Best Indoor Family Games to Play at Home

Family bonding is an important aspect of every family. By bonding with everyone, you can learn more about your family members and forge a stronger connection with them. Sometimes bonding with the family becomes a bit boring with the lack of activity to do. That is why in this article, I listed down several family games to play at home, and indoor family games, for seasons when going out is impossible to do. If you want to have a closer relationship with your family while enjoying games to play inside, then do read on.

Family Bonding

Family bonding is essentially taking the time to spend moments together with your family. The definition of family bonding is not limited to doing things that involve spending money or going out. When we talk about bonding with the family, this involves being present. Being present involves active participation in the conversations being tackled, and taking the time to listen and participate.

Importance of Family Bonding

In this fast-paced world of constant striving for success, we often get lost in the grind and tend to focus more on working towards our goals. Because of the never-ending grind, our relationships with our family are sometimes set aside. Our family should always be number one in our lives and we should never forget that.

Aside from being able to spend quality time together, here are other reasons why family bonding time is important:

Reduces Stress

Bonding with your family greatly reduces stress because there is a constant reassurance that no matter what happens, there are people who will always be there for you.

Provides Reassurance

Being present in your children’s lives constantly provides reassurance to them that they can rely on you when they are feeling down and lonely.

Provides better mental health overall

Studies show that on average, a person who has good family connections tends to have better mental health compared to those who do not.

Better Communication

A family that has strong ties and bonds frequently is often more amenable to communicating openly with each other. The reason for better communication comes from the fact that stronger connections are present in families that take time together.

Boosts Performance

A child that has strong connections with the family shows better performance in every aspect. Academically, children with a good relationship with their families have better grades. As regards the emotional maturity of the child, one that has a good relationship with their family was able to resolve personal conflicts more healthily.

The benefits of family bonding mentioned above are just some of the reasons why family bonding should be a top priority. One way to bond with your family includes family game night which has fun and exciting family games to play at home.

Best Games to Play Indoors with Family

Indoor family games – No Equipment Needed

Charades

Charades is a game where one of the players has to act out a word, and the other players have to guess it. If you are the parent, make the game more exciting by thinking of a theme beforehand and writing down the words to act out on a piece of paper and placing it inside a container.

One benefit of playing charades, especially for younger children is to enable them to learn how to think critically. Another benefit is to enable children to learn how to communicate non-verbally.

Hide and Seek

One of the best family games to play at home is “hide and seek”. This game involves little to no equipment and involves a person who has to count from one to one hundred while his eyes are closed. Afterward, the other players will hide until they are found.  The first person found then becomes the next person who will find the other players.

Simon Says

One of the best games to play inside is Simon Says. One of the players will perform an action that all other players must follow. When a command is given without Simon Says in the beginning, the players should not follow the command, and the person who follows said command will be out of the game. Another way to get eliminated is by not being able to follow the command properly.

Stop Dance/Dance Freeze

Stop Dance or Dance Freeze is a game where music is played and all players involved are required to dance to the music. Once the music stops, the players should also stop dancing, the person who produces even the slightest move is eliminated.

Family Games to Play at Home – Minimal Equipment Needed

Paper Dance 

One of the indoor family games our family loves playing is paper dance, and it only requires minimal equipment. The mechanics of the game involves a newspaper sheet placed on the floor with two players for each team. Music will play and once the music stops, both players from each team need to step on the newspaper without having their feet touch the ground if their feet touch the ground, their team will get eliminated. After every round, the players need to fold the newspaper in half, until all but one team remains.

Musical Chairs

One of the most thrilling games to play indoors with family is musical chairs. When playing this game, the only equipment needed are chairs and a music player. Several chairs are placed circularly with the number of chairs equal to the number of players minus one. The players need to dance and walk while the music is playing. Once the music stops, the players need to sit down, and the player who is unable to sit down is eliminated from the game.

Fun memories will surely be made with this game. As one of my favorite games to play inside with our family, I always ensure to include it in my go-to recommendations.

Treasure Hunt

Treasure is a game that you can play indoors or outdoors. Although usually played outdoors, the treasure hunt game is still one of my recommended family games to play at home. If you are the parent, what you need to do is prepare in advance the clues necessary for the game. The “treasure” can be anything your children want, making the game more exciting. Once all the clues are ready, it is time to start the game.

When playing, ensure that you are keeping an eye on your children to avoid any accidents.

Jenga

According to the Official Website of Jenga, the rules to play the game are as follows:

A classic Jenga game consists of 54 precision-crafted, specially finished hardwood blocks. To set up the game, use the included loading tray to create the initial tower. Stack all of the blocks in levels of three placed next to each other along their long sides and at a right angle to the previous level.

Once the tower is built, the person who stacked the tower plays first. Moving in the game Jenga consists of:

1. Taking one block on a turn from any level of the tower (except the one below an incomplete top level), and
2. Placing it on the topmost level to complete it.

Players may use only one hand at a time; either hand may be used, but only one hand may touch the tower at any time.

3. Players may tap a block to find a loose one. Any blocks moved but not played should be replaced, unless doing so would make the tower fall. The turn ends when the next player touches the tower, or after ten seconds, whichever occurs first.

The game ends when the tower falls — completely or if any block falls from the tower (other than the block a player moves on a turn).
The loser is the person who made the tower fall (i.e., whose turn it was when the tower fell).

One of the reasons why my family loves playing Jenga is it teaches adults and children alike to be more careful with their actions to avoid consequences.

Twister

Twister is a fun game to play with your family that will tie you up in knots. A spinner is attached to a square board that will tell you where to place your feet or arm. If only two players are involved, they cannot place their arms or feet in the same circle used by another player. When more than two players are involved, they can place their arms or feet in the same circle used by another player. A person loses if he falls or when their elbow or knee touches the ground.

Fun Board and Card Games to Play Inside

Snakes and Ladders

“Snakes and ladders” is one of the best games to play inside with your family because it does not involve a lot of rules to play. Two or more players will roll two dice and will move across the board according to the number indicated in the dice. The first to reach the 100^th tile wins.

Scrabble

Scrabble is a fun game perfect for a family that loves words and reading. The number of players in this game is between two to four. To play this game, each player will draw seven letters and place them on their racks. These letters will be used to form words that each player will place on the board. The words should be connected either horizontally or vertically to the words already on the board. Each player can draw tiles until their total number of tiles is equivalent to seven. Once all tiles are used up or a word can no longer be placed on the board, the game will end. The winner of this game is the person with the highest final score.

Exploding Kittens

One of the best games to play indoors with the family is Exploding Kittens. Players continue to draw from the deck of cards until someone draws an Exploding Kitten Card. The process of elimination repeats itself until only one (1) player is left. For a more in-depth instructions guide, here is the link for the rules on how to play the game.

Clue/Cluedo

For a family with older children, Clue is the perfect game for your family. “Clue” involves three to six players, and the objective of the game is to find out who murdered the game’s victim. Playing this game will enhance your children’s logical reasoning while at the same time fulfilling their dreams of becoming detectives.

Family Games to Play at Home – Key Part in Making Memories 

Family bonding is a vital part of every family. An amazing way to make family time more memorable is by playing family games at home when there is an important family occasion. Always remember that although our time on this earth is short, our memories will live on in our family forever.