Children love birthday parties! It’s the perfect opportunity to invite your little ones’ friends over, play games and let off some steam. We’ve shared 7 of our favourite indoor children’s party games and activities for ages one to five.
For ages one to two, we’ve got some explorative sensory indoor activities as well as an activity that can be done with the family to enjoy for years to come.
For many children, there’s nothing more exciting than a ball pit! Ball pits are easily accessible on Argos or Amazon and make great environments for children to play and explore. For young children developing their motor skills, playing in ball pits is great to help them sit up, stand and kick as well as pick up small objects and throw them.
And if you don’t want to fork out on balls and a ball pit, blowing up balloons so they’re small works just as well and are great fun to kick and throw!
Fill a tub with a few bags of rice (or dried lentils, peas or beans – anything you have in your home!) and hide a few household items within the rice for the children to find and play with. Consider adding small, age-appropriate toys such as wooden animals and dinosaurs, toy fruits and vegetables and stacking hoops.
For younger children, there is no aim to this game other than to explore within the rice and see which items they can find. This activity works well for small groups and helps develop their fine motor skills.
This game can be adapted for older children by adding a scoring system. Simply blindfold the children and add household items and toys, such as coins, crayons, shapes and numbers. Have the children pick out an item one by one and guess the item. Should they get it right, they earn a point and the turn goes to the next child.
At the end of the game, the person with the most points can win a little prize!
This one is more for the adults but is a fun activity to do with your children! Create a time capsule to mark the birthday of your little one using sentimental items such as their first pair of socks or shoes, old but beloved comforters and pictures that you can enjoy looking back on.
Get your little ones involved by creating some arts and crafts that can be added to the capsule to commemorate their birthday.
Ages two to three will have a great time playing and exploring these creative and active party games and activities.
Creating art as a group is fun and exciting for children and is an amazing way to teach social skills whilst expressing their creativity and imagination. After making the space art-proof, lay rolls of paper out on the floor and supply the children with poster paints of all colours; you can even add some glitter for a little extra birthday sparkle!
There are endless possibilities for children when supplied with plain paper and colourful paints. If you want to get extra creative, why not add a theme to the birthday party and encourage the children to draw pictures that go with the theme?
Who doesn’t love decorating cookies or cupcakes?! A firm favourite for any children’s party, bake or purchase a batch of cupcakes or cookies (or go all out and do both) and have a blast decorating them with colourful sprinkles, edible characters and colourful icing.
This is a fun alternative to having a birthday cake and the children can take home the cakes and cookies they decorate.
Children aged three, four and upwards will love these interactive and engaging party activities that allow them to collaborate and showcase their individuality.
A treasure hunt is exciting for all involved – including the adults! Working as a team, the children can use the clues you provide them to seek the treasures that have been hidden for them. Hide treasures such as chocolate coins, sweet treats and age-appropriate toys.
To write the clues, consider adding both simple words and pictures to help children who are only beginning to read, and give plenty of hints and tips along the way!
Let the children step into the limelight and showcase their talents and skills in a talent show! We recommend letting parents know about the talent show ahead of time, for example writing it on the party invite, so they can practice their 5 minutes of fame before the party.
To make it extra special, set up a little stage with lights and curtains and introduce each child when they set to the stage to perform their piece. The children can even dress up according to their performance! Hosting a talent show is great for children of all ages and makes for unforgettable imaginative play.
For more ideas for activities to do at home, head over to our Play & Learn At Home resource centre, or Find a Nursery near you to enrol your child in a Kids Planet child care nursery!
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