Family Photo Game

Pick out photos of various family members and place them in front of your child. Randomly call one of your family members name and ask your child to identify them from the pictures laid out. You can do this for colours and places as well.

Yoga

Teach them various yoga poses. With the help of flashcards containing the name of the postures and its picture. You can play some music and even give animal names for the postures to help your child remember them.

Balancing Beam

An easy activity for toddlers and younger kids, which will help improve their balancing and motor skills. You can use coloured tapes for this game. Tell your child to walk only on the tape. The objective is to maintain balance. Ask them to walk only on one leg as part of the challenge. If they finish the entire length of the tape without falling, they win the game.

Balloon Ball

Blow up a large number of balloons of different sizes and colours. Play throw and catch in the house or around the garden with your child. This is a good game to exercise their body also.

Pitching Marbles

This game helps in improving your child’s hand-eye coordination. You can use any kind of container to toss the marbles. Place the container on a chair, couch or the table. Ask your child to step back and maintain a good distance to be able to toss the marbles into the container. Tell them to land as many marbles as possible into the cup. They win when they manage to land all the marbles. Either pennies or pin pong balls can be used as a substitute.

Home Band

Create musical instruments using objects from around the house. You can make a guitar using a plastic box and some rubber bands. You can even make shakers but putting some seeds or coffee beans inside plastic bottles. Use these sings along and have fun.

Bowling

Similar to Pitching marbles, bowling helps in improving your child’s hand-eye coordination. Choose an obstacle-free area around the house to create a bowling alley. You can use plastic bottles or soda cans as pins. Using a tennis ball ask your child to strike the pins arranged in the form of a pyramid.

Hangman

This game is a fun way to learn spellings and new words. You will need a chalkboard, some coloured chalk, a set of questions, answers and hints. Start by asking your child a question. Write the answer on the board leaving blanks in the words. Give your child hints and ask them to from answers by guessing the letters. If they fail to get the answer right within seven guesses, the hangman dies and they lose the game.

Pictionary

This game involves one player drawing an image and the other guessing the word. This is a fun way to improve one’s drawing skills. Write words on a piece of paper and put them in a bowl. Ask your child to pick a chit and draw the word without revealing it to you. Alternatively, you and your child could switch between drawing and guessing.

Sock Toss

Roll some coloured socks into little balls and tie them up. Place a bucket and ask your child to take a few steps. Ask them to toss as many sock balls into the bucket as possible. The older kids can be challenged by giving them a pitcher or a vessel with a narrow opening.

Indoor Obstacle Course

You can use many things to build an obstacle course. Like chair, desk, blankets, hula-hoops etc. Create an obstacle course using all these and make rules. Tell your child, to reach the finish line they have to go through the obstacles in a certain way only. For example, a chair, they have to pass through it from under it only etc.

Follow the leader

This game is fun when there are a large group of kids involved. Gather them in a circle and the leader stands at the centre of the circle. The objective of the game is to follow the leader. The leader can do any physical activity, expressions or gestures. This is a good way to get your kids to exercise.

Puzzles

Puzzles are good educational activity. Also, they will keep your kids engaged for a long time. For older kids, word puzzles would be ideal. For the younger ones give them image puzzles, explain to them that puzzle pieces when put together make a picture. World puzzles also help in improving their vocabulary. A 3D puzzle toy is also a fun activity for toddlers.

Snake and Ladder

Snake and ladder is a nice board game for children of all ages. You have to roll the dice to move your pawn into the spaces. If you move to the ladder, you can climb up to it, if you land on a snakes tongue, you have to climb down to its tails.

Sort Colors

In a bowl, put various colours of marbles and mix them well together. Ask your child to separate the marbles as per the colours and put them in different bowls. This game is ideal for toddlers. 

Card games

You can use a deck of cards and teach them some kid-friendly games like go fish, spoon, crazy eight, trash, memory cards, etc. Alternatively, you can use Uno cards.

