Blooming Early Years

 Indoor Games 

Are you stuck  in the house with your children ?

been home with the children happens nowadays especially as a result of the pandemic, often times nurseries or big school shut down when there is a positive case, you might also be stuck not as a result of this but it’s all good whether as a result of pandemic, holiday , for whatever reason I am here to make it less boring for you as an adult around them and most importantly for the children and that is why I have come up with numerous indoor games that could help you guys overcome boredom, have fun and be happy.

Sticky note wall

Attach sticky notes with different letters to  a door, using a masking tape make a start line  of your  child favourite shape on the floor,have your child stand in the start line with  a bean bag, stuff animal or probably a soft ball, and let them try and hit the letter you would instruct them ‘’I.e” hit the letter’’ B’’ or ‘D’…,for older children who knows how to make words and are advance in spelling skills, you could get them to hit the letter in specific words i.e  ‘CAT,  FAT’  CAR’ to make it more fun you could get them to run and throw, jump and throw,skip and throw..

Tape shape games

This is an easy peasy game,all you need is a tape,use the tape to put different shape on the floor( square,triangle,rectangle,diamond..) and have you child HAVE A GO  exploring them,you could give them instruction to guide them  in having fun with this game for example, you could have them jump into their favourite shape, you could even play a song and ask them to jump into a shape as soon as the music stop,the fun this  game bring are endless.

Penguin Waddle

 Place a balloon between your child’s knees and have them waddle across the room without dropping it. Make it more challenging for older kids by having them go around a few obstacles. If they drop it, they have to go back to the start.

Tape lines games

This is another exciting game you can play using tape,use the tape to make lines on the floor,it  could be 6 to 7 lines and have them jump over and see what number of line they can jump on,you could also have them run and jump,let them try couple of times to see if they can jump even further,depending on the age of the child you could even  make it more challenging by having them jump backwards,your children could have so much fun with this simple game, you could even make them hop on one leg and then jump on the line, join in and make it more fun for them.

Number square game

This is another fun to do game using a masking tape,make a very big square on the floor ,divide the square into smaller portion of squares, using the number stickers stick numbers into the squares and let your child jump into their favourite number,they could also hop into certain numbers, also you could make this game more fun by giving your child small balls and let them throw it into certain numbers.

 Balloon games

I especially like this game especially if you have a competitor, so it would be great , it   would be much fun if your child could have a play buddy when playing this game.just blow couple of balloons and let your child happily move the ball around, play it into the air thus developing their gross motor skill ,balloon could cause a choking hazard if it burst so as an adult around them make sure to thoroughly supervise them when playing this game.

Sticky Spider web

 using a masking tape make a web like design on  probably a sliding door or on the doorway entrance and give your child some newspaper let them make it into a ball and throw it onto the sticky web so its stick also you can cut different color shapes,stick them to the sticky web and give your child a bean bag or a ball and let them throw it to match the color on the sticky web,this is actually an interesting game also, you can prolong this game by putting some obstacle on the way path let your child hold the ball in their hand, climb the obstacle and throw the ball to the sticky web.

Movement chain

This game is actually very  interesting ,it’s more of an older children game and its need at least 2 players as its interactive,since it  involves movement, get the first player to make two movement for example wave their hands two times and then the second player would make the same movement and then add his own movement,  and back again to the next person thus, forming a chain  ,they should continue in this sequence  and whoever breaks the sequence is out of the game,the winner is the last one standing

Musical chair

This is another popular and exciting children  games which involves group of children, to make this game more fun  you could get the children to dress up  and put on a dancing shoes, this game should be played in a spacious area as you don’t want them bumping into other stuff.

Arrange chairs for example if there are five children, place four chairs, get the speaker ready for the music and let them dance while the music is on and sit when it stop who ever could not get  a sit  while  the music stops is out of the game and you need to remove a chair, for older children who are starting to recognise number also instead of chairs, you could also get a number mat and let them stand on a number as soon as the music ends, whoever could not find a number is out, keep removing a number as soon as a person is out.

