Follow Your Cable to the Socket1. The yarn web game. Before the party, give each child a different color of yarn. Tie one end to a party favor, hide it, and wind the yarn around chair legs, under tables and across the other colors.2. Each child takes the free end of their own color.3. They follow it, winding it onto a cardboard tube as they go, until they reach the favor.Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 8. You need: yarn in a different color for each child, cardboard tubes and party favors.
Spot the Glitch1. A watching game. One child, the inspector, waits outside. The others choose one robot to be the glitch.2. The inspector comes back. A leader calls moves, such as arms up or turn left, and all the robots do them, except the glitch, who does each one slightly wrong.3. The inspector has three guesses to name the glitch. The glitch inspects next.Youngest player: age 6. Players: 5 to 15. You need: nothing.
Name Your Robot: Two Letters and a Number1. A name draw. Put letter cards in one bowl and number cards in another.2. Each child draws two letters and one number, which make a robot name such as KZ-7. A grown-up writes it on a sticker.3. Each robot introduces itself by name, in its own robot voice, and says what job it was built for.Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 20. You need: letter cards, number cards, two bowls and stickers.
Assembly Line Robot, a Part at Every Seat1. A pass-along making game. Children sit in a row. Each has one kind of paper part and a roll of tape: bodies, heads, eyes, arms, legs, antennas. 2. A paper body starts at one end and goes down the row. Each child tapes on their part and passes it along. 3. Send a new body every ten seconds. At the end of the line, a robot inspector lines up the finished robots. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 5 to 12. You need: paper robot parts cut beforehand and tape.
Battery Hunt, Two to Start Up1. A hunt in which everybody finds the same number. Mark cardboard tubes with a plus at one end and a minus at the other, two for each child, and hide them around the room. 2. Each robot hunts for two batteries and no more. 3. A robot holding two may switch on and dance. Robots that are dancing point out batteries to those still hunting. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 12. You need: two marked cardboard tubes for each child.
Beep Count: Do That Many Jumps1. A listening game with counting. The leader beeps slowly a number of times, from one to five. 2. The children count in their heads and then do that many jumps. 3. Change the move each round: claps, stomps, spins. Let a child be the beeper once everyone has the idea. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 15. You need: nothing.
Show all 107 games (104 more)
Robot party, continued
Crack the Color Code1. A code-breaking game. Behind a book, the code maker stands three cups of different colors in a row. 2. The others say an order: "red, blue, green." The code maker answers only with how many cups are in the right place. 3. Keep guessing until all three are right, and count the guesses. Play with four cups for children over eight. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 8. You need: four cups of different colors and a book to hide them.
Does Not Compute1. The leader-says game, with a robot answer. The leader gives commands. A command that begins with "Robot" must be obeyed: "Robot, spin around." 2. For a command without the word, the children stand still and say "does not compute" in a flat voice. 3. Anyone who moves by mistake does three robot steps on the spot and plays on. Change the leader after ten commands. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 3 to 20. You need: nothing.
Follow the Line With a Battery on Your Head1. A balance walk. Stick a line of painter's tape across the floor with three turns in it. 2. Each robot walks along the line with a beanbag on its head as a battery. 3. A battery that falls is put back on, and the robot carries on from that spot. Second time through, walk it backward. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 1 to 12. You need: painter's tape and a beanbag.
Follow Your Cable to the Socket1. The yarn web game. Before the party, give each child a different color of yarn. Tie one end to a party favor, hide it, and wind the yarn around chair legs, under tables and across the other colors. 2. Each child takes the free end of their own color. 3. They follow it, winding it onto a cardboard tube as they go, until they reach the favor. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 8. You need: yarn in a different color for each child, cardboard tubes and party favors.
Gripper Hands1. A moving job, done with tools. Give each child a pair of kitchen tongs as robot grippers. 2. Tip a pile of sponges on the floor as battery packs. Each child carries them one at a time to a box across the room, using only the tongs. 3. When the pile is gone, count the box together. Play it again with the other hand. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 1 to 10. You need: kitchen tongs for each child, sponges and a box.
Lay the Program in Arrow Cards1. A path-building game. Draw arrows on twenty cards: forward, left, right and jump. 2. The children take turns laying one card on the floor, each after the last, to make a program that leads from the door to the party table. 3. When it gets there, everyone runs the program in a line, doing what each card says. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 10. You need: twenty cards with arrows.
Lids for the Robot Factory1. A matching race for small hands. Collect ten plastic jars and bottles of different sizes and take off the lids. Every lid should be bigger than a child's fist, or leave it out. 2. Pile the lids in the middle and stand the jars in a row. 3. Children work together to screw every lid onto the jar it fits. Time the factory, mix the lids and try to beat the time. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 8. You need: ten plastic jars and bottles with large lids.
Malfunction Dance1. A dancing game that gets harder. Everyone dances like a robot. 2. The leader calls "malfunction: left arm," and from then on that part is stuck where it is. Then a knee, the head, the other arm. 3. Keep dancing with whatever still works. When only one part can move, the leader calls "reboot" and everything works again. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 20. You need: music.
Name Your Robot: Two Letters and a Number1. A name draw. Put letter cards in one bowl and number cards in another. 2. Each child draws two letters and one number, which make a robot name such as KZ-7. A grown-up writes it on a sticker. 3. Each robot introduces itself by name, in its own robot voice, and says what job it was built for. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 20. You need: letter cards, number cards, two bowls and stickers.