Build a Fort

You can use pillows, blankets and set them up with the help of furniture. Stack some pillows on top of each other on both sides parallel. Place a blanket on them, to make it more spacious you can use cardboard boxes along with pillows. Decorate the place inside with some books, toys and other favourite things of your kid. On one side you can fold the blanket make it shorter than the other side and call it a blanket.

Dominoes

You can use a domino game set, stack them in a pattern as per your preference. Flip the first piece from the arrangement and watch all the pieces falling in succession. More number of domino pieces will keep your child occupied for a long time.

Ice Tower Excavation 

An ideal games for the summer. Collect your child’s toys and put them in clear water and freeze them. Using salt or eye drops ask your child to unfreeze the toys trapped in the ice.

Books

Keep them occupied with colouring books. Read them stories from picture books and keep updating their books once they are finished with the old ones.

Freeze

A fun and simple game for everyone in the family. Play some music and ask everyone to dance, when the music stops, everyone should freeze in the position they were in. they can even make postures of famous statues.

Paper Bag Skits

Prepare a bag with various items like toys, cutlery, ball, socks etc. and give this to your child and tell them to perform a small skit using the things from the bag. 

Hide and Seek

Ask your child to close their eyes and count to 10, the other members can hide until the seeker stops counting. Once he’s done, the seeker will try to locate the players hiding.

Vegetable Painting

Tell your child to draw anything they like on a piece of paper. Give them ladies finger and some paint. Using the ladies finger tell them to stamp its pattern on their drawings using different colours.

Science Experiments 

Watch some videos on YouTube and indulge your kids in making various science experiments like a lava lamp, storm in glass, snow fluff, volcano etc.

Treasure Hunt

A simple yet fun game. Hide toys and trinkets around the house. Write clues and hints on a piece of paper and place them hidden along with these toys. Provide the first clue, let him find them find the later ones on their own.

Hot Potato

Make all the children sit in a circle and give them a ball or potato to pass it around. Start playing the music, when the music stops the child holding the potato will have to leave the circle. The winner is the last one remaining in the circle.

The listening Game

This game will help improve your child’s listening skills. Place various objects in front of him and allow him to memorize them for some time. Using a blindfold, cover his eyes and make sounds from the objects and ask him to guess the object.

Bubbles

Fill a bowl up with water n immerse the dish soap. Using a straw give it a nice swirl and let it melt in the water for some time. Hold the end of the straw on the foam and blow on it gently and watch as he bubbles take off.

Head Pop

Attach a pin or needle to a cap. Tie balloons at various heights around the house. Tell your child to wear the cap and ask them to pop these balloons by jumping to pop them.

Simon Says

Instruct your child that they should act according to what you say, given you start the phrase with the words “Simon says”, if they act on a phrase without these words then they are out.

Touch and feel box

Cut a box with a hole from the top big enough to fit a person’s hand. Place a bowl of spaghetti noodles or potato or slimy goo in a bowl. Ask your child what’s inside by feeling inside the box.

Play-dough

Use can either use store-bought play-dough or make the dough at home using flour and food colouring. As your child to make animals and other things he wishes, using the play dough.

Cooking 

If your child likes to eat and cook yummy food. This game is a good exposure to feed their interests more. Provide your child with utensils or cooking set toys. Ask them to make imaginary dishes using the utensils, you can even give them cut veggies and other snacks to make it more real and interesting.

Dance Party

Using a tape recorder play some music. Use some videos of dance choreography to make them learn dance steps. Or you can teach them your dance moves. 

Magic Show

You can look for some easy magic tricks on YouTube and use them on your child. Watch as they get amazed by those tricks. Even store-bought magic tricks sets can be used to teach your child how to do magic.

Earth, Water and Air

Categorize parts of your house to earth, water and air. Instruct your child that when you say earth they have to be on the ground. When you say water they have to be around objects that put out the water, then when you say air, they have to jump as high as they can. A good imaginary game for exercising.

Musical Chairs

It’s fun to play this game when more number of children are involved. Arrange chairs in a circle. Ask all the children to move around the circle when the music is playing. As soon as the music stops they have to sit on a chair. The person still standing will lose the game.

