands. 3. Then the broom goes to the next runner. 4. When the orbit is clean, count the boxes. The team with the most junk wins. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 4 to 16. You need: twenty balls of crumpled foil, and a broom, two cones and a box for each team.
  • Which Planet Am I? 1. A quiz, answered by holding up a card. Each crew writes the eight planets on eight cards. 2. Read a clue, count "three, two, one," and every crew holds up one card at the same moment. 3. The clues: the nearest planet to the Sun and the smallest (Mercury); the third planet from the Sun (Earth); the largest planet (Jupiter); the fourth planet from the Sun (Mars); the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest (Saturn); the eighth and most distant planet (Neptune). 4. A right card scores one. Crews tied at the end line up their eight cards in order from the Sun, and the fastest correct line wins. Youngest player: age 8. Players: 2 to 16. You need: eight cards and a pen for each crew.
  • Zero-Gravity Charades 1. Charades, with everything floating. Write everyday jobs on slips: brushing your teeth, eating soup, putting on socks, pouring cereal, making a bed, washing a dog, reading a newspaper. 2. The actor draws a slip and acts it in slow motion, as if the actor and every object were drifting away. No words. 3. The actor's crew has one minute to guess. 4. If the minute runs out, the other crew gets one guess to steal the point. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 4 to 16. You need: slips of paper, a pen, a bowl and a timer.

A space party for teens and adults 10

  • A Helmet for Your Partner in Five Minutes 1. A costume contest, in pairs. Each pair gets a paper grocery bag, a roll of foil, tape, two paper cups and markers. 2. In five minutes, build a space helmet that your partner can wear. The whole face has to show. 3. The helmets parade past the other guests. 4. Give the titles by a show of hands: most likely to survive the launch, best antenna, most foil left over. Youngest player: age 13. Players: 4 to 20. You need: a paper grocery bag, foil, tape, two paper cups and markers for each pair.
  • Explain Earth to a Visitor 1. A describing game. One guest is a visitor from another planet who has never seen Earth. The others draw slips that name ordinary things: an umbrella, a birthday, a dog on a leash, Monday, a traffic jam. 2. Each explainer has thirty seconds to explain the thing on the slip without saying the words on it. 3. The visitor may interrupt with "Why?" as often as they like, and at the end says what they think the thing is. 4. After five explainers, the visitor names the clearest one, who becomes the next visitor. Youngest player: age 13. Players: 4 to 15. You need: slips of paper, a pen, a bowl and a timer.
  • Five Things to Mars 1. A ranking debate. Read out fifteen things: a guitar, a deck of cards, a cookbook, a hammock, a bag of seeds, a telescope, a photo album, a kettle, a soccer ball, a diary, a blanket, a harmonica, a chess set, a spice rack and a box of pencils. 2. Each table has five minutes to agree on five to pack for a long trip to Mars. 3. One speaker from each table defends the list in thirty seconds. 4. A thing that every table packed is declared essential. A table that packed something nobody else did has to defend it a second time. There is no right answer. Youngest player: age 13. Players: 4 to 30. You need: paper and pens.
  • Houston, Describe the Tray 1. Back to back, with objects. Pairs sit back to back, each with the same six things: a cup, a spoon, a coin, a pencil, a napkin and a rubber band. 2. One partner arranges the six things on a tray in any way at all. 3. Without turning around, that partner talks the other through copying it. The copier may answer only "copy" or "say again." 4. Compare the trays, then swap jobs. In the second round the words left and right are not allowed. Youngest player: age 13. Players: 2 to 20. You need: two trays and two sets of six small household things for each pair.
  • Orbit Two Stars 1. A moving puzzle, for the whole room. Every guest silently picks two other guests as their stars and tells nobody. 2. On "go," everyone walks so as to stay the same distance from both of their stars. 3. The stars are moving too, so the room never settles. No talking and no pointing. 4. After two minutes, call "freeze" and have each guest point to their two stars. For a second round, try to stand exactly between your two stars, and watch the room pull into a knot. Youngest player: age 13. Players: 8 to 40. You need: nothing.
  • Planet on Your Back 1. Who am I, with the sky. As guests arrive, stick a note on each back: one of the eight planets, the Sun, the Moon, a comet, an asteroid, a satellite, a rocket or a space station. 2. Guests mingle and ask one yes-or-no question of each person they meet, such as "Am I a planet?" or "Am I farther from the Sun than Earth?" 3. A guest who guesses right moves the note to the front and keeps answering questions. 4. In a big crowd, use each note twice. Youngest player: age 13. Players: 6 to 30. You need: sticky notes and a pen.
  • Rocket Fuel: Mix and Name a Fruit Punch 1. A mixing contest, with no alcohol. Set out four fruit juices, sparkling water, sliced fruit and ice. 2. Teams of two or three mix one glass of punch and write its name and a one-line slogan on a card. 3. Two judges taste each punch from a clean cup without knowing which team mixed it. 4. One prize goes to the best taste and one to the best name. The winning recipe is mixed by the pitcher for the party. Youngest player: age 13. Players: 4 to 18. You need: four fruit juices, sparkling water, sliced fruit, ice, cups, cards and a pitcher.
  • Stand If It Is True: The Solar System 1. A true-or-false quiz, on your feet. Read each statement. Guests stand if they think it is true and stay seated if not. 2. True: Jupiter is the largest planet. Mercury is the smallest planet and the nearest to the Sun. Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006. Uranus and Neptune are ice giants. 3. False: Saturn is the largest planet (it is the second largest). Venus is the nearest planet to the Sun (it is the second). The solar system has nine planets (it has eight). Mars is the third planet from the Sun (it is the fourth). 4. Read them in a mixed order. Guests keep their own scores, and anyone with all eight right takes a bow. Youngest player: age 13. Players: 4 to 50. You need: nothing.
  • Tethered Spacewalk for Two 1. A partner challenge, tied at the wrist. Tie each pair together loosely with a ribbon, one partner's right wrist to the other's left. 2. Each pair has three jobs at a table: wrap a small box in paper and tape it shut, thread a lace through a shoe and tie the bow, and pour a glass of water and carry it to the judge. 3. Each partner uses only the tied hand. 4. The fastest pair wins. Spilled water sends the pair back to pour again. Youngest player: age 13. Players: 2 to 16. You need: a ribbon, a small box, wrapping paper, tape, a shoe with a lace, a jug of water and a glass for each pair.
  • Why Should We Not Send You to Mars? 1. A mock interview. Three guests are the selection panel. 2. Each candidate steps up and has twenty seconds to answer one question the panel picks: "Why should we not send you to Mars?" "What would you miss first?" "Which snack would you hide from the crew?" 3. The panel may ask one more question. 4. At the end the panel gives out the crew jobs: commander, cook, the one who keeps the plants alive, the one who presses the wrong button. Every candidate gets a job. Youngest player: age 13. Players: 5 to 20. You need: a timer.

