Games for four year olds

25 Best Learning Games That Your 4-Year-Old Will Love

Table of Contents

Four year olds are adorable, energetic and curious little beings. Most children at this age develop independence, self-control, and creativity. Thus, it is essential to select development games for 4 year olds to support their physical, mental, and cognitive skills. 

Usually, four year olds have a better attention span and can play with one toy for an extended period. However, an average four year old’s attention span is still 5-10 minutes, which is higher than it was when they were 2-3 years old (just three or four minutes).

Hence, it’s crucial to introduce some fun games to 4 year olds that can engage them for longer periods. This guide will walk you through the 25 best games to play with 4 year olds that parents we talked to have found to be the most effective.

Fun Games for 4 Year Olds’ Emotional and Physical Development

The first five years are crucial for a child’s development. Therefore, you must engage your toddler in various games that can stimulate their senses and educate them. Notably, games for a 4 year old has to be fun and exciting. So, after thorough consideration, we have created a list of the 25 best games for your 4 year olds:

Learning Games for 4 Year Olds

Skill Development: Math and reading 

Price: Free for teachers and a 7-day free trial for parents. Subscription starts at $4.99 per month

SplashLearn inspires lifelong curiosity with its game-based PreK-5 learning program loved by over 40 million children. With over 4,000 fun games and activities, it’s the perfect balance of learning and play for your little one.

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Are you looking for engaging yet educational games for 4 year olds online? If so, SplashLearn is the best online game-based program for Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 5. Preschoolers learn math and reading skills through interactive and adaptive games that match their skill level. The program also has a Daily Learning Path to guide kids from one skill to the next, which means they can learn independently. In addition to this, parents and teachers get detailed progress reports on how they child/students are doing, which keeps them in the loop. 

Related Reading: How to Know What is Taught to Kids in Preschool

Skill Development: Memory skills, spelling, and word recognition

Price: $11.99

Matching Letters is a learning game for four year olds that helps develop their memory skills and strategic mindset while also improving their word recognition ability. It is the perfect game to play with the entire family and develop your child’s alphabetical skills. It is simple to play since it only has 60 cubes that can only form 3-4 letter words.  

Skill Development: Matching, fine motor skills, alphanumeric recognition 

Price: $24.99

This educational game for 4 year olds is fun and engaging. The game board is designed with different alphabetic and numerical letters. Your children will use a magnetic fish rod to find the right letters based on your instructions. With this game, you can teach colors, numbers, letters, and matching skills.

Skill Development: Thinking, reading skills

Price: $17.59

Zingo is an Oppenheim Gold Award and Parents’ Choice Gold Award winner game for 4 year olds. It is a simple bingo game for toddlers that helps develop their critical thinking and reading skills. Your kids have to follow the instructions mentioned on Zingo cards and match different connectors on their slips. It is fun and easy to play a game that the entire family can enjoy together.

This is a unique talking microscope for your children that can teach them about animals, plants, and other household things. This talking microscope has five different slides to teach different things to 4 year olds. For example, it has a fact mode that tells facts about the image your child has selected. There’s also your four year olds an interactive quiz mode to test your child’s scientific knowledge. It is a perfect game for four year olds to develop their interest in science.

Related Reading: Teaching Preschoolers? Helpful Tips to Make Your Life Easier

Whether it is your 4 year old’s birthday party or you simply want to tire out energetic preschoolers, you can organize a scavenger hunt. You can create doodles or drawings to create a treasure map, as some four year olds might struggle to read written instructions. In addition to this, you can make scavenger hunt more fun by dividing your children into groups of two and organizing a small competition among them.

Hopscotch is a classic and fun game for four year olds. To play this game, using chalk, create a grid of nine blocks and mark numbers in each block like 1, 2, 3, etc. Now, give a stone or pebble to your preschooler and ask them to throw it on any number in this first row. They have to then hop down the grid and then back and pick up their pebble while standing on one foot. It’s going to be fun watching kids hopping, falling, and laughing. 

Jumping rope is a fun and entertaining game for four year olds. All it requires is a jumping rope, and your preschoolers can have a blast playing with it. They can even do group jumping to develop coordination and body balance. It is a perfect outdoor activity for kids to improve their body strength.

Related Reading: Best Math Activities for Preschoolers

Tag is a game that four year olds and adults can play and have fun with their friends. There are several versions of this game. So, you and your child can play freeze tag, simple tag, or any other version of tag that your family plays. It is a perfect game to improve motor and sensory skills among young children as they have to respond quickly while playing this game.

Red Rover is the best group game for four year olds parties. Simply divide your group of kids into two and make them stand in two opposite lines holding their hands. Make sure that both lines have at least a 20 feet gap. Then, a player from each team will say, “red rover, red rover, let … come over”, and march toward another team to break their bond. If a player can break the bond, they will come back to their line with one member from the other team. Eventually, the team with the most members wins the game.

Is your child a Marvel fan? Then, get them a Yahtzee Jr. Marvel Edition board game to play with their favorite Marvel characters like Spidey, Miles Morales: Spider-Man, Ghost-Spider, and more. There is no reading involved in this game. Kids simply have to roll the dice and match characters on the board.  

12.

Snug as a bug in a rug is an award-winning game for preschoolers. It has an exciting storyline in which kids have to put as many bugs as they can under the rug before three bugs stink and destroy everything. The game is available in three interactive modes to keep your kids interested. The game contains 1 game board with a built-in spinner, 24 colorful bugs, 3 stink bugs, 1 die, and instructions. 