Program Your Partner With Four Commands1. A guiding game in which the robot does exactly what it is told and nothing more. In pairs, one child is the robot and one the programmer. 2. The programmer may say only forward, turn, stop and pick up. The robot keeps going forward until it hears stop, even into a cushion. 3. The job is to fetch a block from across the room. Swap, and count the commands each pair needed. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a block for each pair.
Recharge Tag1. Freeze tag, with a way back in. One or two taggers drain batteries: a tagged robot stops where it is and holds one palm out flat. 2. Any free robot can recharge it by pressing a palm against that palm while both count to three. 3. Change the taggers every two minutes. Play on grass at a fast walk when there are children under six. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 6 to 20. You need: nothing.
Repeat the Beep Sequence1. A copy game with two sounds. The leader says a short pattern in a robot voice, using only "beep" and "boop": beep, boop, beep. 2. The children say it back together. 3. Each time they get it right, the pattern grows by one sound. When it breaks, a child becomes the leader and starts a new one. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 15. You need: nothing.
Robot Chores Charades1. Charades, acted as a machine. One child draws a picture card of a chore: vacuuming, washing a window, walking a dog, making a bed. 2. The child acts it as a robot would, stiffly and with sound effects but no words. 3. The others guess the chore. Whoever guesses acts next, and a shy child can act with a friend. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 3 to 15. You need: picture cards of chores.
Robot Dance, Power Down1. Freeze dance, with a slow ending in place of a freeze. While the music plays, everyone dances like a robot with stiff arms and legs. 2. When the music stops, the robots run out of power: they slow down, droop and sink to the floor, humming lower and lower. 3. Nobody is out. Music on means power on, and everyone jumps up. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 20. You need: music.
The Robot Factory in Sound1. A conducting game. Split the children into four groups and give each a factory sound: whirr, clank, beep and hiss. 2. The conductor points at a group to switch it on and holds up a flat hand to switch it off. 3. Build the factory up, one sound at a time, then shut it down. A child conducts the second shift. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 4 to 24. You need: nothing.
Robot Repair Shop1. A hunt with a match at the end. Draw one robot for each child, each with one part missing: an arm, an eye, an antenna, a wheel. Cut the missing parts from paper and hide them. 2. Each child takes a drawing and works out what is missing. 3. They hunt for that part and tape it in place. A part that belongs to another robot is left where it is. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a robot drawing and a paper part for each child, and tape.
Scanner: Find Me a Circle1. A shape hunt. The leader says, in a robot voice, "Scanning for a circle." 2. Every robot walks stiffly to something in the room with that shape, touches it and beeps. 3. Scan for squares, triangles and rectangles in turn. Two robots may share one shape. Older children scan for cubes and cylinders. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 1 to 15. You need: nothing.
Spare Parts Tray: What Is Missing?1. The memory tray game, with a robot's spare parts. Lay eight things on a tray: a flashlight, a remote control, a spring toy, a cable, a calculator, a whisk, a funnel and a big spoon. 2. The children look for one minute. Cover the tray and take one thing away. 3. Uncover it. The first to name the missing part takes the next one away. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 10. You need: a tray, a cloth and eight household things.
Spot the Glitch1. A watching game. One child, the inspector, waits outside. The others choose one robot to be the glitch. 2. The inspector comes back. A leader calls moves, such as arms up or turn left, and all the robots do them, except the glitch, who does each one slightly wrong. 3. The inspector has three guesses to name the glitch. The glitch inspects next. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 5 to 15. You need: nothing.
Stiff-Leg Robot Relay1. A relay with a rule about knees. Teams line up. The first robot walks to the charging station, a chair across the room, and back, with knees and elbows held straight. 2. At the chair the robot says "charging complete" before turning around. 3. A robot seen bending a knee takes two steps back. Tap the next robot on the shoulder to start it. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 4 to 16. You need: a chair.
Tallest Robot From Boxes and Foil1. A building contest. Give each team a pile of boxes, cardboard tubes, kitchen foil and tape. 2. In ten minutes, each team builds a robot that stands up by itself. Jar lids make eyes and tubes make arms. 3. Measure each robot against the birthday child. Every robot gets a title: tallest, shiniest, most arms, friendliest face. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 4 to 16. You need: boxes, cardboard tubes, kitchen foil, jar lids and tape.
Wind-Up Robot Lands on the Mat1. An estimating game. Put a mat on the floor some way off. In pairs, one child is a wind-up robot. 2. The other looks at the mat, decides how many steps away it is, and turns an imaginary key on the robot's back that many times, counting aloud. 3. The robot walks exactly that many steps and stops. A robot with both feet on the mat scores. Swap. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a mat or a towel.
Construction party 25
A Bridge Between Two Chairs1. A building challenge. Set two chairs a child's arm apart. Give each team four sheets of cardboard, ten straws and tape. 2. In ten minutes, each team builds a bridge that spans the gap. 3. Test it by rolling a toy truck across. If it holds, add a block to the truck and roll again. The bridge that carries the most blocks wins. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 12. You need: two chairs, cardboard, straws, tape, a toy truck and blocks.
Balance the Beam1. A balancing game for two. Lay a ruler across a cardboard tube so that it rocks like a seesaw. 2. Two children take turns placing one block on their own end. 3. The beam must not touch the table. Whoever makes it tip takes a block off and tries a different spot. Count the blocks on the beam when both ends are finally still. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 6. You need: a ruler, a cardboard tube and small blocks.
