Rainy Day Projects

Classic Games Active Games for kids

Burn-energy games that work in a living room or hallway.

Part of Classic Games activities and all active games.

No-prep ideas for this

Something to say right now while you get the classic games set out — or instead of it. All the quick ideas.

  • Pick something in this room and I'll try to guess it in twenty questions.

    Pick any object you can see in this room without telling the adult what it is. Answer only yes or no to their questions until they guess it or run out of twenty tries.

    15 minutes · Ages 5–10 · Light adult help · No mess · Needs nothing

  • Set up your pillows as stepping stones and cross the room without touching the floor.

    Lay pillows out across the room as stepping stones. You must cross the room without touching the floor. Rearrange them to make it harder each time.

    15 minutes · Ages 3–8 · Light adult help · No mess · Needs: pillow

    Make more of it: The Floor Is Lava →

  • Take the lead — give me four Simon says commands and try to trip me up.

    You are Simon. Give four commands in a row, starting each one with Simon says or not, and try to trick the adult into making a mistake.

    5 minutes · Ages 3–8 · Adult alongside · No mess · Needs nothing

    Make more of it: Simon Says Relay Challenge →

Classic Games Active Games at home

A rainy afternoon, a school holiday, or a long Sunday when the backyard is not an option — these are the moments these activities were built for. The games on this page are the ones American children have played for sixty or more years, passed from older siblings to younger ones, from schoolyards to living rooms. What makes active games a natural match for classic games is that the originals were always physical: they used your body, your voice, your balance, your ability to listen and react. None of them required anything to be purchased, and none of them required a screen. They worked in 1965 and they work now for exactly the same reasons.

What is in this set

The three classic Games Active Games activities here run from 20 to 30 minutes — Indoor Hopscotch is the quickest, The Floor Is Lava the longest. Between them they cover ages 3–5, ages 5–8 and ages 8–10, and each card below says which. None of them makes a mess worth mentioning. Each one wants an adult at least nearby.

Choosing one

If your child is three to five, start with Indoor Hopscotch — the tape goes down in minutes and the hopping challenge is just hard enough to hold their attention without frustrating them. For children five to eight who need to run off energy in a small space, The Floor Is Lava turns your living room into a full obstacle course with what is already on your couch. For children eight to ten who need something more competitive and mentally demanding, Simon Says Relay Challenge adds scoring and strategy to a game they already know.

Before you start

For all three activities, the most useful thing you can do before calling the child over is clear the floor space — moved furniture matters more than any material. For Hopscotch, cut your tape strips in advance. For The Floor Is Lava, arrange the cushion islands before the child sees the course, so the visual of 'lava everywhere' lands immediately. For Simon Says, write the scoring rule on paper before anyone starts arguing about it. The thing that goes wrong most often across all three: children change the rules mid-game when they are losing. Agree on the rules out loud before the first round and point to the paper if it comes up.

More classic games activities

The other formats available for this theme.

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