As we continue to spend more time at home, it can become easy to run out of different ideas for new things to do to keep ourselves and our family entertained. There’s only so much Netflix you can watch every day, right?! Along with our every day routine which might include working from home, cleaning the house, cooking, doing some exercise, tidying the garden, answering surveys on Qmee and helping the kids with online educational work, we also need to have some fun to keep us going and lift our spirits!

Finding some games to play at home with the family is a great way to spend time together and have fun, without worrying what’s going on in the world (even if it’s just for half an hour out of the day!). Games are a brilliant form of entertainment and there are plenty that you can play that don’t need you to be looking at a screen – so you can have a bit of a break from watching television and the kids can put down their iPads for a while.

We know that coming up with new, fun games to play at home can be difficult, so we’ve done some of the hard work for you! We’ve put together a few ideas of different games that you can get the whole family involved with. Why not make Saturday nights your regular game night?! Have a look at these games to play at home, pick whichever you like the look of and give it a go at the weekend…

20 Questions – simple, yet so fun! One player thinks of an object and lets everyone else know only whether it’s an animal, vegetable, piece of technology etc. Then the other players ask questions, to try and work out what the object is, that can be only answered with yes or no. The object of the game? To guess the answer in fewer than 20 questions!

Who am I? – each player takes on the persona of a well-known person and gives that person’s initials as a clue. The questioners try to guess who the person is by asking specific questions than can only be answered with yes or no. The first questions may be general (e.g. “are you alive today?”, “are you an actor/actress?”, “are you American?”) with the following questions continuing to zero in on the identity until someone guesses the mystery person! This is a great game for the whole family and especially for older children who are familiar with people in the news and historic figures.

Categories – one player states a “category” and the other player take turns in naming items that belong in that group. The category can be as broad as “animals”, or to make the game harder, as narrow as “types of dogs”. You can set a time limit for how long each person has to add to the category when it’s their turn so that they don’t take too long to come up with a response. The category chosen, and the amount of time you give each player, will determine how difficult or easy the game is! You can continue to play until everyone runs out of ideas for the category.

Starting with letter … – the only thing you’ll need for this game is a pen and paper for each person. First of all the players must decide together on a set number of categories they want to use to play the game. The categories can be things like “boys names”, “girls names”, “a country”, “a food”, “a colour”, “a movie” etc. Try to keep the categories broad and not too narrow. One player then chooses a letter of the alphabet. Each player then has to write down something that starts with the chosen letter for each category. For example, if the chosen letter is B you could choose “Ben” for boys names, “Belinda” for girls names, “Botswana” for a country, “Banana” for a food and so on. You need to set time limit (a minute usually works well). The object of the game is to have an answer for each category AND the most unlikely answers will get you the most points! If you’re the only person to have an answer in the category, you can get the most points, whereas if 3 of you have the same answer, you’ll be given less points. This is a game you can adapt however you like!

Charades – a classic that everyone loves! Players divide into two teams and each member writes a phrase on a slip of paper, folds it up and places it in their team’s bowl. A player picks a paper from the opposing team’s bowl and acts out individual words, syllables, and other hints to depict the phrase. This pantomime play hones communication skills as each player provides nonverbal clues to help teammates guess the right phrase within an agreed-upon time limit. The game has some formal conventions—for instance, gestures that describe what type of phrase is being guessed, such as making quote marks with your fingers for a quotation or placing hands together then opening them to signal a book title. But you can adapt the format in many ways.