Blueprint Builders1. A memory game with blocks. Out of sight, build a small model from six blocks and cover it with a cloth. Give each team the same six blocks. 2. Lift the cloth for ten seconds, then cover the model again. 3. Teams build what they saw. Uncover the model and compare. Each team gets a second ten-second look to fix its building. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 12. You need: six blocks for each team, six more for the model, and a cloth.
Brick Line: Pass and Build the Wall1. A passing chain. The children stand in a line from the brick pile to the building site. The bricks are shoe boxes. 2. Bricks go down the line from hand to hand. The last child lays each one on the wall, overlapping the row below as real bricks do. 3. Time the crew until the last brick is laid. Change the bricklayer and beat the time. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 5 to 16. You need: twelve or more shoe boxes.
Carry the Beam With a Ball on It1. A carrying game for pairs. Two children hold the ends of a foam noodle or a length of cardboard, level between them. 2. A grown-up sets a ball on top. The pair carries the beam around a cone and back without the ball rolling off. 3. A ball that falls is put back where it fell. Swap partners for the second run. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a foam noodle or a strip of cardboard, a ball and a cone.
Demolition Stomp1. A flattening race. Save cereal boxes and other light cardboard boxes, and tape them shut. 2. Stand them in a row on the grass. On "go," each child stomps one box flat and carries it to the recycling pile. 3. Go back for another until the row is gone. Shoes stay on, and everyone stomps their own box. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 12. You need: empty cardboard boxes.
Detour: The Foreman Moves a Sign1. An obstacle course that changes. Set a course with cones to weave through, a box to crawl through and a plank on the ground to walk along. Stand arrow signs at each turn. 2. The children run it once. 3. Before each new lap, the foreman turns one arrow to point a different way. Runners have to read the signs, not remember the route. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 12. You need: cones, a big box, a plank and arrow signs.
Dig for Pipes, Join the Longest Line1. A dig with something to build afterward. Bury cardboard tubes or pieces of plastic pipe in a sandbox, or in a tub of shredded paper indoors. 2. The children dig with their hands and small shovels. 3. Each tube found is laid end to end with the others on the ground. When the dig is done, walk the length of the pipeline together and count the pieces. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 10. You need: a sandbox or a tub of shredded paper, tubes or pipe pieces, and small shovels.
Excavator Scoop1. A scooping game with arms for a digger. Fill a dry paddling pool or a big box with plastic balls. 2. A child kneels beside it, puts both hands together as a digger bucket, and scoops balls into a bucket alongside. Fingers stay together. 3. Count the balls moved in thirty seconds. Two diggers can work at once from opposite sides. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 1 to 8. You need: a dry paddling pool or a box, plastic balls and a bucket.
Forward, Reverse, Park1. A stop-and-go game with three calls. Every child is a truck. On "forward," walk ahead with hands on the wheel. On "reverse," walk backward slowly, saying "beep, beep, beep." 2. On "park," stop and sit down. 3. The caller mixes the three. Nobody is out, and a child who would like to call takes the next turn. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 20. You need: nothing.
Guess It, Then Measure It1. An estimating game. Choose something long: the table, the hallway, the birthday child lying down. 2. Everyone guesses how many of the foreman's boots long it is and says the guess aloud. 3. Measure it by walking one boot along, heel to toe. The closest guess picks the next thing to measure. Older children measure with a real tape and guess in feet. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 15. You need: one boot or a tape measure.
Hand Signals for the Crane1. A silent guiding game. One child, the crane operator, holds a long cardboard tube out in front and faces a partner, with a bucket somewhere behind. 2. The partner uses four hand signals agreed beforehand: left, right, lower and stop. Nobody speaks. 3. The operator, watching only the signals, lowers the tube into the bucket without turning to look. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a long cardboard tube and a bucket.
Handprints in the Wet Cement1. A keepsake to make as guests arrive. Mix salt dough beforehand and press it into a tray as a slab of wet cement. 2. Each child presses one hand into the slab and a grown-up scratches their name beside it with a pencil. 3. Leave it to dry during the party. The birthday child keeps the slab. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 1 to 15. You need: salt dough, a tray and a pencil.
Hard Hat Toss1. A beanbag toss into hats. Lay three toy hard hats or three buckets upside-up on the ground in a line going away from the thrower. 2. Each child has three beanbags and throws underhand. 3. A beanbag that stays in a hat scores. The middle hat scores double and the far one triple. Step forward a pace for children under five. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 12. You need: three toy hard hats or buckets and three beanbags.
Load the Truck, Dump the Load1. A hauling relay. Tie a rope to a cardboard box for each team: that is the truck. Pile beanbags at the start as the load. 2. The first child puts three beanbags in the truck, pulls it to the far cone, tips them out and pulls the empty truck back. 3. The next driver loads up. The job is done when the pile has moved. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 4 to 16. You need: a box on a rope and nine beanbags for each team, and cones.
Low Clearance: Under the Caution Tape1. Limbo, with any way under allowed. Two grown-ups hold a strip of yellow tape or crepe paper at shoulder height. 2. The children go under it in a line without touching it: walking, ducking, crawling or rolling. 3. Lower the tape a little after each round. Nobody is out. A child who touches it calls "low clearance" and goes again. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 3 to 20. You need: yellow tape or crepe paper.