Cootie is a classic preschoolers game that you must have also played in your childhood. The game is pretty simple. Your child has to spin the wheel and hope to get the part they need to build their plastic bug. The person who makes the bug first will win this game. However, all the colorful parts and mechanism to create a bug is excellent educational training for four year olds.

This is another classic game you can find everywhere. Several versions of the game are available, so you can purchase the game with your child’s favorite cartoon characters. The game board has 100 squares your child must cross while moving through different ladders and chutes. It will be fun when ladders lift your child’s pawn closer to the winning square and chutes bring them down again. It is a great family game to enjoy and learn numbers.

Candy Land is a great board game for 4 year olds at home. It is a classic game with gingerbread players, colorful cards, and several sweet adventures to explore. Your children will use cards to find their way through the chocolate mountain, candy cane garden, etc. No reading is involved in this game, so it is perfect for young minds.  

We don’t think hide and seek requires any explanation. Every person has played this game in their childhood and had a blast. So, if you are a preschool teacher or parent, you can play hide and seek with your four year olds to improve their reflexes and analytical skills while also getting some physical exercise.

The animal walk is the perfect game for preschoolers to teach them the characteristics of different animals and do some physical work. All you need is an animal picture chart to show to your toddlers. And ask them to imitate the walk of the animal mentioned on the chart. With this game, your child will move, hop, and gallop to build physical strength. 

It is a two-player game. To play this game, you have to give a balloon to the two players and ask them to balance the balloon in the air using their bodies except for their hands or feet. And they have to move from one point to another while balancing the balloon. It is excellent team coordination and balance-building game for 4 year olds.

During the summer break, you can play this fun game with your four year olds. First, gather some waste kitchen sponges and put them in a tub of water. Then, ask your preschooler to throw wet sponges on a hard surface like a concrete wall or floor. This is not only a fun game for a 4 year old but also helps to strengthen their arm muscles. 

It is a fun game for four year olds without any complicated rules. The player simply has to say “Simon says” and instruct other players to do any physical action like jump like a duck, hop like a bunny, etc. It is a rule-less and joy-packed physical game for preschoolers. 

Related Reading: Best Math Games for Kids to Make Learning Fun

It is a quiet game for preschoolers to play indoors. Simply get your preschoolers to sit in a circle and ask them to close their eyes. One person will have a button in their hand and pretend to pass it on to everyone. Once the button is passed on, everyone will try to guess who’s got the button. 

Another simple game to play with a group of four year olds. Simply make the group sit in a circle; one person will whisper a sentence into the ear of the person sitting next to them. That person will pass the message to the next person and so on. The cycle keeps moving until it reaches the last person in the circle, and they will say the message out loud. The game’s main motive is to improve students’ listening and information processing skills. 

This is an excellent game for 4 year olds to improve their reading skills. You can pick one child and give them a book to read aloud to the rest of the group. You will then assign the listeners a specific word or phrase. When they hear that word or phrase being mentioned in the story, they have to clap. It is a great way to improve young students’ reading, language and listening skills. 

This game is perfect for students suffering from sensory disorders. To play this game, you must put some unique textured items in a box. After that, ask the children to touch and feel one of the items. Without seeing it, they have to guess the item’s name based on their feel and touch senses. 

Musical chairs is an excellent party game for preschoolers. You simply have to arrange chairs in a circle facing outwards. However, there should always be one less chair than the number of players. Once the music starts, everyone walks around the chairs, and when the music stops, they have to grab a seat. The person who is left standing will lose the game. Keep on playing until you have a winner. 

Let’s Play!

Games are an essential part of child development. With games, children learn to socialize, become team leaders, and learn new things. Their physical and mental strength also improves.

Play all the suggested games to improve your child’s physical and mental development. Choose from a vast number of games you can buy, as well as free games for 4 year olds, and get started!

Related Reading: Fun Free Games for Kids to Play Online

FAQs

What impact do games have on children?

Games are a great way to enhance your four year old’s physical development. Games like tag or ‘Simon Says’ will improve your child’s muscular strength and body balance. In addition to this, games also help stimulate your child’s brain and develop their mental strength. Besides this, playing games also ensure your child is active and tired enough that they sleep well at night.

What are the benefits of board games?

Playing board games increases brain function and strategic skills among young children. Board games also help to improve social skills and strengthen relationships. Board games are the perfect way to have some family time and reduce stress. In addition to this, these games teach life lessons and patience.

23 Fun and Inventive Games for Four-Year-Olds

Most four-year-olds love to tell stories, play dress-up, and play cooperative games. They can read more complicated picture books and create music with simple instruments. They are growing more expressive and are able to articulate their ideas and feelings and ask questions about the world around them.

This series of preschooler-friendly board games, hands-on sensory bin ideas, shape and color sorting activities, and physical challenges are sure to keep them entertained and learning for hours.

This simple activity is the perfect game for developing motor skills. It requires only recycled bubble wrap, painter's tape, and any toy cars or trucks your preschooler would like to take for a test run.

Learn more: Sunny Day Family

This vibrant rainbow necklace is a great way to develop your child's color recognition while strengthening their critical thinking skills through sorting the circles by size.

Learn more: Hands On As We Grow

This engaging game encourages toy car lovers to practice slow, controlled, and gentle movements to get their vehicles through the tunnels without crashing. It makes for a great way to develop motor skills and is sure to become a hit with your preschooler!

Learn more: Mama, Papa, Bubba

4. Play an Educational Board Game 

This classic board game challenges young learners to match colors and create their own snakes from heads to tails while having fun with their friends. The player with the most snakes at the end of the game wins. It's a cooperative game that is sure to become a family favorite.

