Quiet Indoor Games
Newspaper Outfits
Equip :
- Newspaper
- Sellotape
Give 10 minutes for each team to dress up a team member in paper on a certain theme.
Noughts and Crosses
Equip :
- Chairs
- Bands
Put out 9 chairs in 3 rows of 3. Each team takes it in turns to sit on a chair and attempt to get a line. The teams must be identifiable.
Pass the Bag
Equip :
- Bag of awful clothes
- Music
Play as for Pass the Parcel. When the music stops the person with the bag must put on an item of clothing.
Newspaper Quiz
Equip : Identical newspapers
Teams race to find the headline called out by the leader. To make it harder, they must race to find the answer to a question in a story in the paper. The first team to tear out the bit and get it to the leader wins.
Time Warp
Equip: None
All players stand up and sit down when they think a minute has passed. Allow at least 90 secs and then say who was closest.
Human Spelling
Equip : Letters on card
Hand out an alphabet to each team (extra vowels).Teams must spell out the answer to a question with 1 person holding each letter.
Variation – Give each team alphabetti spaghetti and they must spell out the word
Recognition Games
Recognise sounds on tape or made out of sight.
Recognise items by feel (in bags)
Recognise items by taste (blindfolded)
Recognise smells on blotting paper e.g. food flavourings , perfume, bleach ,
Body Sculpture
Equip : None
Give teams an item or scene to form as a group. E g Volcano erupting, heart, pyramid, Titanic sinking
Chubby Bunnies
Equip : marshmallows
Each person must put one marshmallow at a time in their mouth and say Chubby Bunnies. The winner is the person with the most sweets in the mouth, who can be understood.
Yes / No Game
Equip : None
Interview a person for 30 secs and they must not answer Yes or no. No pauses are allowed.
Pictionary
Equip :
- Paper and pen
- List of items
Each team is in a corner of the room. One member of each team gets the first item on the list and must run back and draw it.(No written words or speaking) Once it is guessed, the next person runs up to get the second item. First team to get to the end of the list wins.
Miming Occupations
Equip : List of jobs
As pictionary but a list of jobs are mimed to your team, who guess them.
Chinese Laundry
Equip : none
Teams must race to be the first to bring an item to the leader. E.g. white sock, watch, belt
Flour Fun
Equip :
- Tray
- Bowl
- Flour
- Knife
- Sweet
Fill a bowl with flour and press it down. Turn it out onto a plate and put a sweet on top. Players take it in turn to cut a slice without making it crumble. When the sweet falls, the player must pick it out with their teeth.
Group Photos
Give each group a photo to reproduce. They must pose and then freeze in position e.g. scoring a goal , on the beach etc
Just a Minute
Equip : Timer
Players talk for 30 secs on a given subject without pause.
Kim's Game
Equip :
- Tray with 20 items
- Paper and pen
- Cloth
Allow teams 1 minute to look at items. Cover it up and attempt to list all 20.
Clothes Line
Equip :
- Pegs
- Line
Remove as many pegs as possible, using one hand only, without dropping one or holding them against your body.
Letter Hunt
Equip : Pen and paper
Allow a certain time to list as many items in the room as possible, beginning with a certain letter.
Folllow On
Equip : None
Sit in a circle. One player does an action. The next does that and a second one etc…See how far you can get.
Categories
Equip : none
Sit in a circle and set up a rhythm in 4 – time.
- slap knees
2.clap hands
3.snap finger
4.snap other finger
One player starts by speaking on the beats of the snapping fingers
Give me…….names of……..a category e.g. colours
The second player must name a colour on the next finger snap. Continue around with no repeats or pauses.
Pink Spot
Equip :
- Lipstick
- Remover
Sit in a circle and number around. The first person says their number, followed by ‘no pink spots’ and then a second number. The person with the second number mentioned must then do the same.
