You must have watched or heard of the game show “A Minute to Win it” by now. Watching the participants complete hair-raising challenges under a minute got us laughing, screaming with excitement and just at the edge of our seats. The challenges are actually easily replicated at home with household objects, and we have a great list of ideas of party and indoor games for kids that they will have tons of fun playing!
Great Fun with Indoor Games for Kids
Play these games on a day in or bookmark this page for an upcoming birthday party. You just need some simple props!
An essential item is a timer or an hourglass to time the one minute. You can play it between two groups, or two siblings, or parent-child pairs! The team which completes the task first will score five points, while the losing team scores three points.
Scores are tabulated at the end of all the tasks to see which team emerges victorious. You will also need some prizes or forfeits for the game.
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Ready for some fun indoor games for kids? Here we go!
1. Shake Those Hips!
You will need two empty tissue boxes or boxes with a hole. Put either pompom balls or ping pong balls to fill both boxes. Tie the boxes to the representative of the team and the participant will need to shake all the fillings of the box all out under one minute. This party game for kids is usually a crowd-pleaser as it sends everyone into peals of laughter.
2. Thread the Pasta or Cheerios
Using only the mouth, participants must use a straw to thread as many cheerios or penne pasta as they can. While this might seem easy, the trick is to keep everything on the straw by the end of one minute. The team with the highest number remaining on the straw wins! You will need straws and either cheerios or penne pasta for this indoor game for kids.
3. Ping Pong Race
Use straws or pipe-cleaners to create two lanes. They can be in zig-zag lines or crooked lines to make the task more challenging. At the end of each lane, stick a plastic cup to the edge for the ping pong ball to fall into it. The first one who blows the ball all the way on the path into the cup wins the race!
4. Stop the Marble
You will need a tilted surface or a ramp for this, and a spoon and a marble. If there isn’t a ramp available nearby, improvise this indoor game for kids by using a chopping board or a thick piece of cardboard and prop it against the wall. The participant will take turns to play by keeping the marble on the ramp using the spoon to push it upwards. The winner is the one who can keep the marble on the ramp for the longest time.
5. Stack the Apples
Only apples are needed for this task. Stack five apples without the apple tower toppling, the one who manages to stack all five apples in the shortest time wins! You’ll be surprised how entertaining this party game can be for kids.
6. Cookie without Hands
All you need are some cookies and a broom for cleaning up later on. In under one minute, the participant will need to eat the cookie that is placed on his or her forehead – without using the hands. Be prepared for lots of crumbs and broken cookies – and laughs too!
7. Skip the Balls
For this game, you will need about six to seven paper or plastic cups filled to the brim with water, two ping pong balls and two more empty cups. Line the cups in two rows and place an empty cup at the end of each row. When the timer starts, each participant will need to blow the ping pong ball across the cups to the empty cup at the end. To increase the level of difficulty, you could decrease the amount of water slightly or increase the number of cups.
8. Country Flag Eraser Tower
Many kids have country flag erasers in their possession – and if they don’t, the country flag erasers are prized possessions and would make great prizes for the winners too. The country flag erasers are usually sold in a box of 48 pieces. Split the 48 erasers into two halves with 24 for each participant. The aim of this indoor game for kids is to stack the erasers on its side (based on shortest width) all the way up! The tallest tower made of country erasers wins!
9. Chopsticks Skills
Asians would probably be great at this challenge. Have two pairs of chopsticks ready, two cups of marbles and two empty cups. Blindfolds would definitely raise the challenge. Participants will need to transfer the marbles from one cup to the other. The empty cup can be placed further away from the participant depending on how tough you want the challenge to be.
10. Cup Stacking
With 36 cups per team, each team must stack and unstack the cups into a pyramid in under a minute. The fastest team wins!
11. Float the Balloons
First, inflate the balloons. Then each participant must keep two balloons in the air with only one arm. If both balloons remain in the air for the entire minute, each participant gets all 5 points.
12. Roll the Potato/Onion
This party game only requires two potatoes or two onions. Participants must roll the potato using only their nose from one end of the room to the other. We tried this at home and the boys laughed so hard trying to do this. Well, don’t keep laughing because the faster one wins the race!
13. Water Dropper
Using pipette droppers or medicine droppers, the participant must transfer a cup of water into an empty one. The fuller one at the end of one minute will win the “minute to win it” challenge.
Feeling Game On for some Family Fun with A Minute to Win it?
Try our ideas! These games can all be played indoors easily. Just gather the items and start the challenges. Don’t forget it’s all in good fun. Warning: It could get you laughing too hard to complete any of the challenges!
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