Learn more: Game Wright

Your preschooler is sure to love running their figures through this mixture and exploring its soft, gooey, and slimy texture. This is a great way to develop hand-eye coordination while using all five of their senses. It's also a wonderful way to build social skills when playing with friends and family.

Learn more: Learning 4 Kids

Develop focus, concentration, and memory skills with this DIY matching game. All you need are two egg cartons and pairs of small objects like pom poms, beads, or even beans.

Learn more: Hands On As We Grow

Learn more: Positively Splendid

This engaging and quick game is a wonderful way to develop fine motor skills. Kids will love playing in the dirt and bubbles and rubbing their favorite farm animals clean!

Learn more: Coffee Cups and Crayons

This educational video game challenges kids to find animal pairs, match cute animal pictures with the foods they eat, and spot subtle differences in photos. It's a great way to develop an appreciation of the natural world while developing critical thinking skills.

Learn more: National Geographic

The magic of this activity is that you will never get the same results each time. Your 4-year-old preschooler is sure to delight in creating a variety of different patterns and designs.

Learn more: Artful Parent

This hands-on activity is great for developing shape recognition while building fine motor skills.

Learn more: Royal, Baloo

By kicking the ball at various letter cups, your preschooler will develop letter recognition skills, identify letter sounds and strengthen their balance and coordination.

Learn more: Fun Learning for Kids

Handwriting is an important skill that helps with literary and reading comprehension skills as well as fine motor skills like tying shoelaces. This sand activity makes it colorful and tactile for hours of learning fun.

Learn more: Active Littles

14. Make Fluffy Pet Rocks

Playing with these adorable fluffy pet rocks is sure to become a favorite game for your preschooler. They also make great gifts or a creative paperweight.

Learn more: The Craft Train

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Kids love to ask why and this big book of answers makes for a fantastic way to satiate their curiosity and encourage their sense of wonder, all while developing core reading skills.

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Your young learner will love exploring shapes and colors with Dotty Dinosaur and his friends. The game rules are super simple, making for an easy and carefree time!

The classic card game of Go Fish has been a family favorite for ages and with good reason. It's a fun way to develop social skills and strengthen basic math skills, all while building strategy skills and learning about patterns and pairs.

Learn more: Kid Spot

This adorable game is an excellent way to develop color and shape recognition, strengthen memory skills and encourage cooperative play.

Learn more: Almost Practical

These bear counters have multiple educational benefits for children and can be used to develop measuring, sorting, number recognition, and counting skills.

Learn more: Fun Learning for Kids

This creative craft is an excellent fit for preschoolers. It makes for a fun way to reuse paper plates and bubble wrap to create a slithery snake they are sure to love.

Learn more: Crafty Morning

In this engaging STEM lesson, preschoolers learn about the impact of wind on a tower that they construct out of foam blocks. It's a great choice for families looking to expand their young learner's understanding of science and natural forces.

Learn more: No Time for Flashcards

Kids will love using dot stamp markers to color all the letters they recognize in this classic children's story. You could also laminate the cards to create a reusable center that your young learner will enjoy returning to again and again.

Learn more: Still Playing School

Your preschooler will delight in transforming into a baby dinosaur with this vibrant hat. They can even help you put it together by painting the spikes in any color they choose.

Learn more: Crafty Morning

Educational games for 3-4 year olds with parents at home

For a 3-4 year old child, play is the main way to interact with the world. In the game process, the child develops logic and thinking, trains memory, expands communication skills, and strengthens physically. We have collected games that will appeal to both the baby and his parents, because they will be not only fun and interesting, but also useful.

Article content:

• Outdoor games
• Educational games
• Educational games
• Tips for parents
• Terminals

Outdoor games

Active games are aimed primarily at physical development. The kid improves coordination, attention, endurance. Regular activity strengthens the immune system and is the best prevention of diseases. Find out what you can play with your child at home or on the street.

1. Keeping balance. The parent lays out a rope or a long rope (such as a linen rope) on the floor. The child should walk along it, spreading his arms to the sides. The game can be made more difficult. For example, a child can carry a glass of water in his hands (of course, plastic) or hold a small book on his head.

2. Collecting flowers. For this game, you will need several squares of colored paper, as well as a path, which can also be made from paper or, for example, a long scarf. The track is placed on the floor, pieces of multi-colored paper are scattered around it. We imagine that we are walking along a path, on both sides of which flowers grow. The facilitator (parent) periodically says how many and what flowers need to be collected. For example, 3 yellow or 5 red. The child stops and collects the right flowers. This game not only teaches coordination, but also distinguishes colors and recognizes numbers.

3. Sly fox. A mobile game that children love very much. It is more interesting to play it when there are many participants, but you can also play it together. The participants stand in a line, and the leader moves a few meters away and turns his back. The task of the player is to reach the leader. But you can only go when he is not looking! And when the leader turned, the participant must freeze, or they will have to go to the start.

4. Traffic light. For this game, you need to prepare red, yellow and green circles that can be made from colored paper. Each color represents a specific action. For example, the host shows a green circle - the child is running, yellow - jumping on 1 leg, red - crouching, etc. The game can be started with three signals, but when the baby remembers them, complicate and add new ones.

Educational games

All games are educational for a child. But adults by developing games usually mean those that are aimed at studying any objects, phenomena. Such games develop intelligence, broaden horizons, improve memory, attention and speech.

On the development of motor skills

The development of fine motor skills directly affects the formation of speech, self-service skills, thinking, memory. At home, you can use various household items for games: buttons, clothespins, colored pasta, pencils, etc. On the street you can take cones, chestnuts, sticks. Consider several options for games for the development of motor skills.