Guess Who

On a piece of paper, ask your child to write the name of any person. Could be a teachers, friends or members of the family. You have to guess the person on the piece of paper. Your child can give you clues to make the guessing easier.

Chinese Whisper

It’s fun to play this game when more number of kids are involved. Whisper a phrase in your child’s ear and tell them to whisper the same phrase to the person next to them. This is a funny game because the phrase gets distorted during the game. And the message announced by the last person is something very different from what was said in the beginning.

Carom

This is a board game with coins and a striker. The goal is to drop the coins into the pockets of the board using a striker. The coins are all coloured differently with assigned values

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Teach your child to make gestures of rock, paper and scissors using their hand. A first represents rock, stretched out palm represents paper, two fingers represent scissors. Rock wins over scissors, scissors win over paper and paper wins over rock.

I Spy

Play this game with your child by starting the sentence with ‘I Spy” then describe the colour and texture of the object instead of naming the object itself. Your child has to guess the object in your mind.

Sock Wars

Make several sock balls and divide the children into two teams. Ask the two team to build forts using pillows and other things to hide. When the game starts the children should hit the other team members with the help of sock balls. If a child is hit they are out of the team. The last team with more number of players’ still standing wins the game.

Tastes like?

Ask your child to wear a blindfold, you can feed them with different variety of foods. Ask them to guess the food based on the flavour.

Art 

Ask your child to collect leaves sticks and seeds of plants and trees. Ask them to make some drawings and stick them in the drawings instead of using paint. 

Hopscotch

Draw the hopscotch pattern on a mat using chalk and hop along with the pattern. You can ever use patterns or tiles on the floor if you do not have a mat.

Mini-Golf

Use bats, cups and Ping-Pong ball to make a mini-golf course in and around the house. You can ever use tracks and slides from other game sets to form a course or path for the ball to pass through.

Toy Wash

Tell your kids to gather all their toy cars and bike in the bathtub and tell them that you’ll all play toy wash. This is a good way to make them clean all their dirty toys.

Snowflakes

Cut out white paper into small bits. Use a hairdryer to blow them all from the bowl to make the snowflake effect.

Marshmallow Toys

Give your child marshmallow and pretzels, ask them to build imaginary houses using these. This is easy and non-messy because they need to stick pretzels into marshmallows. 

Cookies

Bake cookies with your kids and allow them to use a cookie cutter to make cookies in the shape of animals or snowman.

Greetings

Hand out cards and stationery to your kids. Tell them to make greeting cards for all the members of the family and write a nice message inside for the person addressed on the card.

Waddle

Give your kids a balloon and instruct them to place it in between their legs. Tell them that they have to walk to the finish line without dropping it.

Balloon Blow

Give your kid a balloon and ask them to blow it till the finish line. This is a good physical activity because they need to do a lot of crawling and blowing to get to the finish line.

Spider Web

Using a sticky tape make a webbed design near and opening. Use lightweight objects like paper, threads, cotton balls, balloons etc. ask them to count how many object stick and how many do not.

Sticky Note Wall 

Write letters from A to Z and stick them on the wall or a door. Give your child a soft object to hit the notes with the particular letter you call out. You can ever ask them to spell words but bopping the notes with soft toys.

Catch

Use ping pong balls and plastic cups for this game. Tell your child to stand at a distance and hold the plastic cup. Throw ping pong balls at them one by one. Tell your child that they have to catch the ball using the glass. 

Mirror

Make your child stand in front of you and ask them to copy your moves, just like that of a mirror. This is a good exercise activity for you and your child.

Aeroplanes 

Make paper aeroplanes and throw them to reach the finish line. Ask your child to collect it and bring them all back either by crawling, dancing or jumping but not by walking.

Skating

Using a pair of socks your child can skate around the house like the famous figure skaters. They can even use mittens, paper napkins or dryer sheets as a substitute.

Mattress Slide    

Take a mattress and place it slanting towards the ground. Ask your child you sit on top and lift their hands and slide down the mattress while lifting their hands in the air.