Paint Roller Ball Push1. A steering relay. Each child in turn takes a dry paint roller on its handle. 2. They push a ball along the floor with the roller, in and out of three cones and back. 3. Hands stay on the handle. Pass the roller to the next painter. Run it twice and let every team try to beat its own time. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a dry paint roller, a ball and three cones.
Paint the Center Line1. A steady-hands race. Chalk a long straight line on the driveway for each pair. 2. One child holds a roll of yellow crepe paper and walks backward along the line, unrolling it. The partner follows and presses it down with a foot at every step. 3. When the roll runs out, stand back. The straightest road line wins, not the fastest. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 12. You need: chalk and a roll of yellow crepe paper for each pair.
Pipe Run Along the Wall1. A team build. Give the crew ten cardboard tubes and a roll of painter's tape. 2. The crew tapes the tubes to a wall, a fence or the side of a sofa, each one sloping into the next, so that a ball dropped in at the top comes out at the bottom into a bucket. 3. Test, fix the leaks and test again. Count the tubes that the ball runs through. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 8. You need: ten cardboard tubes, painter's tape, a small ball and a bucket.
Site Inspector: Three Things Changed1. A spot-the-change game. Build a small site on a table from blocks, toy trucks and cones. The inspector studies it for one minute, then leaves the room. 2. The crew changes three things: a truck turned around, a block moved, a cone added. 3. The inspector comes back and finds all three. The crew may give hints by humming louder as the inspector gets close. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 3 to 10. You need: blocks, toy trucks and cones.
Tape Road Rally1. A delivery game on a floor map. Lay roads on the floor with painter's tape, with four building sites along them, each marked with a color. 2. Each child drives a toy truck along the roads. 3. The trucks deliver blocks from the depot to the site of the same color, one block a trip. Trucks stay on the road, and two trucks that meet agree who backs up. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 1 to 8. You need: painter's tape, toy trucks and blocks in four colors.
Traffic Cone Ring Toss1. Ring toss, at three cones. Stand three traffic cones in a row at different distances. 2. Each child tosses three rings, cut from paper plates or made of rope. 3. The near cone scores 1, the middle cone 2 and the far cone 3. The youngest stand a step closer. Collect the rings together after every third throw. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 12. You need: three cones and three rings.
What Is in the Toolbox?1. A feel-and-guess game. Put six safe things from a toolbox into a cloth bag: a paintbrush, a tape measure, a paint roller, a sponge, a plastic wrench and a roll of tape. 2. One at a time, children reach in without looking, hold one thing and say what they think it is. 3. Pull it out to check. The child then mimes using it. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 10. You need: a cloth bag and six safe tools.
Work Glove Tower1. A stacking game made harder by gloves. Each builder puts on a pair of adult work gloves. 2. With the gloves on, build a tower of wooden blocks or plastic cups as high as it will go. 3. Measure the tower in blocks just before it falls. Each builder has two tries and keeps the better one. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 1 to 10. You need: adult work gloves and blocks or plastic cups.
Wrecking Ball Bowling1. Bowling, with a ball that swings. Put a soft ball in a long sock and hang it on a rope from a branch or a doorway, so that it clears the ground. 2. Stack six empty boxes as a wall where the ball will swing. 3. Each child pulls the ball back and lets go once. Count the boxes that fall. The next child rebuilds the wall first. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a soft ball in a sock, a rope and six empty boxes.
Indoor basketball party games 25
A Hundred Baskets Before the Cake1. A game with one team. Tape a chart of a hundred empty circles to the wall. 2. Everyone shoots rolled socks at the laundry basket from wherever they like. Each make earns a sticker on the chart, stuck on by the shooter. 3. The whole party is trying to fill the chart before the cake comes out. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 20. You need: a laundry basket, rolled socks, a chart of a hundred circles and stickers.
Alley-Oop Pairs1. A two-person shot. One child stands beside a laundry basket on a chair. A partner stands four steps away. 2. The partner lobs a rolled sock high toward the basket. The first child catches it and drops it in, in one move, without bringing it down below their shoulders. 3. Five lobs, then swap. A lob that goes in by itself still counts, and gets a cheer. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a laundry basket, a chair and rolled socks.
Coach's Clipboard1. A game of plans. One child is the coach and draws a play on paper: three circles for teammates, and arrows that show where each one walks and who passes to whom. 2. The coach shows it to the three players for ten seconds. 3. They walk the play from memory and finish with a shot. The coach says what went to plan. Change coaches. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 4 to 12. You need: paper, a pencil, a laundry basket and a soft ball.
Copy the Trick Shot, Spell the Birthday Name1. The copy-the-shot game that playgrounds call horse, spelled with the birthday child's name. The first shooter invents a shot at the laundry basket: backward, under one leg, off the sofa. 2. If it goes in, everyone else must make the same shot. Anyone who misses earns a letter of the name. 3. If the inventor misses, nobody earns a letter and the next child invents. Play until someone has the whole name, then start again. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 8. You need: a laundry basket and a soft ball.
Design a Jersey1. A making table. Cut a paper shirt for every guest beforehand. 2. Each child chooses a number, invents a team name and decorates the shirt with crayons. 3. Tape the jerseys to the wall in a row as the team photo. Use the numbers to call players for the other games. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 1 to 20. You need: paper shirts cut beforehand, crayons and tape.
Dunk Contest, Every Score a Ten1. A show, not a contest. Stand a laundry basket on a low chair, so that every child can reach above it. 2. One at a time, each child invents a dunk: a spin first, two hands, eyes closed, a run-up from the hallway. 3. Three judges hold up score cards after each dunk. Every card in the pile is a 10. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 15. You need: a laundry basket, a low chair, a soft ball and score cards.