1. Piggy bank. Let's take 2 cans. Pour beans into one of them, and leave the other empty. A cover with a small slot is put on the second. The task of the child is to shift the beans from one jar to another. Alternatively, you can use the steam container from the multicooker (with small round holes). You can put pasta in them.
2. Groats drawing. PVA glue is applied to a sheet of paper, cereals are poured on top in a certain order. You can use semolina, wheat groats, buckwheat to create multi-colored patterns.
3. Beads. The child is given a fishing line on which objects must be strung. It can be beads, buttons and even drying. Objects should not be too small, otherwise it will be difficult for the child to cope with them.
4. Flower. Cut out a circle from paper - this will be the base of the flower. We will give the child colorful clothespins. He should attach them in a circle as if they were flower petals. In parallel, you can memorize colors and lay them out in a certain sequence.

For the development of logic

Logical connections are a very important part in the development of a child's thinking. To understand why and why, simple and exciting tasks will help.

1. Find the extra. For this educational game, you will need special cards or sheets that can be found on the Internet and printed. The task for this age usually contains four simple subjects, one of which does not fit into the group for a certain reason. These can be color, shape, skills (for example, flies - does not fly), the purpose of the object (clothes, dishes, etc.) and other signs. It is important to allow the child to think independently.
2. Divide into groups. A similar task, but here you need to select from the abundance of objects those that belong to a certain group. For example, vegetables, fruits, pets, toys, etc.
3. Say the opposite. A child at 4 years old already understands what antonyms are, that is, words with the opposite meaning. The parent says "hot" - the child answers "cold", etc. Use understandable words: quiet-loud, white-black, sad-cheerful, deep-shallow, wet-dry.
4. Who needs what. This game requires a ball. The facilitator says the profession, for example, "doctor", and throws the ball to the child. He must answer what the doctor may need (thermometer, syringe, white coat) and throw the ball back.

For the development of speech

It is important to develop speech from birth. Talking even with a baby who is still silent seems strange, but in fact it is an investment in his future. Often, already studying at school, children cannot connect several sentences into a logical text, retell what they read, or talk about some event. To prevent this from happening, at 3-4 years old you can offer such home games with children.

1. Describe the item. For this game, you need to collect several toys and put them in a box. The child takes out a toy and describes it. For example, the girl took out a doll. She can tell what size the doll is, what color her eyes and hair are, what clothes she is wearing, and come up with a name for the doll.
2. Tell me from the picture. For this game, you will need an illustration of some popular fairy tale (again, you can find it on the Internet and print it out, or just show it on the screen). The child must tell what he sees in the picture, what happened first and what happened later, how the story ended.
3. Everything is messed up. For this game, you can take the plot of a fairy tale that the child knows well. In telling it, you need to make mistakes. For example, the animals did not let the fox into Teremok, or Little Red Riding Hood went not to her grandmother, but to her friend. The kid must understand what is wrong in the fairy tale. You can dream up and compose your own fairy tale, in which the end will be different.

Educational games

At the age of 3, you can introduce your child to letters and numbers. The number is average, sometimes more developed children show interest in letters even at 2 years old. But there is no need to rush and force the baby to study - this will only discourage the desire to learn new things.

For learning to read and write

A popular technique for learning letters is to hang cards in different places in the apartment/room. And you can do this without even waiting for the age of three. Cards with letters should be bright, arouse the interest of the child. If the baby does not ask what kind of letter it is, you should sometimes pronounce them on your own. You can hang a card with a letter on an object that begins with it. For example, hang the letter L on a chandelier, and the letter T on a TV. Periodically, cards need to be changed, outweighed in other places.

The following ideas are useful for learning about letters.

1. Application. Cut out large letters from paper. For decoration, you can use cereals (motor development!), Cotton wool, fabric, beads, sparkles - whatever you like. When decorating a letter, be sure to pronounce it many times so that the baby remembers what it is called.
2. Find the letter. Print the letter in several copies. Keep one for yourself, hide the rest in the children's room. Show the child a picture with a letter: "This is the letter O. Find 3 more such letters." At the same time, the letters should be hidden so that they are not difficult to find, you can give the baby hints.
3. What's in common? Place items (or images of items) that begin with the same letter in a bag. The child must take them out and pronounce the names aloud, and then guess which letter was guessed.

When the child knows all the letters of the alphabet, you can move on to the study of syllables and words. To do this, write syllables or simple words of 3 letters on cardboard squares. These will be houses. Then take small toys, for example, from kinder surprises, and find a house for each toy. At the same time, pronounce: the horse lives in the “MA” house, the squirrel lives in the “CO” house, the bunny’s house is called “KY”, etc.

For teaching math

Educational games with numbers are the basis for learning mathematics for a child of 3-4 years old. They teach not only to memorize numbers, but also to compare, solve simple problems.

1. Construction site. This game is suitable for both boys and girls. Build a brick house with your child. In this case, you need to determine how many floors there will be in the house, and how many apartments (cubes) on each floor. For example, on the 1st floor - 4 cubes, on the second - 3. To complicate it, you can take cubes of different colors and give tasks not only with numbers, but also with color (2 yellow cubes for the third floor).
2. Train. Make cards with numbers from 1 to 10 and invite your child to make a train out of them. Only for this you need to arrange all the cards in order, from 1 to 10. If everything is done correctly, the train will go on a journey.
3. Count the candies. Take two dolls (bears) and put them at the table to drink tea with sweets. Give one doll 2 candies, and the other 3. You can ask: "who has more candies", "how many candies do two dolls have in total." Then more dolls can come to visit, while the hostess will have to share the sweets equally among everyone. This game teaches not only to count, but also to think logically.
4. One-many. Play a mindfulness game. You can ask the child: “What items are many in the room? And what subject is one? For example, in the kitchen there are many plates, but there is only one table.

