Easy games for kids at parties

This is a complete giggle-inducer and an absolute classic kids party game! Get the toddlers to line up at the other end of the room to the wolf. Mr Wolf calls out a time… e. The toddlers move forwards the number of steps that relate to the time. Then the game starts over. Sit all the toddlers in a circle on the floor.

There are two ways of running this game. Firstly, you can use an actual baking potato raw not cooked!! Or, you can buy an actual Hot Potato game that has a potato with a face.

Squeeze the potato to start the music and when the music stops, the person holding the potato wins a small prize and leaves the game. This is a great game to use to calm over-excited or tired children down before they have their party food or sing happy birthday and watch the birthday cake being cut.

Ask all the toddlers to lie on the floor as still as they can possibly be. You can either give a small prize to every child who stays super still or a child is out if they move, at which point they can have a small prize for trying hard!!! All this said, three, four and five year olds are capable of increasing amounts of cooperative play, so they are capable of enjoying a wider range of games than toddlers.

All these games work equally well for indoor parties at home, parties at a venue or summer outdoor parties. Get all the kids to sit in a circle. If not, then the original child goes again. Check out this video to see a game of Duck Duck Goose in action. The kids dance to fun music. When the music stops everyone has to sit down as quickly as possible.

The last child to sit down each time is given a small prize stickers or a single sweet work well and then the game continues, until there is either one winner left, or a handful of winners, depending on how many kids are playing remember, attention spans are short!!

The winner or winners each receive a small gift and a round of applause. Any kids that get it wrong get given a sticker or small prize and are asked to watch from the sidelines. Continue until you have either a single winner or a handful of winners. Kids aged three to five are just about at an age where the classic party game of Pass The Parcel works. The key to a successful game with preschoolers is to adapt the game to the number of children playing and to have a small prize within each layer.

This is a great game for getting a couple of parents involved in the activities. Play some fun music and shout encouragement. Pop some little sweets into balloons before blowing them up and tying them. Free the balloons and challenge the kids to pop them all to find the hidden treasure inside.

I did a version of this game for a pirate themed party using black balloons and filling them with gold chocolate coins as treasure. Watch this video for a run-through of how to play Mother May I?

Set up a line of chairs back to back with enough chairs for every child. Play some music as the children dance and move around the chairs. When the music stops each child must sit down on a chair. From the second round either one or two chairs, so that either one or two children are out each time. Give the kids who are out a small prize. The last child left is the overall winner.

Line all the children up with the birthday child as the leader. The kids have to follow the leader around the room. You can create an obstacle course for them to go round or you can have different things that the leader has to do at certain points — like blow a raspberry or wiggle their bottom — that everyone following must also do. This game is a test of balance and coordination that will have the kids laughing all the way to the finish line. Divide the players into teams.

Make sure the phones have a protective case on them! Give the teams a list of things that they need to capture photos of in order to win. These can be as simple as taking a picture of something blue, a photo of one teammate giving another a piggyback ride or a selfie of all of them in front of a specific tree.

Use your imagination and whatever is available in your location to come up with the list for the teams. Whichever team completes the list first wins. For this giggly favorite, you will need balloons of two different colors around 20 per color is ideal and two hats with pins sticking out of the top of them.

Tie the balloons at various heights from the ceiling. They should be at least high enough that the kids are able to pop them with their heads.

When their 15 seconds is up, the next players from each team are given 15 seconds to try. A new player from each team tries to pop the balloons every 15 seconds. The first team to pop all of their balloons wins. This game kicks an old favorite up a few notches and is perfect for a tween or teen sleepover birthday party as you will need it to be dark outside to play.

This game follows the same rules as a traditional Capture the Flag , except that, in this case, the glow sticks are the flags. You will need two different colored glow sticks and enough matching glow bracelets for each team. Divide the players into two teams and give them the bracelets that match their glow stick. Truth or Dare is a classic party game, and no one loves playing it more than tweens and teens.

Put at least 20 truths and 20 dares on individual pieces of paper and then place them in their corresponding labeled buckets or jars. They will need to complete their tasks until all of the papers have been used. Once the game is over, give each player a small prize for being so brave.

Set up a line of games that each kid has to complete in order to win. The players have one minute to complete a specific task at each station. Here are 20 birthday party games for kids of any age. Kids ages 2 and up 1. Prize Walk This game is similar to a cake walk a popular carnival game , but instead of winning a cake, kids win prizes.

Bubble Wrap Races This game is fun and will having everyone giggling. Doughnut on a String This one is simple enough for the younger guests and delicious enough for everyone else.

Musical Statues Play some upbeat music and let the kids dance like crazy. The Bubble Game This is one for your youngest guests and is perfect for toddlers and young preschool-aged kids. Kids ages 5 and up 7. Pair players up and have them toss an egg back and forth to each other. Each time the children both catch it, they must take a step backward and continue.

The team that can catch their egg with the furthest distance between them, wins! Egg and Spoon Race Line players up, each with an egg balanced on a tablespoon. The first player to cross the finish line or first team to have all members jump is the winner.

Treasure Hunt Treasure hunts or scavenger hunts can be super simple to set up, or as involved and detailed as you wish. The tokens can be anything — small coloured gemstones, printed tokens like the ones we used here for a goblin hunt, painted rocks, etc. Finally, at the much more involved end of the scale is a treasure hunt with a series of pre-written clues that guests must read and solve as a group in a trail around the party space to find a hidden treasure.

Played in pairs, wheelbarrow races are tons of fun. The first person is the wheelbarrow — they start with their hands on the ground and their legs are held by the second person the driver in the pair. First team across the finish line are the winners. Duck, Duck, Goose A total classic, right?

To make it harder for older kids, have everyone hold and pass the item using a spoon, or blindfolded, etc. Tic tac toe toss: Draw a tic tac toe board on a dollar store tablecloth and put it on the ground.

Divide kids into two teams, and have the teams take turns tossing bean bags or socks filled with rice onto the game board until one team gets tic tac toe. Coin toss: Buy a piece of foam core at the dollar store and glue plastic cups on it, covering the entire board with cups. Use a few cups of a different color. Let kids try tossing coins at the cups, and give them a prize if they get a coin in a colored cup. Relay race egg race, etc : Divide kids into two teams. One child from each team carries something from the beginning to a bucket at the end, then runs back and tags the next person in line.

Whichever team carries all their items to the end first wins. You can even transfer water with a sponge or a cup with a few holes punched in the bottom. Candy memory game: Get 10 sets of 2 matching candy bars. Glue the candy bars onto poster board in a grid fashion, then cover each candy bar with a plastic bowl. Let kids take turns uncovering 2 candy bars at a time to try to find a match.

Kids who find a match get to keep the candy bars. Minute to win it games: Find 10 different easy to play minute to win games here. Pin the tail on the donkey: This easy birthday party game can be customized for any theme.

Print out a large photo with one missing piece, and then blindfold each child in turn and let them try to attach the missing piece in the right place. Pin the propellor on the plane, pin the nose on the clown, pin the eyepatch on the pirate, pin the crown on the princess, etc. Blindfold one child and sprinkle spare change on the floor around her.

Repeat for each child. The kids can then spend this money to buy snacks bags of popcorn, small candies, etc. Ring toss: Turn the carnival classic into a game for a kid birthday party by setting up water bottles and letting kids take turns to see who can toss a ring over a bottle. Try this super cool glow in the dark version from A Pumpkin and a Princess and find other fun glow in the dark party ideas.