Peanut Portraits

When you are travelling with kids it is hard to find things to keep them amused in an airplane. Most flights pass out nuts, chips, pretzels or other finger foods. Lay out a napkin on the tray table in front of you. Let your kids create a portrait using the snacks. As they eat them they need to adjust the picture to make new designs until they are all gone. For older kids have them create a story line that progresses as they eat the snacks.

Shadow Dancing

If it is a rainy day outside and you are looking for some fun to have with the kids. You have tried all of the games and everyone is bored! What do you do?

Set up a shadow dance.

Turn off all of the lights in a room, except one lamp across the room from a large wall.

Now turn on some music and let the kids dance and watch their shadows on the wall.

They can ever have inspirations by holding up different objects as they dance to watch the shadows on the wall.

Summer Scavenger Hunt

It is summer time and the kids are driving you crazy with nothing to do.

To help them out a bit, create a scavenger hunt.

Make a list of several items to be found around the house or yard.

(If it is a rainy day, keep to the inside of the house)

Give each one a large bag to place their treasures and send them out to hunt!

Guess Who?

This is a great game when you are waiting in line. It is along the lines of I Spy, but it involves things that you are familiar with.

Think of something that is in or around your house or town. This can include people, animals, or places.

Now let each child think of a yes/no question to try to figure out what you are thinking of.

The one to correctly guess what you were thinking of will get to pick next.

Top Five

This is a great family game that can be done anywhere. It is not only fun, but it is also educational.

Give each person a piece of paper and a pen.

Now, pick a subject. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:
Favorite Animal
Favorite Food
Things to do at the ocean
Things to do at the zoo
Funniest moments

Have everyone write down 5 things about the subject.

Once everyone has filled out their list you can try to guess what is on each others list, or keep track of who has the most original ideas depending on the kind of list.

Sock Toss

The kids are bored and you don't have anything for them to do. Use what they have on them to create a fun game.

Have each child take off one shoe and one sock. Fold the sock over onto itself to create a little ball.

Now locate a hat, bucket or can with a medium to large size opening and place it at one end of the room.

Depending on the ages of the ids, using a piece of tape, make a "toe" line 3-8 feet away from the hat.

Now have each child take a turn at tossing their sock into the hat. Score one point for each successful toss.

The first person to reach 5 points wins!

Ice Cream Race

Before you start the game, collect a pair of dice, a large hat, a pair of gloves, sunglasses, an apron, and a pair of boots.

If you are inside, lay out a large tablecloth or drop cloth in the center of the floor. If you are outside you most likely don't need much more than a small drop cloth.

Sit all the children around the edge of the table cloth. Give each child a small spoon.

In the center of the tablecloth/drop cloth, place a large bowl of ice cream.

Now the kids start rolling the dice. When one rolls a 6 they jump up and start putting on the clothes that have been supplied. Once all the clothes are on the child starts eating the ice cream.

While this is all going on, let the kids continue to roll the dice. If another child rolls a 6, even if the first child isn't fully dressed, they swap the clothes.

This mayhem continues until all of the ice cream is eaten. The one that finishes the ice cream is the winner.

Big Wind Blows

This is a fun game that you can play outside with a large group of kids.

Have everyone sit outside in a large circle, about one arm length apart from each other.

Have one person sit in the center of the circle.

The one in the middle starts the game by calling out "The big wind blows…." and then finishes the sentence with a description that applies to themselves and at least 2 other members of the group.

Examples might be "anyone wearing jeans" or "anyone with brown eyes"

Each person that the description applies to must get up and run across the circle to another seat.

The caller also runs for a vacant seat.

The one who is left with out a place to sit becomes the caller for the next round.

Restaurant Fun II

You are in the restaurant and as usual the kids are going stir crazy waiting for dinner to be delivered. Play a fun game with what you have on hand!

Grab some of the items off the table and line them up. This can be silverware, condiments, tubs of jelly or cream. What ever is on the table is fair game.

For younger kids, keep the items lined up. Have them cover their eyes. Remove one item. Let them open their eyes and see if they can tell you what is missing.