 Shade Card

Pick out a shade card from the paint shop. Give your child toys of different shades. Ask them to pick out exact or the closest colour possible of the toy from the shade card.

Night Scavenger Hunt

Hide toys and objects around the house. Provide your child with clues of the objects and switch off all the lights. Give them torches and flashlights to find the hidden objects. Children will enjoy playing this game.

Tape Game       

Make shapes, letters and number on the floor using tape. Ask your child to move to a particular letter, number or shape either by crawling, jumping, dancing etc.

Balloon Tap

Hand the balloon a little higher than your child’s arm. Ask them to jump up and touch the balloon. But they have to use their head or elbow. Count how many times in a row they can do this without missing.

Balloon Hand

Ask your child to balance the balloon on the back of their hand and take it till the finish line. Watch how delicately they will handle the balloon until they reach the finish line.

Foot Balance

Ask your child to lie down on the floor and lift their legs in the air. Place the balloon on their foot and ask them to reach the finish line in this position. This is a good abdomen workout.

Uno Attack

As opposed to the classic Uno, Uno attack introduces challenging but random varying situations with the help of a mechanical card launcher. The game objective is to score 500 points. Additionally, 3 extra cards are introduced which adds slight variations to the classic Uno. It’s an engaging game that requires players to constantly adapt to the challenges.

Pictionary

This is a good choice of game for family game nights. Pictionary requires a lot of interactions amongst the team members to guess what the other is drawing. It’s quite a simple game but a lot of fun. The rules of the game can be changed and adjusted to suit the circumstances. This is possible because it’s not as complex as the other games.  

Apples to Apples Jr

This game consists of a set of red apple cards with person, place, thing and events on them. It also has a set of green apple cards which consists of describing words. Players act as a judge on their turn and place one green apple card face up on the table. Other players must match one of the red cards in their hand to the green card on the table. The judge decides the winner, the winner gets the green apple card. First to collect 4 apple cards wins the game.

Charades

The structure of charades is quiet similar to Pictionary. As opposed to drawing, the players have to enact or use non-verbal body language to convey the message or a phrase. This game requires a skill of its own. Similar to Pictionary. The rules can be added or adjusted as per the requirements.

Qwirkle 

Qwirkle is similar to that of scrabble, instead, it has shapes and colours. Each player starts with 6 tiles varying in colours and shapes. On their turn players have to match as many tiles as possible in shape or colour but you can repeat colours or shapes in the same line. This highly awarded game is the best option for family game night.

Jenga

A vertical tower is built by stacking Jenga blocks. The objective is to remove and stack a block from the tower without making the tower to collapse. This game creates a very competitive and exciting atmosphere for the kids.

Monopoly

Another great choice for family game night. This board game requires a minimum of 2 players. Players take turns to roll the dice and move the token around the board. All players receive a sum of money to start the game. Based on the spaces they land on, actions will be taken. Chance and community chest cards describe the rules as per the number that landed them in that space. If other players land on a property purchased by one of the players, he is entitled to pay the rent amount as mentioned on the card. The objective is to become the wealthiest player by selling, renting and buying properties.

Guess Who

The game objective is to correctly guess your opponent’s character before they guess yours. Each player gets an identity card. Players take turns and ask questions about the other player’s identity. Players rule out the possibilities based on the questions they ask their opponents. The best of 5 wins the game.

Pictureka 

The game consists of nine tiles with pictures on both sides. Also consists of one coloured dice and one numbered dice. The game has four sets of cards red, blue, green and action cards. So players take turns and read the rules on the cards and perform actions as per the cards. It a family fun game, keeps all the players engaged. This game will keep your kids occupied and interested.

Twister

The game consists of a multi-coloured mat and a twister wheel. The objective of the game is to not fall over. Spin the wheel and put your hands and feet as per the colour mentioned on the wheel. The whole family will have a wonderful time.

Pencil and Paper Games

Tell your kids to sharpen their pencil and gather some paper. Entertain them with fun paper and pencil games like hangman, sprouts, dots and squares or categories. These will keep them occupied for quite some time.

