Thirty games for children aged 2 to 10, indoors and outdoors, that work on an ordinary afternoon with no preparation. Sorted by age, with the ones that work when you are the only adult with several children. Nothing to buy.
There are party games, with rules and winners. And then there are games for an ordinary Tuesday at half past four, when it is raining, the siblings are squabbling and nobody wants to do anything. These are the second kind. They are the games our nannies reach for week after week, because they work without materials, without planning and without anyone losing.
2 to 3 years: copy, hide, build
Small children play alongside you, not with you. The game is doing the same thing you do, over and over again.
- Hide and seek with a warning. You hide badly, feet showing, and count out loud. The child finds you every time. That is the whole point.
- Cushion mountain. Every cushion in a pile on the floor. Climb, fall, rebuild. Works for twenty minutes.
- The animal. Now we are cats. Now we are elephants. Now we are fish. You change animal when interest fades.
- Making soup. A saucepan, a ladle, anything that is allowed in. The child cooks, you taste and say it needs more salt.
- Chair tunnel. Kitchen chairs in a row with a blanket over them. Crawl through. Put a teddy at the far end to fetch.
- Bubbles. You blow, the child catches. Can be done ten times in the same afternoon.
- Dance freeze. Music on, dance, music off, stand still. Works just as well with one child as with eight.
4 to 5 years: pretending, rules in short bursts
Now the child starts playing with others properly, and wants a story. Games with simple rules work in short rounds.
- The shop. Things from the larder on a table, a box as the till, slips of paper as money. The child is the cashier, you shop and ask what everything costs.
- The floor is lava. Cushions and blankets are islands, the floor is lava. Get from the sofa to the kitchen without touching the floor.
- Obstacle course. Under the table, over the cushion, round the chair, three jumps on the rug. Time it on your phone. Rebuild after every lap.
- Kim's game. Eight things on a tray, look for a minute, towel over, remove one. What is missing?
- The doctor. One child is the doctor, the teddies are the patients. Plasters made of tape. Lasts half an hour if you are an anxious patient.
- Follow the leader. You go first, the children do what you do: jump, crawl, clap. Swap leader.
- Picture treasure hunt. Draw four places in the flat on slips of paper. Each slip leads to the next, the last one to a raisin.
- Statues. Music on, dance, music off, freeze into a statue. The adult walks around trying to make the statues laugh.
6 to 8 years: a little competition, a lot of imagination
The children can handle rules and want a challenge, but are still bad losers. Compete against the clock or against you, not against each other.
- Charades. Animals first, then jobs, then fairy tales. Two teams, or everyone against the adult.
- Twenty questions. You think of something, the children get twenty yes-or-no questions. Then swap.
- Paper planes. Everyone folds a plane, a distance contest from the hallway. Then accuracy into a bucket.
- Secret agent. A mission on a slip of paper: fetch an apple from the kitchen without the adult seeing you. The adult sits with their back turned and looks round now and then.
- Den. Blankets over the table and between chairs, clothes pegs to hold them. Torch inside. Snack is served in the den.
- Whisper down the line. Works from three people. The sentence always comes out wrong, and the mistake is the game.
- Draw on my back. A child draws a shape with a finger on your back, you guess. Swap.
- Theatre. The children put on a play in ten minutes, you are the audience. Applaud. Demand an encore.
9 to 10 years: harder, faster, ideally outdoors
Now they want something with a bit of pressure. And they would rather the adult wasn't too enthusiastic.
- Name that tune. Two seconds of a song, guess. The children's playlist.
- Quiz. We have Quiz questions for kids. Team against team, or the children against you.
- Home-made escape room. Five riddles from 100 riddles for kids with answers, sorted by age, each answer gives a digit, the digits open a combination lock on a box with the snack inside.
- Card games. Vändtia and Skitgubbe (two Swedish shedding games every child here learns), Fem i rad (five in a row). Ten minutes to teach, then they play without you.
- Burken, kick the can. Outdoors. A tin in the courtyard, one seeker, the others hide and try to kick the tin. A classic that survives every generation.
- Sledging or skating. In winter. See our Things to do with kids in Stockholm for slopes and rinks.
- Stop motion. The phone on a pile of books, Lego moved a little at a time, one photo per move. A free app puts the film together.
Outdoors, all ages
- Hide and seek at the playground. Mark out the boundaries first.
- Nature bingo. A list of ten things to find: a feather, a red stone, a pine cone. Tick them off.
- Stick bridge. Build a bridge of sticks across a puddle. Test whether it holds a stone, then a shoe.
- Hopscotch. Draw it with chalk, hop. Under-fives hop in it, over-fives follow the rules.
- Hide the treasure. A stone painted gold, hidden at the playground. Warm, cold, warmer.
When you are the only adult with several children
| Game | Why it works |
|---|---|
| The shop | The older one is the cashier, the younger one the customer. Different roles, no competition. |
| Den | Everyone builds, everyone fits, the snack is served inside. |
| Treasure hunt | The older one reads the clues, the younger one runs first. |
| Theatre | The older one directs, the younger one plays the dog. |
| Obstacle course | Different courses for different ages, same stopwatch. |
How we do it with our families
It is these games, not outings, that fill our nannies' afternoons. And what makes the difference is that the same person comes every week: she knows the den under the kitchen table is called the Castle, that the shop only sells apples, and that the big one always wants to be the cashier. The game picks up where it left off on Tuesday.
Would you like a nanny who knows thirty games and comes on the same days every week? Book a free first meeting with the nanny in your home.
Read more: Party games for kids by age · Crafts for kids · 100 riddles for kids with answers, sorted by age
Frequently asked questions
Which games work when you are the only adult with two children of different ages?
Games where the children have different roles: the older one hides, the younger one seeks. Hide and seek, treasure hunt, a shop where the big one is the cashier and the little one the customer. Avoid contests between siblings, the younger one always loses.
How long do children play the same game?
Three-year-olds ten minutes, five-year-olds twenty, eight-year-olds half an hour or more if the game has a story. Change game before it runs out, not after.
What do you do when a child says they are bored?
Wait five minutes. Most children come up with something themselves if they are bored for long enough. If not: suggest two games, let the child choose, and join in for the first few minutes.
Do you need toys for these games?
No. Every game here can be played with what is in an ordinary flat: cushions, blankets, paper, a ball and your own body.