Tips for parents

In conclusion of the article, we will give some important recommendations.

1. For a baby, the game process itself, the action, and not the final result, is important. You should not be upset and even more so scold the child if the elephant you made looks more like a snowman.
2. The rules of the game must be simple and clear. At the same time, it is necessary to leave room for creative improvisation. It develops imagination and initiative.
3. Not all games may appeal to a child. You need to feel the mood of the crumbs and, if necessary, stop the game.
4. Exercise regularly with your child. Try to set aside at least 15 minutes a day for joint activities.

Conclusions

Games at home with children are interesting and cool, but there is not always time and ideas for this. In order not to deprive the child of the opportunity to fully develop, you can take him to a specialized children's center or kindergarten "Baby Club", where the child will receive the necessary skills in a playful way and will develop all types of intelligence. Specially equipped and safe rooms for classes are suitable for children of different ages: from 8 months to 7 years. Professional educators support the natural curiosity of children, directing it in the right direction.

42 ideas for a great time

In the era of flourishing technology, endless cartoons and the same endless feeds in social networks, both children and parents began to forget about simple communication, looking into each other's eyes, and not at the TV screen, tablet or smartphone. Think about how long it has been since you played with your child? Oddly enough, even the ideas for the simplest and once popular games have long been lost in memory and have undeservedly lost their relevance.

Games for children are not only a great way to spend time with the family, but also an opportunity to develop thinking, memory, logic, reaction speed. We have collected the best children's games that will captivate the whole family and give a charge of vivacity and positive for a long time.

Contents:

1. Children's games at home
2. Entertainment games for children at home: types
3. Active games
4. Sports games
5. Competitions
6. Development games
7. Speech games
8. Construction of houses
9. Math games
10. Interesting games for two children
11. Role-playing games
12. Unusual home games
13. Music games
14. Water games
15. Interesting games
16. Advice to parents

Children's games at home

Entertaining games for children have many advantages: they bring together all family members who take part in the process, allow you to spend time rich and exciting, without gadgets and TV. The game is a powerful tool for the development of your child. When planning to spend time together blowing dust off a box of checkers or a long-forgotten Monopoly, keep a few things in mind:

• Try not to prompt the child. Make an exception to the rule only if he does not yet know the rules. Let them learn to make mistakes and draw conclusions. Undoubtedly, you know more, but let the baby be independent.
• Do not give in, you must be equal. Therefore, it is worth choosing interesting games for children, where the process does not require encyclopedic knowledge or vast experience, and the rules are simple and understandable for everyone.
• You need to play only with pleasure, getting pleasant emotions. If you notice that the children don’t like the game or they get bored, it’s better to switch to another one: it’s definitely not worth forcing anyone to have fun.

Entertainment games for children at home: types

What kind of games are there in a confined space? When thinking of entertainment, consider the possibilities of an apartment or house and the age of the child. Excessive noise should not be raised late in the evening, and too primitive games are unlikely to be appreciated by a senior student. Therefore, alternate, experiment, and you will definitely select exactly those family games that will captivate everyone, and just spend time with children without a computer.

Active games

1. Let's go!

Have your child pretend to be a car driving down a dark road. To do this, put a few chairs or other objects, give the child a steering wheel or its round substitute, and blindfold. You are a navigator, a kid is a car, turn on and go! Try switching places so that the child also tries himself as a helper.

Suitable for age: 5-8 years old.

2. Hold the balloon

This children's game will require a balloon and some skill. Task: move the ball from one end of the room / corridor to the other without touching it with your hands and without letting it fall. Let the children be smart: you can blow on the ball, push it with your nose, chin, knees.

If there are two children, arrange a competition: who will bring the ball to the finish line faster. For older participants, the task can be made more difficult by building a path or placing small obstacles to get around.

Suitable for age: 5-15 years old.

3. Cross the river

Jump ropes, ribbons or two pieces of rope, laid out at a distance of one and a half to two meters from each other, can play the role of the banks. From paper, cut out circles that will replace the pebbles.

Invite the child to "get over" from one bank to another, stepping over the stones without "wetting" the legs. The game is simple, but perfectly develops coordination of movements in children 3-5 years old.

Suitable for age: 3-5 years old.

4. “Brilliant” basketball

In the conditions of an apartment, entertaining games for children with a ball are not very convenient, but if you replace it with small foil balls, and build a basket from a children's bucket or a cut-off five-liter bottle, you get quite a decent basketball.

The competition can be made more difficult: throw in turn with the left and right hand, count who will have more hits per minute, vary the distance from the player to the basket.

Suitable for age: 5-13 years old.

5. Classics

The good old “jump” is definitely worth remembering and having a game even within an apartment or house. With construction tape on the carpet, “draw” a classic, a round candy box can be used as a “bit”. The main thing is to remember the neighbors below and try not to disturb their peace in the evening.

Suitable for age: 5-10 years old.

6. The fastest turtle

Turning into a turtle is easy! Get on all fours, put a pillow on your back and go to the finish line, so that your "shell" is not lost along the way. You can arrange a competition "Who is faster?" or which of the "turtles" will show the best time.

Suitable for age: 4-7 years old.

7. Insidious ball

Throwing the ball within the apartment is not the safest activity, so you can think of other activities with it. Lie on your stomach opposite each other, put the ball between your heads. Try to stand up while holding the ball with two hands, without the help of hands.