Building Forts

Ask your child to help you build a fort using blankets, bedsheets and pillows lying around the house. You can even make a spacious camping tent of sorts with the help of blankets and other furniture. Decorate the tent with your child’s favourite toys, books and other favourite things. They will have fun enacting imaginary scenes and role-playing with their toys.

Crafts

Provide your kids with coloured paper, crayons, buttons, threads and some glue. Encourage them to make something out of it. They can use Popsicle sticks or match sticks to build paper houses and trees. They can get even more creative by learning the art of paper folding and create cute little animals. Also knows as origami in Japanese.

Magical Mama

Select three identical cups or glasses, preferably opaque ones. Place a coin or a tiny ball under one of the 3 cups and shuffle them around. Now ask your child to guess the cup that contains the penny. You can trick your children by removing the penny from under the cup when they aren’t looking or sneak the penny out from the edge of the table. They will be shocked and amused when they find out that the coin is gone.

Card Games

Pull out a box of cards and teach them to some kid-friendly card games like go fish, crazy eight, war, old maid, memory, snap, rummy, I doubt it, slapjack, pig, bluff etc. Cards are a great way to challenge your minds and keep them occupied for a long time.

Puzzles

Flex your kid’s problem-solving muscles with a good number of puzzles. You can buy a wide variety of good puzzles from the store or ask your child to make his own. Tell your child to make drawings of his favourite cartoon characters on sheets of paper. Stick them on a cardboard sheet and cut them out in the shape of puzzle pieces. Mix them all up and tell your kids to join the puzzle pieces. The whole activity will last for a good number of hours.

Freeze

Children belonging to the age groups of below 4 years will especially love this game. Play some music and tell them that they have to dance until the music stops. When the music stops they have to stop dancing and freeze regardless of what position they find themselves in. if they move or laugh they are out. Toddlers will enjoy themselves because they can’t stop laughing when they are especially told not to laugh. You can award them with medals and prizes made from ribbons for maintaining composure.

Picnic

If you miss taking your children to the park for picnics, you can plan a one in your backyard. Prepare a basket of fruits, vegetables, sandwiches and other treats with a blanket and bring it to your lawn or garden. This way you get to enjoy some fresh breeze and get some vitamin D.

Gunny Bag Skits

Give your child a gunny bag filled with random things like spoon, fork, toys, socks, jewellery, ribbons, balls etc. Give them 20 minutes and ask them to construct a skit using these props. This game is fun when there are a large number of people. Especially entertaining during birthday parties or sleepovers.

Play-dough

Tell your children to create things using play dough. It could be doughnuts, cakes, houses, teddy bears etc. You can use store-bought playdough or make your dough by mixing the kitchen ingredients like wheat flour, salt, virgin oil and natural dyes for different colours. Provide them will rolling pins and cookie cutters to make their animated doughs look realistic.

Treasure Hunt

Start hiding objects or your kid’s toys around the house. Using slips of paper, provide clues describing the object and its hideout location. You can modify the game by asking them questions and if they answer correctly, you give them a slip with the clue. You can even design the treasure such that one clue leads to the next clue to find the buried treasure. Kids of all ages will enjoy playing this game.

Indoor Bowling 

You can use water bottles lying around the house to create an indoor bowling set. Arrange the water bottles similar to pins arranged in the bowling alley. Use duct tape to mark the starting line. Preferably choose areas that provide enough length to roll the ball. To balance the water bottles properly you can fill them with water. Don’t forget to screw the bottle caps tightly.

Hot Potato

This game will surely leave all the toddlers giggling. Make all the kids sit in a circle. Start the music, give them a potato and tell them to pass it around in the circle. The one holding the potato when the music stops will have to leave the circle. The last one to remaining wins the game.

Memory Game

Arrange a table with random things like a plate, top, cotton bud, fork, book, ball, pen, etc. you can use any number of things lying around the house. Cover all of it with a big cloth. Tell your child that you will remove the cloth for 10 minutes and allow him to memorize all the things under the cloth. After that, he has to list the things under the cloth on a piece of paper. This game is fun to play with a large group of kids. The one who lists the maximum number of things will be the winner.