Eyes-Closed Free Throw, Coached by the Team1. A shot taken on advice. The shooter stands at the line, looks at the basket, then closes their eyes. 2. The shooter throws. Teammates call what happened: "short," "long," "left a little." 3. The shooter has five throws with eyes closed and adjusts each time. Count the makes, and count the near misses too. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 3 to 12. You need: a laundry basket and rolled socks.
Finger-Hoop Flick1. A flicking game for two. Players sit across a table. One makes a hoop by touching thumb tips and fingertips together, held just above the table edge. 2. The other folds a small square of paper into a thick wad and flicks it from their own edge, trying to send it through the hoop. 3. Five flicks, then swap. A wad that goes off the side of the table is out of bounds. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 10. You need: scrap paper and a table.
Free-Throw Routine, Add a Move1. A memory chain with a shot at the end. The first shooter invents one move to do before shooting: bounce the ball twice. Then shoots. 2. The next shooter does that move, adds one, such as a spin, and shoots. 3. Every shooter does the whole routine in order before their shot. A missed move means starting the routine again. A missed shot does not matter. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 3 to 10. You need: a laundry basket and a soft ball.
Granny Shot Relay1. A shooting relay. Teams line up behind a tape mark, each facing its own bucket. 2. The first child runs to a second mark, turns to face the bucket and shoots a soft ball underhand with two hands, from between the knees. 3. Keep shooting until one goes in. Then bring the ball back to the next child. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 4 to 16. You need: a bucket and a soft ball for each team, and tape.
Hallway Dribble With a Beach Ball1. A dribbling course for indoors. Stand four plastic cups down the middle of a hallway. 2. Each child bounces a beach ball in and out of the cups to the far end and back, with one hand. 3. A cup knocked over is stood up again before going on. Second time through, use the other hand. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 10. You need: a beach ball and four plastic cups.
The Hoop That Walks1. A shooting game for the youngest, with a moving basket. A grown-up carries a laundry basket on one hip and walks slowly around the room. 2. Every child has an armful of rolled socks and follows, shooting into the basket as it goes. 3. The hoop turns, stops and sets off again. When the socks are all in, tip them out and start over. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a laundry basket and plenty of rolled socks.
Laundry-Basket Shootout From Three Lines1. A shooting game with no court. Stand a laundry basket on a chair. Mark three lines with tape, worth 1, 2 and 3 points. 2. Each child has five rolled socks and chooses a line for every shot. 3. Add up the five. A child under six shoots from one step in front of each line. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a laundry basket, a chair, tape and five rolled socks.
Level Up: Basket, Bucket, Pot, Cup1. A shooting ladder. Stand four targets in a row, from large to small: a laundry basket, a bucket, a cooking pot and a cup. 2. Each child starts at the basket and may move on only after making a shot there. 3. Everybody shoots in turn, one shot a turn. See who reaches the cup, and how many turns it takes. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 10. You need: a laundry basket, a bucket, a pot, a cup and rolled socks.
Musical Basketballs1. A passing game with a shot as the prize. The children sit in a circle around a laundry basket and pass two soft balls around while music plays. 2. When the music stops, the two children holding a ball each take one shot from where they sit. 3. A child who scores chooses whether the balls go left or right next time. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 5 to 15. You need: a laundry basket, two soft balls and music.
One-Bounce Bucket Shots1. A bounce shot. Stand a bucket against a wall. Mark a line three steps away. 2. Each child throws a playground ball so that it bounces once on the floor and drops into the bucket. 3. Five shots each. Then move the line back a step and bounce it harder. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 10. You need: a bucket, a playground ball and tape.
Paper-Ball Desk Hoops1. A table game for a rainy party. Tape a paper cup to the far edge of a table, with its mouth just above the tabletop. 2. Each child crumples five sheets of scrap paper into balls. 3. Sitting at the near end, shoot all five. A ball in the cup scores 2. A ball that hits the rim and stays on the table scores 1. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 10. You need: a paper cup, tape and scrap paper.
Rebound1. A catching game. A grown-up stands a few steps from an outside wall and throws a playground ball against it. 2. The children stand in a spread-out group behind the grown-up. Whoever catches the ball as it comes off the wall earns a shot at the bucket. 3. A child who has caught two moves to the back, so that everyone gets a rebound. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 3 to 10. You need: a playground ball, a wall and a bucket.
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot1. Rock, paper, scissors, with a shot for the winner. Two lines face each other, and the children at the front play one round. 2. The winner takes one shot at the laundry basket. Both go to the back of their lines. 3. Each basket scores a point for that line. The first line to make seven baskets wins. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 4 to 16. You need: a laundry basket and a soft ball.
Roll for Your Spot1. A shooting game in which a die chooses the spot. Stick six paper plates on the floor around the laundry basket, numbered 1 to 6, some near and some far. 2. Each child rolls a die and shoots from that plate. 3. A make scores the number on the plate. Three rolls each. The far plates should have the high numbers. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 10. You need: a laundry basket, six numbered paper plates, a die and a soft ball.
Shoot Through the Noise1. A free throw with a crowd. The shooter stands at the line. Everyone else stands behind the basket. 2. As the shooter gets ready, the crowd waves arms and scarves and makes as much noise as it likes. Nobody steps in front of the basket or touches the shooter. 3. Three shots each. The shooter chooses the next shooter from the loudest part of the crowd. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 4 to 20. You need: a laundry basket and a soft ball.