How this list was compiled: Our suggestions for an astronaut, rocket or galaxy party, in three sets: a child's birthday, crew missions for ages 9 to 12, and teens and adults. The wording, the ages and the player counts are ours. Nobody is blindfolded, no game uses a balloon, and no game involves alcohol. The planet facts (the eight planets and their order from the Sun, the largest and the smallest, the ice giants, and Pluto as a dwarf planet since 2006) were checked on 12 October 2026 at NASA's page about the planets: https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/planets/ Licence: own work

How it works

These astronaut party games start from games everyone knows, with a rocket, a moon rock or a planet added. The planet games use the real order of the eight planets, checked at NASA.

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Galaxy party games, in party order

1. As guests arrive: Astronaut Training Stations, which needs no start time. 2. While energy is high: Rocket Relay: Body, Fins, Nose Cone or Catch the Meteor Shower. 3. Before the cake: Moon Rock Hunt With One Gold Rock, because the gold rock brings the cake out. 4. To calm down: Draw the Alien From the Report.

What to make beforehand

Crumple foil into twenty balls: four games use them, as asteroids and as space junk. Write the eight planets on cards for Line Up the Planets, and on signs for Planet Corners.

Questions and answers

What are good space party games for adults?

Games with talk and teamwork in place of running: Explain Earth to a Visitor, Five Things to Mars, Planet on Your Back and Why Should We Not Send You to Mars? None of the ten involves alcohol.

Can space birthday party games be played indoors?

Yes. Every game on the list fits a living room or a hall with the furniture pushed back. Sweep Up the Space Junk and Catch the Meteor Shower take the most floor and are easier in a yard.

Which space themed party games suit a 10 year old?

The crew missions, written for ages 9 to 12 in crews of two or three: Land the Astronaut, No Seat Belt, Zero-Gravity Charades, Sweep Up the Space Junk and Which Planet Am I?, a quiz with its answers in the steps.

What are good rocket party games?

Rocket Relay: Body, Fins, Nose Cone builds a cardboard rocket one part at a time. Straw Rockets to the Moon Sheet launches paper ones at a target. Ten, Nine, Eight: Pass the Rocket is a countdown game for a circle.

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