Touch and Feel Box

Take a shoebox or any cardboard box with a lid. Cut a hole on top of the box, big enough to fit a child’s hand. You can even decorate the box to make it look pretty. Put something in it like a potato, bowl of jellies or anything. Ask them to feel inside the box and guess what it is. To give your kids an icky feeling and hear some giggles around the room, use slimes or cooked spaghetti. 

Bucket Basketball

You can scrunch papers, roll socks into balls or use smaller sized balls to play this game. Place a bucket at the end of the hall. Using duct tape mark a starting line. Ask your kids to stand behind the line and toss the scrunched paper into the basket. You can make the game more interesting by asking your kid to take a step back and then toss the ball into the bucket. The player to toss the ball from the farthest distance wins.

Finger Paint Animals

Provide your kids with paint and tell them to create animals and shapes using various parts of their body like hands and feet. They can use their imagination and add more details to the handprints or footprints using a pen or pencil.

Animal Impressions

Ask your child to pick an animal but not to reveal it to you. Tell them to give you clues by enacting its sounds and movements. This is sure to create a lot of giggles in the room if there are a large number of kids involved in this particular game.

Bubbles

Take a bowl, dunk a dime size dish soap at the centre of the bowl. Add some water into the bowl and swirl it around gently using a straw until it lathers. Tell you kids to place the end of the straw in the lather and blow it gently. Watch how the bubbles form. 

Baking

Two things children enjoy would be getting their hands messy and eating sweet treats. Involve your children while making pies, cakes and cookies. Use cookie cutters to make teddy bear-shaped cookies and allow them to decorate the cake with pretty confetti. The end product is everybody enjoys a bite to eat.

Pilolo

This game is very popular in rural parts of Ghana. It is suitable for kids above the age group of 4. One player acts as the leader and another as a timekeeper. The timekeeper waits at the finish line to determine the winner. The leader hides either sticks, rocks or pennies when the other players aren’t looking. The leader shouts “Pilolo” after completing his task and timekeeper starts his watch. Here “Pilolo” translates to start searching. Players scatter to find sticks and race to the finish line. The first player at the finish line with a stick is the winner.

Hide and Seek

A very old and popular game played by children from all around the world. The designated seeker closes his eyes and counts to 10 or 20 or even 100 depending on the size and area, giving each player an ample amount of time to hide. The seeker then opens his eyes and starts looking for players hiding, the first one found by the seeker will be the next seeker and the last one found hiding is the winner. This is one form of the game. In another form, while the seeker is looking for players, if all the players return to the home base without being tagged by the seeker then the seeker has to seek again in the next game. In some cases, everybody just waits to be found. There are a wide variety of variations that are made in this game. It’s ideally played amongst very small children. It is referred to in various names all across the world it’s called kryfto in Greece, El escondite in Spain, Machboim in Israel, Sumbaggoggil in south Korea etc.

Corre Corre La Guaraca

Famously played amongst the Chilean kids, which translates to “run, run la guaraca”. Here “la guaraca” is just a slang which has no meaning. All the players close their eyes and sit in a circular form. As they start singing “Corre Corre La Guaraca, whoever looks back will be bopped on their head”, one player jogs around the circle of singing players with a hanky. He then quietly drops it on one of the seated members. If he manages to complete the circle before the seated player realizes the hanky on his back, then the runner wins the game. But if the seated player tags the runner before he completes the circle, then the runner is out. If the seated player fails, he will be the runner in the next game.

Pass the Parcel

Pass the parcel is a popular game originating from the United Kingdom. This is a fun game for children’s birthday parties. Toys or gifts will be wrapped in coloured paper, layer upon layer until there is a good number of layers. Kids are made to sit in a circle then the music begins. The parcel gets passed amongst the children until the music stops. The kid holding the parcel when the music stops unwraps the first layer. Then the music starts again and the whole process continues till the last layer is unwrapped. The child who unwraps the last layer wins the prize.

