Looking for screen-free alternatives to engage your child at home during this inevitable pandemic? How about some indoor games that are interesting and out-of-the-box?

From sing-along games to brain-tickling puzzles, we have it all! 

Read on to find out a list of indoor games for kids. We have over 10 indoor games for you! Some are new indoor games, that you wouldn’t have heard of and some are traditional and popular games. 

Indoor games for toddlers and preschoolers (2-4 year olds)

1) Simon Says

Simon Says is quite a fun game to play with friends, indoors. In this game, one person is appointed to be ‘Simon’ who would say ‘Simon says..’ followed by some activities to do. This person will also call out random activities without saying ‘Simon says..’ first. Only the activities before which ‘Simon says’ is said, should be followed.

For example: “Simon says, jump up and down five times,” is a command that should be followed.

“Pull your left ear with your right hand,” is a command that should not be followed as ‘Simon says..’ does was not said before it.

Whoever makes the mistake of the following command without ‘Simon says..’ would lose first. This game helps kids learn new fine and gross motor skills and also reinforces the habit of following instructions.

You can increase the intensity of the game and make it a fun indoor sports game to play!

What you need : 

1. A white sheet of paper
2. Crayons
3. Small random objects/pieces of coloured paper cut out in shapes

How to play:

In this game, you need to find random small objects that can be toys or anything that’s small enough to draw around on paper.

Keep the object or objects on the paper and ask your child to trace around it using crayons. This will help your child develop their fine motor skills.

Those were the top two indoor games that you could try with your child. Want more? Read on!

3. Making a car or a castle out of a cardboard box

If you are looking for an indoor party game for kids to play with friends, then give this game a go! This game can be played indoors and outdoors.

What you need :

1. Cardboard boxes
2. Tape
3. Markers, crayons, and chalk to decorate

How to play:

This activity is a fun way to engage with your kid and to teach them to let their creativity flow in any way that they want.

• You can stack up cardboard boxes in unique ways to make a castle out of them, so your kid could play inside it
• Or, you could also cut it out in the shape of a car so your kid could run around the house pretending to drive it!
• While decorating either, you can use charts, crayons, markers, or chalk along with your child, to make it look fun and lively

4. Counting and naming

This is a great game to play indoors, for which you can arrange random household items or toys together and count them out loud along with your child.

You can progress each day with this activity. You can start from counting objects till 10 on the first day, go up to 20 the next, and so on. 

Another way to twist around this activity is to name household items with your kid. You could do a room each day.

For example, if you’re in the kitchen one day, you can point to the refrigerator and say ‘fridge’ and ask your child to repeat after you and do the same with spoons, forks, cups, plates, etc.

5. Sorting by colour/Finding an object of a colour

If you are looking for fun easy indoor games for kids, that you can enjoy on a casual weekend, try this game!

What you need for the sorting game:

1. Paper
2. Colours
3. Random toys/small objects

For this activity, you can take a lot of your kid’s toys and other small objects that are predominantly of one colour.

You can then take a few pieces of paper and write the names of some colours on them with a small square coloured the same colour underneath the name. For example, ‘yellow’, ‘blue’, and ‘green’. 

Scatter the toys around and ask your child to put all the yellow toys under the ‘yellow’ piece of paper, put the blue toys under the ‘blue’ piece of paper, etc. 

Alternatively, you can ask your kid to find an object of a particular colour from anywhere in the house, at random. For example, you could ask them to find a green object or a yellow object and see what they come up with!

Those were five indoor games that you could try with your little one. Keep reading to find out 5 more indoor games!

6. Finger-painting

What you need:

1. Chart paper/any thick piece of paper
2. Different paints
3. A plate or palette that you can put the paints on

How to play:

This is a really fun way to do something with your child and help your child experience the joy of creating something.

• Mix some vibrant paints with a little bit of water and lay them out on a palette or plate using a brush.
• You and your child can get creative by dipping fingers in the paints and placing them on a piece of white paper.
• You can even wait for this to dry and put it up somewhere in your child’s room to have something positive to remember.

A great game to play inside the house! The whole family can participate together and have a blast with this fun and easy indoor game for the family.

7. Hopscotch

This is a popular game for kids that most of you must know about! Often regarded as one of the best indoor games, all you need for this home play idea is some chalk. 

Draw numbered boxes using chalk on the floor, either on your terrace, or just the parking area in your house. Draw the boxes in a line alternating with one-two boxes on each row.

Your child will have to go in the order of the numbers and will have to hop on one leg for the single boxes! This game is an oldie but a goodie.

8. Floor Tape Shape Game

This game can be a great contender for a fun indoor birthday party game!

All you need for this game is some coloured tape. You can even use regular black tape if you don’t have other coloured tapes available at home. 

Clear an area in your house that is big enough to play around and stick the tape in random shapes like a ‘T’, a square, a triangle, a circle, etc, that are big enough for your child to fit in. Leave ample space between the shapes. 

Ask your child to start at one point and give them commands such as ‘run to the T’, ‘crawl to the circle’, and ‘hop to the square’. You can get creative with these commands and come up with innovative ones.

An alternative way to play this game is to simply stick tape to the floor in parallel lines that are about one foot above each other.

From the start point, you can challenge your kid to see how far he/she can jump from the first line, or how far they can jump if they get a running start.

You can also see how far they can hop on one leg and count which line they are able to reach each time. With practice, they’ll definitely get better!

9. Sing-along

This game involves each player taking a turn to sing a song, and the next player having to start singing a new song with the syllable that the previous player ended on.

Your child might be too young to be able to play this game on their own, so you should definitely play it with them.

Play a game using only nursery rhymes and have someone like a parent, sibling, or anyone at home team up with your child and sing rhymes the child is familiar with. This would be loads of fun for you as well as your child!

10. Dumb Charades

Versions of this game are played all over the world but this is a game we could not skip. There are many different ways in which this game can be played with your children. 

 You could make cards that have the names of different emotions, animals, or even actions such as ‘brushing your teeth and ‘dancing’ written on them.

You could pick these cards/pieces of paper out and tell your kid what it says and ask them to act it out for another parent or sibling and have them guess what your child is doing! This would be an engaging and fun-filled family activity.

11. Matching games

Make drawings of your own on paper to play matching games with your child!

Your child can match different pictures of the same animal, halves of fruits/vegetables, and can even match the time displayed on a clock, although they might need your help doing that.

These are all intellectually challenging games that your child is sure to enjoy.

12. Memory card game

Draw images on a piece of paper and cut them out to play a memory game with your child.

Have all the paper pieces lay in a neat rectangle, shuffled up, on the floor.

Your child can only overturn one piece at a time unless they’re picking a pair.

They need to find the matching images in the whole square and pair them up. 

This is one of many indoor games that can be played repeatedly and helps improve their memory a lot!

We hope you enjoyed the list of over 10 indoor games for preschoolers! Try all these indoor games and tell us what you think of them!

Want to add a dose of learning to your child’s play-time?

Introducing Flintoclass@HOME learning program — Flintoclass follows a blended learning approach with pre-recorded interactive sessions and hands-on learning activities. The monthly kit gets delivered with daily activities, instructions, revision materials, and a parent dashboard to track a child’s progress. The activities in the box can help your child develop many skills while learning about a variety of concepts including colours, shapes, numbers, and more!

Delivered straight at your doorstep, you will be provided with everything that you would require to ensure your little one has a wholesome learning experience! A great way to engage your child at home through meaningful and FUN activities 🙂

Watch this video to learn more about Flintoclass@HOME:

Do drop a comment to let us know what your child’s favourite indoor game is! We’d love to know!