Another option would be to compete, in which case two balls would be required. Get on all fours and, on command, start rolling the ball, touching it with your forehead or nose, without helping with your hands. Whoever crosses the finish line the fastest wins.

Suitable for age: 5-10 years old.

Sports games

It is possible to entertain children at home with games not only for the purpose of entertainment. Motor activity is necessary, especially for a fidget baby. Come up with stories, remember your favorite animals or fairy-tale characters, accompanying interesting stories with movements as the story progresses. The child will be happy to imitate a bear, jump like a monkey or stretch his neck like a hissing goose. Mobile children's games will allow you to spend all the extra energy that the baby has accumulated, directing it in the right and useful direction.

8. Jumper

Hang the balloons from the ceiling at such a distance that the child can reach them only by jumping. Pre-fill them with foam balls, large confetti or other light fillers.

The child's task is to jump up, hitting the ball with his hand, and reach it. You can diversify the game by taking multi-colored balls and placing them at different heights, and then, naming the color, ask them to jump to each of them.

Suitable for age: 3-5 years old.

9. Gulliver and the Lilliputians

This activity is suitable for a group of children. Ask them to stand in a circle and tell them that everyone can imagine themselves both very small and very large, the main thing is to be attentive.

At the command of "Lilliputians!" (as an option for children: dwarfs, kids) children should sit down, at the command “Gulliver!” (or "Giants") - stand up. The most attentive wins the game.

Suitable for age: 4-5 years old.

10. Take off the feathers

The following game will help you run and practice your agility. Divide the children into two teams. One attach several clothespins to clothes. The task is to get rid of the “feathers” by attaching them to the clothes of the second team members. The one who first removes all the "feathers" from himself will win.

Suitable for age: 6-7 years old.

11. Who is faster?

If you need to keep the children company at home, offer them something like a small relay race. From the options for passing the distance, use:

• squatting;
• walking around the room with a balloon without touching it with your hands;
• walking with a bag of beans (or a book) on the head;
• jogging over obstacles (for example, without stepping on spread out pillows or, conversely, jogging on sheets of paper), etc.

Suitable for age: 5-10 years old.

Competitions

Sedentary children's games will also help you out in a situation when children need something to keep them busy, especially since the place or time may not allow active movement. Such an activity requires, albeit minimal, but preparation. And it, as you know, is no less interesting than the process of the game itself.

12. Quiz

Invite the child to be the host and prepare a competition, say, for a family dinner or tea party when the whole family gathers around the table.

Tell me what questions or riddles to choose, prepare prizes for correct answers, choose the winner, dilute the script with a musical break, turning on karaoke or dance music.

Such quizzes can eventually become thematic and turn into a good family tradition.

Suitable for age: 7-13 years old.

13. Answer within a minute

Prepare a list of simple questions and organize games for the children at home if you have two or more of them. Offer to try to give as many correct answers to the questions as possible in a minute.

In this way you will train the speed of thinking and the speed of reaction. Select questions from the area of ​​​​general knowledge or on topics that children know well, as well as in accordance with age.

Suitable for age: 7-15 years old.

Family games for development

Entertaining games can be organized with children at home, using the simplest objects. Thus, you will develop logic, thinking and help your child explore the world. Do not forget that during the game the child learns.

14. Magic Pencils

Colored pencils or markers are needed to play. You will repeat the colors and work on the development of observation and imagination in the baby.

Explain that pencils sometimes come to life and can daydream, imagining themselves as other objects. The red one said that he was a strawberry, the green one - a maple leaf, the yellow one introduced himself as the sun.

Invite your child to "voice" different colors of crayons by naming the corresponding objects.

Suitable for age: 4-5 years old.

15. Touch!

Another way to repeat or study colors is this game. The child needs to touch the object of the color that you name.

You can play within the same room, or you can complicate the task and look for a suitable color throughout the apartment. As an option, to train your memory, at the end of the search, ask the child to name the items that he found.

Suitable for age: 4-7 years old.

16. Draw a story

Making up stories is a favorite pastime for many children. But it can be diversified by inviting the baby to draw everything that you are talking about.

A variant of this story: “There was a big house on a green meadow. It had blue walls, a red roof, and gray smoke coming from a black chimney. The yellow sun smiled at the blue sky and blue clouds. Red flowers grew around the house and multi-colored butterflies fluttered.

You can continue the story, add characters and objects, giving them a description. If the child likes this activity, roles can be reversed. Try to draw on paper everything that your creative child will come up with!

Suitable for age: 4-7 years old.

17. Attention to the picture

Children's favorite books usually contain a large number of pictures. For this game, drawings are suitable, which depict many different objects. You say, “I see something red in this picture. It does not know how to speak (as an option - to walk, ride, no pens, etc.).” The task of the child is to guess the object. Roles can be reversed.

Suitable for age: 4-5 years old.

18. Memory

Game ideas surround you even within the same room, so that with children at home you can develop any thought process even with the help of ordinary toys.

Take a few objects (doll, soft toy, ball, cube, etc.) and arrange them randomly. Ask the child to remember what toys he saw and look away.

Swap them or take one and ask what has changed. Tasks can be complicated when the baby has a little practice.

Suitable for age: 4-7 years old.

19. Didactic games

Suitable for studying mathematical and geometric concepts, natural phenomena and the world around. With the help of pictures cut out from old magazines or printed on a printer, you can help baby animals find their mother (for example, make pairs of chicken-chicken, sheep-lamb, etc.).

