Top 10 Family Games to Play – No Equipment Needed
Looking for Family Fun Games to play when the kids are bored? Here is a useful list of our Favourite Top 10 Family Games to play with the Kids – No Prep or Special Equipment needed!
There is no need to go to the expense of buying loads of equipment or material for the kids to be entertained and happy on those days when your staying at home.
As a family we love playing loads of games that don’t need any lengthy prep time, or endless list of supplies or special equipment and we thought we would share our favourite ones with you to enjoy as well.
Our Top 10 Family Games to Play that Needs No Special Equipment
I Spy
I Spy is an absolute classic, One person starts by looking around them and finding an object they want people to guess, for example an Apple.
They would then say “I Spy with my little eye something beginning with A” and people would have to look around them and try guess what the object is.
You have to pick an object that you can all see. As people take it in turn they obviously change the letter that the object name starts with.
If the kids are too little to be able to spell yet then you can still enjoy this game by using colours, so for example if the Apple was Green you would say “I Spy with my little eye something that is Green” and they would have to look around and name all the green objects around them until they get it right.
Aside from when you are at home this is a fab game to play in waiting rooms or on long car journeys to keep them occupied while you are needing to stay sitting still somewhere.
Charades
This game can be as hard or as easy as needed based on the age of the kids, in fact this is a popular adult only game too!
The whole point of the game is to act out an object or you can have categories like films, books, object, Disney characters or TV Show anything you decide all without talking.
Ideally you want to divide off into teams and one person from the other team whispers into the actors ear the object or thing they have to act out.
They then have a certain amount of time to act it out and if their own team guesses it right, they get a point and so on. The winning team is the one that has the most points at the end.
Hide and Seek
Hide and Seek is a fun game to play inside the house as well as in the garden and perfect for burning off some energy running around.
First off you decide who is it, they will be the one that counts. Depending on the age of the child determines for how long they should count, for example they can count up to 30 or just 10 three times. You need to gauge how long they should count on how much time everyone needs to hide.
So as that person is counting all the others playing have to find a place to hide as fast as they can. It takes some skill to find the perfect hiding place and some will power to keep quiet and still while you are hiding, so you are less likely to be found.
Once the person has finished counting, they shout “Ready or Not Here I Come” and off they go trying to find everyone that is hiding.
The first person that is found are counting next time round or if you want you could just take it in. The last person found is the winner but to be honest the kids just love the fun of hiding in the most weirdest place and finding them that they usually don’t care for who is the winner.
Yes No Game
This is a great thinking game and perfect for people that are less able to run around or if you don’t have the space to run around.
You can either divide into teams or just play as a large group. Decide who is going to be guessing first and then work around in a circle after that to keep it easy.
All the people that are not guessing have to come up with an object or animal and then once they all decided and they all know what it is, the person guessing has to start.
The person guessing has to ask loads of different questions but everyone else is only allowed to answer either Yes or No and from those answers the person guessing has to work it out.
It really can be hilarious as some of the question kids can come up with are excellent!
Tag
This is the perfect game to get the kids active and use up loads of energy.
You need to decide who is going to be on it to start with and they need to run around chasing everyone and when they get close enough they can tag them and then they are now on it and they have to run around and try tag someone and so on.
Kids love this game and as mentioned its perfect for burning off some energy.
Try Not to Laugh
Looking for a game that will get you giggling this is it. You need to decide who goes first and try not to laugh.
Then everyone else have to say silly things or do silly things to try and make them laugh and once they do laugh, then they are out and it moves onto the next one.
You continue to go around everyone who is playing trying to make them laugh and in the end it’s the person who lasts the longest without laughing that is the over all winner.
What’s the Time Mr Wolf
This is best played when you have a good few people playing and you will need some good space to play it in as it involves a lot of running and which is why it’s a popular game with kids in the school playgrounds.
You need to decide who is going to be the wolf first and they will need to stand at one end of the area with their back to everyone else.
Everyone else must walk towards the wolf and shout out “What’s the time Mr Wolf?” Every time they shout that, the wolf has to turn around to face them and shout out the time for example “its 2 o’clock”
When the person that is the wolf turns around they can see how close everyone is to them, which is useful to them to keep a track of, because eventually when they want to the don’t have to shout out a random time they instead shout out its “Dinner Time” and when they do that they have to chase after everyone and try and tag them before they get safely back to the start point.
Thumbs Up Heads Down
Again, this is a game that is better with more people but its good fun for kids of all ages.
It starts with everyone sitting down with their eyes closed and their hands in the air above their head, with their thumbs up, this game works well in classrooms when kids are sitting at their desks so they can place their heads down on the desk with their eyes closed and their hands next to their heads/ ears with their thumbs pointing up.
Then the grown up will pick a child to be it and they will need to sneak around and put some peoples thumbs down, then they sit back down into the place they were sitting.
Everyone then opens their eyes and they all have to guess who it was that was putting peoples thumbs down.
So, it’s all about how quiet and stealth like the person can be that is putting the thumbs down, to if they get caught or not.
Lonely Ghost
By far one of my most most favourite games, but don’t worry the kids enjoy it too lol!
To start everyone needs to sit in a circle all facing each other, its really important that everyone can see each others face.
Then everyone closes their eyes and a grownup walks around the outside of the circle and quietly taps someone on their head and they will then know that they are the person that is the Lonely Ghost.
Everyone then opens their eyes when the grown up tells them too and start looking at everyone. The person that has been chosen has to be clever and wink at someone without everyone else seeing.
If you are winked at you have to make a ghost like sound and lie on the ground and you are out for the rest of the game.
Everyone who is left in the game has to guess who it is that is the Lonely Ghost that is winking at everyone, the Lonely Ghost has to keep going until they are caught out or no one is left to wink at.
I Went to Market Memory Game
This is a game to get the brains working and test all your skills in remembering things.
Work out the order that you are going to go in and the person starts says “ I went to Market and I bought” and then you say what you bought so for example “I went to Market and I bought an Apple” and then it moves to the next person.
The next person has to repeat what the person before said and then add their own item onto the end so for example “ I went to Market and I bought an Apple and a Pear” and it moves onto the next person.
The next person again has to repeat what the person before said and then add their own item onto the end so example “I went to Market and I bought an Apple and a Pear and a Ball of Wool” and it moves onto the next person.
So you get gist it keeps going until someone forgets an item and they are out, you keep going until there is only one person left and they are the winner.
These are just a small number of games you can enjoy playing with the whole family without the need to prep for hours or for loads of special equipment.
It’s the perfect way to spend time as a Family, ease the boredom or keep entertained on a rainy day and best of all they are all Free to play!