If someone is slow or wrong, they get a pink spot on their forehead and become ‘one pink spot’ etc
Zoom / Screech / Whoosh
Equip : None
Sit in a circle. Someone starts by saying zoom to their neighbour on the left, who they must turn to look at. That person can then either
- turn to their left and say zoom
- turn back to the first person and say screech (reverses direction)
- point across circle and say whoosh
You are out if you are wrong or slow. If you are the receiver of a ‘whoosh’,you can say ‘boing’ and reflect it straight back.
All Change
Equip : none
Sit in a circle. Send 1 person outside and change 3 things about the others. The person comes back and spots the changes.
Variation – Hide someone under a sheet and guess who or hide 2 people
Trumps
Equip :
- Cards
- Chairs
Sit on chairs in a circle. Hand out cards and players memorise the suit. Collect them back in and shuffle. Turn up each card in turn and call out the suit. Players of that suit move 1 chair to the right. If there is someone in the chair, you sit on them. If you are being sat on, you cannot move. The first person back to their place wins.
Circle Swap
Equip : chairs
Put chairs in a circle and sit on them, with one person in the centre on a chair. They call out a category E g. white socks, support Man U. and all in that category must swap places, while the centre person attempts to get on a chair. The last one is in the centre. N B anyone trying to be last is out.
Stack 'em Up
Equip : chairs
Sit on chairs in a circle. The leader says E g. ‘If you have a birthday in June move 2 places to the left’
If the chair is occupied you sit on them. When a chair is empty it is removed. Repeat until they are piled up.
Circle Action
Equip : none
Sit in a circle and send someone outside. Appoint a leader who the others must copy. They start an action e.g. rubbing tummy. All the others copy and the person outside returns and stands in the centre. The leader changes the actions and the centre has 3 guesses who they are.
Wink Murder
Equip : none
As above but a murderer is appointed, who kills people by winking at them. Once dead you must scream and lie down. The centre person guesses who they are before they kill all the others. They have 3 guesses.
Vacant Chair
Equip : Chairs
Sit in chairs in a circle with one player standing in the centre. Have 1 spare chair in the circle. The centre person attempts to sit on the spare chair, but the others move to their left to prevent him. In this way the spare chair ‘moves’ around.
Endless Word
Equip : none
Sit in a circle and one person says a word. They then count to five and the person on their left must say a word beginning with the last letter of the previous word, before 5 is reached. Go on around the circle.
Beetle Drive
Equip :
- Dice
- Paper and pen
- Beetle picture with parts numbered
Teams take it in turn to throw the dice. When the number for a part is thrown, it is drawn. However the body must be drawn first, then the head, then the other parts. Each leg is drawn separately with the number thrown each time.
6 = body
5 = head
4 = leg(6)
3 = eye(2)
2 = antennae(2)
1 = feet (6)
Jacob's Ladder
Equip :
- Chairs
- Dice
Have 2 teams and a row of chairs up the hall (about 8 – 10).The aim is to get all the team up the hall to the other end of the row. The leader of each team throws the dice in turn.
6 = 6 forwards or 1 back
5 = 5 forwards or split between 2 players
4 = 4 back
3 = 3 forwards and have another go
2 = 2 forwards
1 = change places with another or have another go
Leaders move their team members up the chairs. If they land on an occupied chair the previous owner falls off and returns to their team start. Any no. of players can be on the ladder at a time. The aim is to get all your players up the ladder and knock off the other team. You can have 2 ladders.
Giant's Keys
Equip :
- Blindfold
- Basher
- Keys
Sit in a circle with the ‘giant’ in the centre, blindfolded,and guarding the keys in front of him. He has a basher. Point to a person, who has to get up, walk around the circle and creep in to steal the keys without being hit by the giant. The others must be quiet.
Blank Yarn
Prepare a short story using blanks instead of nouns. Get the youngsters to each write 3 unusual nouns on 3 pieces of paper (clean only!) and fold them up. As you read the story point to a child who unfolds one and fills in the gap. It can be very funny.
Consequences
5 sentences of a story are written one at a time by 5 people. Each person writes their sentence and then folds it over backwards and passes it to the person on their left. Then the 2nd person does the 2nd one.
- girls name met
- boys name
- she said…….
4.he said…….
- the consequence was…..
Read them out as a story.