Geometric shapes cut out of colored paper will help you repeat colors and practice counting, while circles cut into segments will introduce you to the parts of the whole.

The process of preparing such material will be no less interesting and creative than the lessons themselves.

Suitable for age: 4-8 years old.

Speech games

The development of speech is an important and necessary process. Talk to your child on the way home, in the car, look at the pictures together. Cognitive games can be organized at home with children and in a simple conversation, the main thing is to show a little imagination.

20. Write a story

Some children's games are aimed at the development of imagination, and they should not be neglected. And to begin with, try to come up with a story that will be based on just two words. At the same time, they do not have to be combined in meaning. For example, ask one word from your dad (mother), the second - from your sister (brother). Look what a funny story you can make!

Suitable for age: 5-8 years old.

21. Who and what

By asking simple questions, this game can be played with a child alone or with a group of children. Tasks can be as follows:

• Who (what) is swimming?
• Who (what) walks?
• Who's talking?
• What can you eat?
• What can be cooked?
• Who (what) can fly? Etc.

There should be as many answers as possible. If there are many participants, there will be a competition.

Suitable for age: 5-7 years old.

Construction of houses

Needless to say, how children love to build things? Moreover, it does not matter at all whether it is an expensive designer, wooden blocks left after repair, shoe boxes or an umbrella and a blanket - the process is always captivating.

Although, as practice shows, unnecessary boxes or a covered chair usually win in terms of popularity.

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22. Constructors

In any home there are small Lego parts or a box with wooden towers, arches and blocks of different sizes.

Offer a bored child to build a home for his favorite toy: a little man, a doll, a bear, etc. you can go beyond walls and build simple furniture and celebrate the move.

Suitable for age: 5-8 years old.

23. Cardboard boxes

It happens that shoe boxes have accumulated or a large package of household appliances has appeared. Then the house can be built for dolls (for boys - a garage or parking lot) or for a baby.

Such structures can be pasted over, decorated, filled with furniture - in general, playing with them will captivate young architects and designers for more than one day.

Suitable for age: 6-10 years old.

24. Armchairs, blankets and umbrellas

The good old version of “housing”, inexplicably of interest to all generations of children without exception. A bedspread or a blanket can be put on the table, fixed with books, two chairs can be covered with it, or something similar can be built using an ordinary umbrella.

Fantasy begins to manifest itself instantly, and sofa cushions, blankets and other improvised means are used. True, after such a game you will have to spend some time cleaning.

Suitable for age: 4-8 years old.

Math games

Don't you think that mathematics is a boring science? Wrong opinion. Usually children like to count, add and subtract, play with geometric shapes. The main thing is to interest them and not turn the game into a long annoying task.

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25. Mathematics in the kitchen

Setting the table is a great way for your little one to practice counting. Ask him to put two forks on the table, bring three cups, take five apples from the basket, or put four cookies on the plate.

Get creative with addition and subtraction using teaspoons, large pasta, or other household tools.

Suitable for age: 4-6 years old.

26. Tasty Numbers

Bake number cookies together. Prepare the dough, let the child roll out the sausages, and you help to add them in the form of numbers.

You can play with them, build pyramids, stack them up and down, and even make simple examples. It's not scary if a couple of signs suddenly disappear imperceptibly - after all, this is a cookie.

Alternatively, math pastries can also be made inedible. Blind such numbers from salt dough, dry and decorate them, and then open them with varnish. Spreading examples from this counting material will be especially nice.

Suitable for age: 4-6 years old.

27. Math ball

The ball can be played even within the same room without damaging neighbors or surrounding furniture. Repeat verbal counting with your child.

When throwing the ball to him, name an example, and he, throwing the ball to you, must say the answer. Depending on age, you can take numbers from the first ten, second or three-digit. The main thing is to have time to count yourself in order to check the correctness of the answer.

The variant of the ball game can be like this. When throwing the ball to a child, name the number, and in response he must name adjacent numbers (5 more, 10 less, half as much, etc., depending on age and knowledge).

Suitable for age: 5-8 years old.

Interesting games for two children

Children often only need to be prompted to play, and they will perfectly play with each other, mostly without paying attention to the difference in age.

Calm games at home can be very different, the main thing is that they are interesting for children.

28. Wonder Beast

All you need is a piece of paper and a pen. The first player draws a head and folds the sheet so that only the neck is visible.

The second one completes the torso, then again the first one draws the legs (paws, flippers, etc.). Expanding the "picture", the children will see a rather funny creature that you can think of a name for.

Suitable for age: 6-10 years old.

29. Funny stories

A similar activity can be a variant of the game on paper, when children need to play with each other or with adults. The first participant must write two lines from a song, poem or just two sentences related in meaning, and wrap a sheet of paper, leaving only the last phrase.

The next one writes two of his own lines, connecting them in meaning with the previous phrase, and again wraps the sheet. As a result, the bundle will hide a very curious and, most likely, funny story.

Suitable for age: 8-14 years old.

Role-playing games

Children's games, in which children pretend to be adults, are perhaps the most favorite.

From an early age, a child begins to imitate his parents: lovingly puts his favorite toys to bed, builds a garage, cooks food on a toy stove, or builds a semblance of a real store. Play along with the child or switch roles with him, allowing him to become a mom, dad, salesman or doctor.

30. Shop

There are several variants of this game. You can lay out items on the "counter", set "price tags" and make "money" from cut sheets of paper of different sizes, thereby repeating the count.

Or you can ask the child not to name the product he wants to buy, but only to give him a description. So the game will become a small lesson in the development of speech.

Suitable for age: 4-6 years old.