For older kids, have them hide their eyes, remove and item, then mix up the remaining items. Now have them open their eyes and see if they can tell you what is missing.

To add an extra twist, DON'T remove something once and see if they catch it!

Word Fun

You are in the car, waiting for an appointment, you pick the boring task..... The kids are restless and you need to keep them happy for a bit longer. Here is another great game that the kids can really have fun with.

Pick a subject, for this example we will use Animals. Each person now get's to name an animal. But it is not quite as easy as that! The animal that you name has to begin with the last letter of the animal that was named last.

Example: First animal named was Alligator, next animal name must begin with an R (Rooster)

Out of animal names? Change the category. There catigories are limitless: Food, Dogs, Flowers, Cars, Signs, Things you might see in a school, Things you might see in a kitchen........

Would You Rather.....

I good family game that you can play anywhere involves only your imagination. It often will spur very interesting conversations that will help you to learn more about your kids, and even sometimes yourself.

The game is called "Would You Rather..." Start off the game by asking; Would you rather eat a spider or a fly? The questions can be totally nosensical or totally serious. Mix it up a bit. When each child or adult answers, it is not good enough that you just say the answer, you have to explain why.

I would rather eat a spider because the fly wings might tickle my throat.....

Valentine Games

You are having a party, or you just want to keep the kids busy for a bit on Valentines day. Here are some quick and easy game ideas!

Have the kids make the valentines. Use paper, doilies, glitter, most anything you can find. When they are done (and dry) hide the valentines around the house. Who ever finds the most, wins!

Make a great big valentine heart or decoration out of paper. Take a picture of it and cut it apart like puzzle pieces.

Write the word VALENTINE onto a piece of paper. Let everyone see who can make the most words out of the letters.

Treasure Hunt

A fun party game, or even rainy day activity is a treasure hunt.

Find a small treasure or treat and hide it someplace.

Now write up at clues to at least 5 locations to leave further instructions.

If you don't have any treats, coins are always well received.

What if?

You can make a fun game that the whole family can participate in.

Cut up a bunch of slips of paper. On each piece of paper write a question.

You can use what if questions, or you can use other questions. Here are a few examples:

What if you could fly to the moon?
What is your favorite food, and why?
What makes you really happy?
What is something fun to do when you are sick?
What kind of bug would you be, and why?

Once you have filled out a bunch of slips of paper, drop them into a jar or a bowl.

Let each family member take a turn by drawing a slip out of the "hat".

Now each family member takes a turn in answering the question.

You will get to learn a lot about your family and what they think as well as some very entertaining moments.

Magazine Fun I

It is always hard to come up with things to do an a rainy day.

Get creative with what you already have on hand.

You can use magazines or even books for this entertaining game!

Don't throw out any of your old magazines. Keep a hold of them and use them for educational games. Make up an impromptu scavenger hunt.

Name something that might be found in a magazine.

Everyone grabs a magazine and the first person to find the item gets to name the next item that is to be found.

Magazine Fun II

Don't throw out your old magazines, keep them for rainy day fun.

This game is more fun for an older group depending on artistic interest.

Grab a magazine and find a picture.

Give everyone in the group a pencil and a piece of paper.

Now describe the picture with the best amount of detail that you can with out showing the picture to the group.

The one that can draw the closest representation of the picture can be the next one to find and describe a picture.

Frisbee Fun

It is raining out and the kids are bored. You have have a bit of fun with just a couple of paper plates.

Let your tot color the bottom of each plate. Once they have created their masterpieces, staple the plates together with the artwork on the outside so that the plates resemble a flying saucer.

Now you can carefully fly your saucer inside or out. I usually clear out breakables from one large room and let em FLY!

Balloon Bonkers

This is a quick and easy game for a party, or even just a rainy day.

Blow up some balloons and place them in a basket in the center of the room. Assign each child a section of wall.

Now they have to rub their balloon on their head to create some static electricity. Now they have to attach the balloon to the wall. Set the timer for one or two minutes.

The one with the most balloons stuck to the wall in the alloted amount of time wins.