Sitting Circle Shootout, Count Your Color1. A shooting game played sitting down. The children sit in a ring around a laundry basket, two big steps back from it. 2. Each child has five balls or rolled socks of their own color. On "go," everyone shoots at once. 3. Tip out the basket and sort it by color. Each child counts how many of theirs went in. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 3 to 10. You need: a laundry basket and five balls or socks in a different color for each child.
Sofa Three-Pointers Over the Cushion Wall1. A long shot from a seat. Build a wall of cushions on the floor in front of the sofa, and stand a laundry basket beyond it. 2. Shooters sit on the sofa and may not stand. 3. Each has five rolled socks to send over the wall and into the basket. Add a cushion to the wall after every round. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 8. You need: a sofa, cushions, a laundry basket and rolled socks.
Starting Lineup Tunnel1. An arrival game. The grown-ups and the children already there make two lines facing each other, hands out. 2. An announcer calls each new player by a nickname that the player chose at the door: "Now starting, from the kitchen, Lightning Leo." 3. The player runs down the tunnel slapping every hand, and joins the end of a line. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 4 to 25. You need: nothing.
Tip-Off Jump1. A jumping game. Hang a soft ball in a sock from a doorway or a branch, just above the reach of the tallest child. 2. Each child takes a two-step run-up, jumps and taps the ball. 3. After everyone has touched it, raise it by a hand's width. Children who cannot reach the new height choose a jump style for the others to copy. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a soft ball in a sock and a string.
Animals: farmyard 8
Collect the Eggs Before the Hen Wakes1. A creeping game in the family of doggy and the bone. One child is the hen and sits on a cushion with eyes closed. Six wooden or plastic eggs lie around the cushion. 2. The leader points to one child, who creeps up, takes an egg and creeps back. 3. If the hen hears anything, she points at the sound without looking. A hen who points at the creeper keeps the egg. Change hens when the eggs are gone. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 4 to 15. You need: a cushion and six wooden or large plastic eggs.
Farmers' Market Sort1. A sorting relay. Tip toy fruit and vegetables, or paper ones, in a pile. Set out a basket for each color. 2. One at a time, children run to the pile, take one thing and put it in the basket of its color. 3. When the pile is gone, tip out one basket and name everything in it together. A green apple starts the best arguments. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 12. You need: toy or paper fruit and vegetables, and a basket for each color.
Needle in the Haystack1. A feeling hunt. Fill a big tub with shredded paper as hay. Bury one wooden spoon in it: the needle. 2. Two children at a time dig with their hands until one finds it. 3. The finder buries the needle for the next two. For a party of older children, bury three spoons and one fork, and say that only the fork counts. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a tub of shredded paper and a wooden spoon.
Plant, Water, Harvest1. A relay with three jobs. Lay six hoops in a row for each team as a field. 2. The first child plants: one beanbag dropped in each hoop. The second waters: a touch of an empty watering can on each beanbag. The third harvests: every beanbag picked up and brought home in a basket. 3. Then the fourth child plants again. Every child should have each job once. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 3 to 15. You need: six hoops, six beanbags, a watering can and a basket for each team.
Raise the Barn, Fit the Herd1. A building game with one team. Pile big cardboard boxes in the middle of the room, with the children around them as the farm animals. 2. Together, the children stand the boxes on end in a ring to make barn walls. 3. The barn is finished when the whole herd can sit inside it with nobody sticking out. A grown-up is the weather and blows gently on the walls to test them. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 3 to 12. You need: six or more big cardboard boxes.
Shear the Sheep1. A taking-turns relay. Draw a sheep on a large sheet of cardboard and clip white socks and washcloths all over it with clothespins. 2. One at a time, children run to the sheep, unclip one piece of wool and carry it back to a bag. 3. The sheep is shorn when no wool is left. Count the wool together. Clip it back on for a second flock. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a cardboard sheep, white socks and washcloths, clothespins and a bag.
Sheepdog and Whistler1. A herding game for pairs. Scatter ten white balls on the grass as sheep and mark a pen with four cones. 2. One child is the sheepdog and herds the sheep with a foam noodle, never by hand or foot. The other is the shepherd, who stands at the pen and may only whistle or clap: once for "that way," twice for "stop." 3. Time the pair until all ten are penned. Swap jobs. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 12. You need: ten light balls, a foam noodle and four cones.
Wheelbarrow the Animals to the Barn1. A hauling relay. Scatter soft toy animals across the yard as a herd that has wandered off. The barn is a big box at the start. 2. The first child pushes a toy wheelbarrow, or drags a laundry basket, out to any animal, loads it and brings it home. 3. One animal a trip. The next child takes the wheelbarrow. When the field is empty, count the herd into the barn by name. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a toy wheelbarrow or a laundry basket, soft toy animals and a big box.
Animals: jungle and safari 8
Banana Hunt With a Move on Each1. A hunt that turns into a game. Cut twenty bananas from yellow paper and draw a move on each: a stick figure jumping, spinning, touching toes. Hide them at the height of a child's reach. 2. The monkeys hunt and bring each banana to the bunch, a basket in the middle. 3. When all are found, draw them from the basket one by one. Everybody does the move on each. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 15. You need: twenty paper bananas and a basket.