 Pillow case race

This game is one of my favourite back then,we use to use sack it’s kind of old fashion..but here we will be using the pillow case ,use a tape to make a starting line and an ending line then give your children a pillow case each let them put their legs inside  and let them have a race ,whoever cross the ending line first is the winner,this will be much fun with a group of friends also they can sit on the pillow case and use their hands and legs to kinder scoot around.

Target practice game

This is more like a bowling game, the children in my class love this game too ,just set up a target probably some empty bottles or soft plastic cones and give your child some bean bags or soft balls and let them try and hit the target( the soft plastic cone) so that they fall over,you could also make them  match colors by throwing the color bean bag to hit the same color of cone for example,let them throw a red bean bag on a red cone thus having fun,learning color matching and developing the fine and gross motor skills.

Tape maze

This is another interesting game that am sure your children will enjoy,depending on the age of your child, design a maze on the floor using a tape, make it more challenging for older children by adding a dead end, give them a small soft ball and let them dribble the ball through the maze without crossing any of the tape lines.

Also,  at the dead end you could put a shark or a crocodile depending on the interest of your child, get them to pretend that  they must avoid the dead end else the shark or crocodile is  going to eat them up, also you could make it more fun by doing it with group of children,place them on a timer and see how long its take them to move the ball through the maze also for children who are learning number, you could put some number stickers along the maze route so the child could follow the correct order from start to exit thus improving their counting skill.

Bean bag basketball

put out a laundry basket and give your child a bean bag or newspaper, let them make it into a ball and throw it into the basket,you could also use some pairs of sock, make them into a ball,it’s would be more  fun if you get group of children to play this game,you could also put some obstacle cones on the path so the can run through it and throw the ball into the court,you could make it more challenging if you make them shoot from a far distance, whoever, is able to shoot and score wins the game.

Indoor obstacle course

This is another game that could help get some energy off your children, provide stuff like pillow or cushions and let your child run or jump over it,also you could get some ring stones or stepping stones or  balance beam  and let your child have fun jumping over it,you could also make a tunnel by putting some blanket on the table and get the children crawl through the tunnels.

Race car track  

use a masking tape to make a road track,you can put some toys on the road paths to act as obstacles, see how good they are at avoiding the obstacles.To make this game more fun, make the road in a large scale so your child could crawl about with the car on the track thus engaging their core muscles.

Hide and seek

Here comes the world’s oldest game,it’s ranked the oldest in the history of games and up until now children still love and play it. I especially enjoy playing this game back then and even now with the children, it’s played with group of children, where one needs to close his eyes and the others need to hide .the one closing his eyes need to sing a song and let the other knows he is coming to find them, whoever he finds first becomes the one who would find the others next also this can be done in the dark as finding someone in the dark is quite thrilling.

I will be attaching a video of hide and seek by Ryna’s world..,thought it might  be helpful

The floor is lava

The children in my class especially love this game, they love playing this game even in the classroom and they yell in the outdoor area,they are always running and trying to avoid the lava.

it’s quite an imaginative game, when we are in the outdoor area they always run to the mountain trying to avoid the floor, this games involves two or more children,if the floor is said to be lava , they have to avoid touching the floor thus they  can climb on the furnitures or things that could toss them from the floor,most times when am tired of running around with them i usually tell them have got a special lava shoes so i can still walk on the floor so if you have children who wouldn’t let you be and who is always shouting the floor is lava you can trick them by saying you’ve got a special lava shoes.

Fruit treasure hunt

This is another exciting game that children tend to love and am sure your children will love it.i decided to call it fruit treasure hunt as we will be using fruit in this hunt. Hide different fruits such as ( orange,pear,apple..) in different corners of the room,make it challenging and interesting by making clues that will lead the seekers from point to point until the treasure is located,you as an adult could make it more fun by taking part as the lead and being the seeker. The clues should be  picture clues instead of written clues,also,instead of fruit you could use other stuff that interest the child.

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