31. Beauty salon

A role-playing game that captivates absolutely all girls. You can become a model for your child to do hair, make-up, and manicures.

But a doll can also act as a “client” of the salon. At the same time, be sure to discuss the rules of conduct and the culture of communication in the salon.

Suitable for age: 5-7 years old.

32. Construction site

You can organize the activities of both the driver and the builder at the same time by showing your son that a large car can be loaded with blocks, help it get to the construction site, unload the “material” and start building a garage or house.

You can also include a crane, "worker" figures and build more than one object.

Suitable for age: 4-6 years old.

33. Playing Pirates

Build a ship from improvised means, and look for costume parts in the closet - the preparation process will be no less interesting.

Then, armed with binoculars, you can go in search of treasures to uncharted shores. Alternatively, a small toy man can become a pirate, and a ship can be built from a designer. Depends on what the child likes more.

Suitable for age: 5-8 years old.

Unusual home games

Family games at home can become a good tradition that will give your children a lot of warm memories in adult life. In the meantime, they are still small, a little imagination, effort and time will help organize fun games and occupy the leisure of the whole family. Get actively involved in the preparation, do not be lazy, think of what you can play, and you will not notice how you will get carried away yourself.

34. Fantastic patterns

Mix 5 tablespoons of gouache, one of shampoo (dishwashing liquid) and a teaspoon of water. Make a thick foam in the container by blowing into a plastic tube.

Now lightly touch the colored bubbles with a piece of paper. See how the prints turn out, and paint an abstract picture, following your imagination.

Suitable for age: 5-12 years old.

35. Cheerful quest

This activity can be prepared for a birthday or for a group of friends, or you can just please your child with an exciting activity. And if the treasure hunter is interested in the search process, then, believe me, the preparation process will be no less fascinated.

Hide a small gift or sweet prize (there may be more than one) at home and write step-by-step instructions on how to find it.

You can place notes with clues in the most unusual places, the main thing is that each previous one should be the key to finding the next one and eventually lead to the main “treasure”.

Suitable for age: 6-12 years old.

Music games

Every child has favorite songs, regardless of age. You can just dance, learn new moves or prepare a dance as a gift.

Joint games of children at home unite, and music will help recharge with positive and good mood.

36. Leg, leg!

Have you ever danced with your neck? What about a nose or a finger? Well, there is a great opportunity to try! Turn on your favorite tune and start with simple movements.

Ask the children to dance with only their hands or only their feet. Then move on to more difficult tasks: dance only with your elbow or finger. And don't forget: you, too, must be actively involved in the game.

37. Get rid of the balls

For this game you will need a low stretched volleyball net. But as an option, any dividing line in the house is also suitable. Inflate 6 - 10 balloons, depending on the number of players.

The task of two teams (they can have from 1 to 3-4 participants), having received the balls equally, transfer them to the opponent's side.

The game starts when the music is turned on and stops when the music is turned off. Whichever side has fewer balls at that moment wins.

Water games

Children love to splash in the water, bathe and pour water from container to container.

If you decide to use water as a play area, be prepared for the environment to be wet and your baby's clothes and shoes to become wet. Therefore, be prepared for the fact that at the end of the game you will need to completely change your clothes.

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38. Catch, little fish!

Prepare a bowl or basin of water, take a few small items and put them directly into the water. These can be balls, small figures, chestnuts, etc.

Invite the child to catch the “fish” with his hands, a spoon, a small net (a small kitchen sieve can act as this), and then carefully place them in a nearby container.

Suitable for age: 3-5 years old.

39. SpongeBob

Tell your child that a sponge can absorb water and show how it works.

Prepare two containers, fill one of them with water. Try transferring water from one container to another with a sponge, filling it up and then squeezing it out.

Suitable for age: 3-4 years.

40. Catch the ball!

When your baby goes for a bath, drop about ten lightly inflated balloons into the bath with him.

They will funny jump out from under the water, float like boats if you blow on them, and will be a wonderful field for experiments of a little researcher.

Suitable for age: 3-5 years old.

Interesting games

What other games are there for children at home? Choose according to the mood and preference of the child.

They can be active or calm, with a lot of additional materials or in the form of a conversation, but in any case they should be interesting to the child. As practice shows, games without a phone can also captivate and interest a child.

41. Guess what it is

We explore the world around us with the help of the senses, and touch plays an important role in this. Therefore, it will be useful for a child to mentally create images of things without seeing them, but only by touching them.

Place several objects in a basket or container out of sight, then give one to each child's hands while blindfolded (or simply cover them).

Let the baby try to guess what he is holding in his hands, examining the object only with his fingers. Tell me if the child is not coping.

Suitable for age: 4-7 years old.

42. Unusual book

Games and activities with children at home can be remembered not only as an interesting pastime with parents, but also as an interesting craft that has been preserved for many years. You can make a book with your child about himself.

Collect photographs, magazine clippings, interesting small items. They can be glued onto thick sheets of paper and write a story together.

Have your child write the first letter in this book, make the first drawing, circle their pen, or paste a picture they like. After many years, such a craft will evoke very fond memories.

Alternatively, you can make a fairy tale book by inventing a story and decorating it with applications and drawings. The process will take more than one evening and, most likely, will interest the child for a long time.

Suitable for age: 4-10 years old.

Advice to parents

When spending time with your child, do not be afraid to show your imagination, use any household items for play, talk about the world around you, let the baby try on different roles, dance, jump, get his hands dirty in paint or wet clothes with water. So he learns the world, develops and grows.

Remember that your participation in the gameplay is important, but only as a partner, less so as a mentor.

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