Party games are a great way to entertain kids and adults alike. They’re also a great way to get people interacting with each other, which is especially important in an indoor setting where you might not have much space or equipment at your disposal. If you’re planning an indoor party for kids, here are some of our favorite party games that will keep everyone laughing and having fun:
Indoor Party Games and Themes
If you are stuck indoors for your party and wondering how to make it exciting, just know that there are so many different themes you can choose from to make it memorable. There are loads of popular themes out there surrounding Disney and Marvel characters, animals, and fantasy creatures. We’ve chosen our favorite: tea party, ice cream party, disco party and indoor pool party.
Tea Party Games and Activities
I’m a Little Teapot Freeze Dance
This game is based off Freeze Dance, but instead of freestyle dance, they will be going through the motions for the I’m a Little Teapot song. Play the song and then stop the music at any point. The children will need to freeze in their current teapot pose, and if they break hold or don’t freeze, they’re out.
What you need to play:
Music! And some enthusiasm.
Musical Tea Cups
Musical chairs gone tea cup. Instead of using chairs, the players will stand around a table set with tea cups, but there will be one cup less than the amount of players. When the music stops, each person must grab a tea cup. Whoever is the slowest and cannot grab a tea cup is out. You need to keep removing a tea cup per round, so that there is always one short.
What you need to play:
A table
Tea cups
Music
Tea bag Scavenger Hunt
Who doesn’t love a scavenger hunt? The prize this time? Tea bags! You can start with a few different flavors of tea to keep it interesting. Give players a list of all the flavors and send them off to find all the tea bags on the list. The first to find all the bags wins. You can give them a prize or let the losing team serve the tea.
What you need to play:
Tea bags
List of tea bags
Blind Tea Test
This is awesome for those who love drinking tea! Blind fold players and have them sip different flavors of tea and try to guess what they’re drinking. Give points to each correct guess and eliminate those who guess incorrectly. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.
What you need to play:
Various flavors of tea
Tea cups
Scoreboard and marker – this can be anything from an actual board, if you have one, to a piece of paper.
Sugar Cube on a Spoon
Instead of the classic egg and spoon race, players carry a sugar cube. If the cube gets dropped, they need to start over.
What you need to play:
Teaspoons
Sugar cubes
Maybe some cups of tea waiting to be sweetened when the race is done!

Ice Cream Party Games and Activities
Blind Taste Test
Sign us up for this one! Eating loads of yummy ice cream? Yes, please! Okay, you have to guess the flavors right to get to all the yumminess, but anyway, we’re ready! Okay, so to play this one, you blind fold players and have them sample different flavors of ice cream. Don’t go too hard on them right off the bat – give them a couple of the classics like vanilla and chocolate, and then mix it up with a few of the rare flavors at your local grocery store. You can also throw in toppings, if you worry you’ll run out of ice cream flavors.
What you’ll need to play:
Ice cream – we suggest around 2 easy flavors and 4 rare ones, with toppings.
Tea spoons for tasting
Bibs/napkins for laps, or wipeable covering for the table, in case kids mess! They are blind folded, after all.
Ice Cream Sundae Die Game
DIY ice cream sundae led by the luck of the draw! Find a plain wooden block big enough to write on and on each side write instructions like: add a topping, add syrup, add a cherry, another flavor ice cream etc. You can make it any way you want. Then the kids sit around the table filled with goodies and roll the dice in order to see what they get to do next. They continue until they complete their sundae. Deciding what to do if they get duplicate rolls will be up to you.
What you’ll need to play:
Ice cream
Toppings
Sundae bowls/cups
Spoons
Cherry on a Spoon Race
Egg and spoon has gotten a sweet makeover with the cherry on the spoon race. Give each player a sundae spoon and a cherry. Then they must race to the finish line without dropping the cherry. If they do, they need to start over.
What you’ll need to play:
Sundae spoons
Cherries
Something to mark the start and finish lines.
Ice Cream Eating Contest
More ice cream eating! This time, tie contestants’ hands behind their back and make them eat ice cream without their hands. Be sure to add plenty of whipped cream on top. See who can finish first. Be prepared for a delicious mess!
What you need to play:
Bowls of ice cream
Something to tie their hands with – a scarf, or bandana, works well.
Bibs!
Ice cream Sundae Relay
Gather all the necessary components for making an ice cream sundae. Divide the kids into two teams. Running in relay, the kids of each team will race to gather the components from the other side of the room – or wherever you put them – and then once they have all of them, they will work together to complete their sundae. The winners get to enjoy their sundae! The losers . . . well, you might feel bad giving their attempt at a sundae to the other team, so you can decide how to handle that. Maybe a half-completed sundae is bad enough.
What you need to play:
Ice cream and toppings of your choice
Bowls and spoons
A table to prepare the sundaes on
Table cloths that can be wiped

