Free games to play

20 March 2008

No matter where you’re going, sooner or later the children will get bored and the cries of ‘Are we there yet?’ will commence. Whether you’re stuck in traffic or delayed at the airport, look no further for some simple games that can be played without any preparation or purchase necessary!

Below are some games that are free and need no preparation. If you find yourself stuck without access to toys or games then these are just a few ideas to help to keep you all occupied and help the time pass quickly.

I-Spy
Needs no explanation, but is usually good for at least 30minutes!

Alphabet games
Look for things beginning with A, B, C and so on. This can be played anywhere. At the airport, on the plane, on the boat etc.
On the road, look for car number plates or road signs, place names etc . Elsewhere you could pick items of clothing items on the boat, plane, train etc

Car Number Plate games
Some number plate games that we play are finding plates with double letters and numbers and see who can count the most.
Find number plates with double letters or numbers from AA - ZZ or 00 - 99 in order. For example, AA02BNG, then HN07BBS and so on.
There is no reason why you can’t adapt this to spot train numbers, flight numbers, plane numbers etc.

Make up a story
One person starts with ‘Once upon a time’. Each person adds a sentence, each taking it in turn.

Memory games such as I went to the shop and I bought …… each person adding an item and recalling in order the previous items.
I went to the shop and I bought a banana.
I went to the shop and I bought a pear and a banana.
I went to the shop and I bought a skirt, a pear and a banana.

Guess the tune
One person hums the tune to a programme and the others have to guess it.

Guess what or who I am
One person chooses to be a person or object and the others have to guess by asking questions to which they can only receive a yes or no answer.
You can change the rules so that only a certain number of questions are allowed or use the description of animal, mineral or vegetable.

Word games
One person decides on a rule and says a sentence using their rule… I would like an apple, but not a banana. I would like a rubber, but not a pencil. The rule here is you’d like words which have double letters ie apple and rubber. The others have to guess your rule by making up their own sentences until they guess the rule.

One person states an object eg a sweet, the next has to name an object beginning with the last letter of the preceding object; in this case a ‘T’. For older children, you get them to name countries eg England, then a country beginning with D eg Denmark etc.
Guess the name. One person thinks of a name and says what the first letter is and if its a boy’s or girl’s name. The others have to guess the name.

If you love me smile
One person is ‘It’. They have to try and make the others smile or laugh without touching. They say to each person ‘If you love me smile’. The other person replies ‘I love you, but I can’t smile’. Whoever does smile or laugh then becomes ‘It’. You can adapt the rules so that pulling faces etc is allowed in order to try and get the other person to smile.

May I?
One person is ‘It’. The others line up and aim to proceed forward to reach ‘It’ by being told that they can take x number of steps. The other person being told to take x number of steps must respond with ‘May I?’. If they don’t and just move, ten they go back to the begiinig. The first to reach ‘It’ is the winner.

Written by jane · Filed Under Getting There