The Bumpy Safari Ride1. A story with actions. Everyone sits on the floor in rows, as if in a safari truck, holding on. 2. A grown-up tells the ride. On "bump," everyone bounces. On "branch," everyone ducks. On "mud," lean far to one side. On "look," freeze and point at the animal. 3. The children choose which animal it was. Let a child drive the second safari. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 20. You need: nothing.
Clip a Stripe on the Sleeping Tiger1. A creeping game. A grown-up is the tiger and lies on the grass, pretending to sleep. Each child has two orange clothespins. 2. One at a time, children creep up and clip a stripe to the back of the tiger's shirt. 3. Now and then the tiger stirs, stretches and rolls over. Anyone who is not standing perfectly still at that moment goes back to the start. Count the tiger's stripes at the end. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 3 to 12. You need: two clothespins for each child.
Jungle Drum Code1. A listening game with three signals. A grown-up beats a bucket or a pot. One beat means monkeys: jump. Two beats mean elephants: stomp slowly. Three beats mean snakes: lie down and wriggle. 2. The children move around the room and change with the drum. 3. Speed up the changes. A child takes over the drum after a few rounds. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 20. You need: a bucket or a pot and a wooden spoon.
Monkey Feet Pass1. A passing game for feet. The children sit in a circle with their legs out and their shoes off. 2. A soft toy banana goes around the circle, held and passed with feet only. 3. If it drops, the child who dropped it picks it up with their feet and carries on. Time one lap, then try to beat it going the other way. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 4 to 12. You need: a soft toy banana or a rolled yellow sock.
Monkey See, Monkey Do1. The copying game. One child is the head monkey and stands where all can see. 2. Whatever the head monkey does, the troop does: scratch, swing an arm, hop, pull a face. 3. When the leader calls "banana," the head monkey points to a new one, and the copying carries on without a pause. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 3 to 20. You need: nothing.
Roll a Melon Into the Hippo's Mouth1. A rolling game. Lay a big box on its side, with the opening toward the children, and draw two eyes above it: the hippo. 2. From a line three steps away, each child rolls three balls along the ground into its mouth. 3. A ball that rolls in and stays in is swallowed. A grown-up behind the box sends back the ones that bounce out, with a hippo noise. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 12. You need: a big box, a marker and three balls.
Safari Spotters1. A looking hunt in which nothing is picked up. Stand large toy animals around the yard, some in plain sight and some half hidden. 2. Each child has binoculars made of two cardboard tubes and a card with pictures of the animals. 3. A child who spots an animal marks it on the card and leaves it where it is. When every card is full, the guide leads everyone back around. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 12. You need: large toy animals, tube binoculars, picture cards and crayons.
Animals: ocean 8
Dolphin Show1. A hoop course run on a whistle. Three helpers hold plastic hoops upright along a line, the first touching the ground and the last a little higher. 2. On each whistle, one dolphin sets off, steps or jumps through all three hoops and takes a bow at the end. 3. The trainer adds a trick for the second lap: clap in the middle hoop, or turn around once between hoops. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 3 to 15. You need: three plastic hoops and a whistle.
Eight Socks for the Octopus1. A hunt with a sorting job at the end. Draw an octopus on cardboard, with a clothesline strung underneath and eight clothespins. Hide four pairs of socks around the room. 2. The children find the socks. 3. Each sock is clipped to the line, but only next to its match. When all eight arms have a sock, the octopus is dressed. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 8. You need: a cardboard octopus, a line, eight clothespins and four pairs of socks.
Everyone Under the Jellyfish1. A musical game with nobody out. Tape long ribbons around the edge of an open umbrella to make a jellyfish. A grown-up holds it up. 2. While the music plays, the children swim around the room. 3. When it stops, everyone hurries under the jellyfish, and the round is won only if every child fits. The grown-up crouches a little lower each time. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 3 to 12. You need: an umbrella, ribbons, tape and music.
Find Your Twin Without a Sound1. A pairing game. Make two cards for each sea animal: two crabs, two seahorses, two whales, two starfish. Give every child one card to look at and hide. 2. On "swim," each child moves like their animal, with no sound and no words. 3. Twins find each other by watching, and sit down together. Then each pair shows the room its animal. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 6 to 20. You need: pairs of sea animal picture cards.
Jump the Waves1. A jumping game with a rope. Two grown-ups hold the ends of a long rope and wiggle it along the ground to make small waves. 2. The children line up and jump over it one at a time, without touching it. 3. After each round the waves grow a little, up to the height of a child's shin and no higher. A child who touches the rope goes again. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 3 to 15. You need: a long rope.
Roll for Shark Teeth1. A dice race in the family of beetle. Each child has a paper plate folded in half as a shark's mouth, and a pile of clothespins as teeth. 2. In turn, each child rolls a die and clips that many teeth along the edge of their plate. 3. The first shark with twenty teeth snaps its jaws. Keep rolling until every shark is finished. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 8. You need: a paper plate and twenty clothespins for each child, and a die.
Slow Reveal From the Envelope1. A guessing game. Put a picture of a sea animal inside a large envelope. 2. Pull it out very slowly, a finger's width at a time, so that a fin, a tentacle or a tail appears first. 3. The children call out guesses as more comes into view. Whoever names it pulls the next picture, as slowly as they can bear to. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 20. You need: a large envelope and pictures of sea animals.