Disco Party Games and Activities
Balloon Dance
This one is really simple. Kids must dance in pairs while keeping a balloon held up with their backs. The balloon must not fall or pop. The last pair standing wins.
What you’ll need to play:
Balloons
Music
Disco Diva Dress Up Relay
Find cheap metallics and sequined costumes at the dollar store, and anything like sunglasses, hats, gloves, feather boas etc. and have the children relay-race in teams to their dress-up items and put them on before they race back to start. They remove the outfit and then the next child takes the clothes back to the other side of the room, dresses up and runs back to the start. Nothing must fall off while they run, and it doesn’t matter how they put the outfit on, as long as it’s on (over their own clothes). The entire team has to do this. The first team in which all players have dressed up and down completely wins the game.
What you need to play:
Costumes
Music – just because.
Musical Statues
Musical chairs without the chairs. Having an adult control the music, guide the children into a dance space and let them dance when the music plays. When the music stops, each child must freeze in a funny position. The children must not break their position until the music begins again. Anyone who moves is out. The rounds continue until there is one child left standing.
What you need to play:
Music
Awesome dance moves
Awesome statue poses
Disco Charades
The act-out game charades with the disco twist. Write musical acts, song titles and types of dances on slips of paper and put them into a hat or bag. Divide the guests into teams and let each team member have a turn to act out the slip’s information without speaking. If their team mates guess correctly, they score a point. If they get it wrong, the other team gets the point. The first team to score 10 wins.
What you need to play:
Paper and pen
Hat or bag
Lip-Synching Contest
Find popular kids tunes and create a playlist that can be played on a music device or phone. Write the names of the songs on slips of paper and let each child draw a slip. They can then either choose to lip-sync or actually sing along with the song. Other guests can serve as judges and award prizes according to the best lip syncing or best live singing.
What you need to play:
Paper and pen – for song titles and scoring
Playlist
Microphone (optional – depends how loud you put the music)

Indoor Pool Party Games and Activities
Giant Ring Toss
Tossing rings onto a cone has come to the pool. Find an inflatable ring toss game and have the kids get into the pool to try and toss the ring over the cone. You can also play this game on the ground.
What you’ll need to play:
1 inflatable ring toss game
Floating Musical Chairs
Use floating pool chairs, but make sure there is one less than the amount of players. Play music and have the kids swim around. When the music stops, they have to try and get onto a floating pool chair. Whoever doesn’t have a chair is eliminated and the rounds continue until there is one person left.
What you need to play:
Floating pool chairs
Music
Fill the Bucket Sponge Race
This one takes some patience. Separate the children into pairs and have one sit behind the other. The player at the back will have a bucket of water and a sponge and the player in front will have an empty bucket. You can also do this in even teams, where the team forms a longer line and passes the sponge over each head to get to the front player. The back player soaks the sponge in the bucket of water and passes it to the player in front, who squeezes it out into their empty bucket. The first pair/team to fill their buckets wins. You can decide where to consider the bucket ‘full’ and mark it with tape or a marker.
What you’ll need to play:
2 buckets for each pair/team
Tape or a marker
Squirt Gun Cup Races
Hang two strings across the pool – either tied to trees if you have them or have kids volunteer to take turns to hold the string – that go through one plastic cup per string. Load some water guns and then get a member from each team to hop in the pool and use their squirt gun to squirt the cup across the pool. Whoever does it the fastest wins and scores a point. You can let a member of each team do this and tally up the scores at the end.
What you’ll need to play:
String
Plastic cups
Squirt guns
Sponge Ball Tag
Soak a sponge ball in water and the tagger – whoever is ‘it’ – tries to hit the other players with the ball. Whoever gets hit is now ‘it’. The game ends once all the players have been tagged, with the last one tagged being the winner. Play in your bathing costumes and get nice and wet!
What you’ll need to play:
A bucket of water
A sponge ball

Yombu’s Party Games Coordinators
Playing together can help your child develop social skills and make new friends. Games also give your child an opportunity to learn or practice new skills while having fun with their friends at the same time.
We hope this list has given you some great ideas for indoor kids’ party games. Remember, they don’t have to be complicated — just fun!
Yombu partners with awesome party games coordinators that can rally the kids together at your party. Contact them to book an entertainer easily online in only a couple of minutes. You can also chat live to your entertainer and work together to organize the best party ever. All you need is a Yombu account!
FAQ’s:
There are many! But the favorite at the moment is definitely animal themed parties – think safari party, wild one party, party animals party.
What Did you Think?
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These are fantastic ideas, especially for older kids with the tea and ice cream activities. Pool party activities are great for summer birthdays! Animal themed parties are always a good way to go, simple and fun. Sponge tag and squirt guns are classic and so fun.
Thank you Nikki, appreciate the feedback. 🙂