Under the Net Before It Drops1. A bridge game with a sheet. Two grown-ups hold a bedsheet up high between them as a fishing net. 2. The children are fish and swim under it, around and under again, while everyone sings or counts. 3. On the last word, the net comes gently down. Any fish underneath takes a corner of the net and helps hold it for the next round. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 4 to 20. You need: a bedsheet.
Animals: bugs and garden 8
Ants Carry the Giant Crumb1. A team carry. The crumb is a big, empty cardboard box. 2. Four to six ants lift it over their heads together and carry it along a chalk trail to the anthill, a hoop at the end. 3. The crumb may not touch the ground, and the ants at the back cannot see much, so the front ants call the turns. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 4 to 12. You need: a big empty box, chalk and a hoop.
Butterflies in the Colander1. A catching game with things that float. A grown-up stands on the grass with an armful of light scarves or tissue paper squares. 2. Each child holds a colander or a sieve as a net. 3. The grown-up throws the butterflies high, a few at a time. The children catch them in their nets before they land. Let them go again at the end, all at once. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 10. You need: light scarves or tissue paper squares, and a colander for each child.
Buzz Louder When They Are Close1. The hot-and-cold game, played with a buzz. One child, the bee, waits outside while a paper flower is hidden in the room. 2. The bee comes back and hunts. Everyone else buzzes: softly when the bee is far from the flower, louder as it gets close. 3. No pointing and no words. The bee who finds it chooses the next bee. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 3 to 15. You need: a paper flower.
Grasshopper Jumps, Marked With a Leaf1. A jumping contest against yourself. Chalk a start line. Each child has a paper leaf with their name on it. 2. From a standing start, with both feet together, each grasshopper jumps as far as it can. 3. Lay the leaf where the heels landed. Everybody has three jumps, and the leaf moves only when its owner beats it. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 15. You need: chalk and a named paper leaf for each child.
Lint Roller Bees1. A collecting game. Scatter fifty circles of yellow paper on a table as pollen, each as big as the top of a cup. 2. Each bee has a sticky lint roller. On "buzz," the bees roll over the table for twenty seconds. 3. Count the pollen on each roller by peeling off the sheet. Scatter the pollen again for the next bees. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 8. You need: lint rollers and fifty circles of yellow paper.
Snail Race, Last One Home Wins1. A race in reverse. Each snail crawls on hands and knees with a small cushion on its back as a shell. 2. From "go," every snail must keep moving forward, however slowly. Stopping is not allowed. 3. The last snail to cross the line wins. A shell that slides off sends that snail forward three snail-lengths. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 10. You need: a small cushion for each child.
Weave a Web, Bounce the Bug1. A web made of yarn. The children sit in a circle. One holds the end of a ball of yarn and rolls the ball across to another, who holds the strand and rolls it on. 2. When everyone holds a strand, there is a web. Pull it tight and lift it. 3. A grown-up drops a light ball on the web. The spiders bounce it by lifting and lowering their hands. Count the bounces before it falls through. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 5 to 14. You need: a ball of yarn and a light ball.
Worms Under the Blanket1. A crawling game. Grown-ups hold two blankets low, end to end, as a tunnel of soil. 2. One worm at a time wriggles through on their tummy, from one end to the other. 3. When a worm comes out, the next goes in. On the second trip, the grown-ups ripple the blankets. Youngest player: age 3. Players: 2 to 12. You need: two blankets.
How this list was compiled: Our suggestions for a child's themed birthday party, for ages 3 to 10. The wording, the ages and the player counts are ours. The first step of each names the game or the kind of game it starts from, and the entry says what the theme changes. Nobody is blindfolded, no game uses a balloon, nothing is eaten, and the games for ages 3 and 4 use nothing small enough to swallow. No film, show, toy, team or brand is named. The list states no fact that needs an outside source. Licence: own work
How it works
These robot birthday party games are for ages 3 to 10. No game uses a balloon or a blindfold, and nothing is eaten.
Read the full guide
Pick the party first
The menu under the button changes the theme: construction party games are under Construction party, and animal theme party games come in four sets, farmyard, jungle and safari, ocean, and bugs and garden. Ocean themed birthday party games are the set marked Animals: ocean.
Three games is a party
For ages 3 to 5, choose one game to arrive to, one to run around in and one to sit down for. Each entry gives its youngest age, and the theme sets start at 3.
Start saving boxes and cardboard tubes two weeks ahead. The robot and construction sets both use them.
Questions and answers
What games can 3 and 4 year olds play at a robot party?
16 of the 25 robot games start at age 3 or 4. Robot Dance, Power Down, Beep Count: Do That Many Jumps, Scanner: Find Me a Circle and Battery Hunt, Two to Start Up have no losers and need no reading.
What are good indoor basketball party games with no hoop?
A laundry basket on a chair is the hoop, and rolled socks are the balls. Laundry-Basket Shootout From Three Lines, Sofa Three-Pointers Over the Cushion Wall and A Hundred Baskets Before the Cake are played in a living room. 24 of the 25 work indoors.
What are good monkey party games?
Three in Animals: jungle and safari are monkey games: Monkey See, Monkey Do, Banana Hunt With a Move on Each and Monkey Feet Pass. The other five bring in the binoculars, the safari truck, the drum, a tiger and a hippo.
Which construction party games work indoors?
22 of the 25. Tape Road Rally, Work Glove Tower, Blueprint Builders and A Bridge Between Two Chairs are table and floor games. Detour: The Foreman Moves a Sign, Paint the Center Line and Demolition Stomp need a yard or a driveway.