Agalmata

A popular game originated from Greece which translates to “statue”. One player closes her eyes and stands at the centre of the field and starts counting numbers. She can go on counting indefinitely and stop whenever. There is no particular end number that is set. The other players scatter around waiting for her to shout “Agalmata” i.e. statue. When the player at the centre of the field yells statue, everyone freezes and mimics statue poses. They can take inspiration from the statue of liberty, Christ the redeemer or the little mermaid etc. Then the player “It” goes around the other members in the field trying to make them giggle. Players who maintain composure without laughing are the winners.

Ounch Neech

This is a very popular game played amongst the Pakistani kids. One player is the “it”. Player “It” selects either ounch or neech which translates to up and down. If he chooses down, then the ground is not safe and all the players must find something other than the ground to be upon. Like rock, slide or tree. If he chooses up, then the ground is a safe place. To make this game more interesting, the “it” player can go on changing from ounch to neech trying to tag the players. The tagged player becomes the “it” player in the next game. This game is a great way to gain ample exercise for the body.

Kick the Can

This game is a combination of tag as well as hide and seek. A can is placed at the centre of the field. A designated “It” player counts to 30 closing his eyes and ears. All the other players hide. If the “It” player manages to tag the “non-it” player, he will be captured and sent to the cage. The captured player in the cage can only be saved if another an uncaptured player manages to kick the can without being tagged. The game continues until all the players are captured and put in the cage.

Hopscotch

Grids of numbers from 1 to 9 are made using chalks on the sidewalk. Choose a rock to bounce it on the grids. Smaller rocks bounce higher than the bigger ones. Bounce the rock on grid number 1. Hop along with the hopscotch pattern, turn around and come back. Stop at grid 2, pick the rock on grid 1 and hop on grid 1. Now bounce the rock on grid 2. Repeat the process. If you miss any numbers while bouncing the rocks, your turn ends. This game is suitable during the day and can be played indoors. To play indoors you can make use of floor patterns or find mats and foams to draw on them.

Hot or Cold

Everyone is made to go and wait outside the room until one player hides an object in the room. The children then return to the room and search for the object. The player responsible for hiding the object hints other players by calling of different temperature variations like warm, warmer, hot or cold, colder, freezing etc. based on the proximity. Here hot refers to too close to the object and freezing refers to far away from the object. This game is called as Topfschlagen in Germany, Frio- O-Caliente and Ciepto-zimno in Poland.

Blind Man’s Buff

This game will require a field with a plain surface. A child will be blindfolded and the game ends when he has captured or tagged all the other player. It best to play this game in an area with no obstacles as this may injure the blindfolded player. There are various versions to this game. In one version, if the blindfolded player tag’s another member then the tagged player becomes the new “it” player instantly. In another version, the blindfolded player has to recognize the player he tagged by feeling their face. In a Japanese version of this game, the blindfolded player is made to hold a teacup and tag the players without spilling its contents.

Strong Minds

Academic activities such as in-depth reading and complex problem-solving assignments play an intrinsic role in strengthening your child’s mind. Whereas physical activities additionally build upon toughening your child’s mind even further. High endurance sports activities will help your child in developing the ability to recover quickly from difficult situations. By participating in sports and other physical activities they are provided with an opportunity in enjoying an active social life and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Physical activities also provide them with a much-needed break from all the stress and boredom created due to academic curricula.

Social Skills

Participating in after school activities allow your children to socialize with different groups of people. They make new friends, they converse with people who possess similarities such their own. Regardless of whether your child is an introvert or an extrovert, signing them up for these activities will improve their social skills way beyond imagination. They develop deeper bonds of friendships with like-minded people. They learn to collaborate with mentors and their peers. Your children will learn to break social barriers and these activities will keep them from being distracted into other inappropriate, disturbing activities.

Professional Skills

Classroom alone will not be able to imbibe your child with professional skills. Signing them up for leadership clubs will help them develop important management and delegation skills required for their future. Debate clubs and toastmaster clubs also provide an amazing platform for practising and improving one’s public speaking skills. Other sports activities like basketball, football and volleyball help in nurturing and strengthening your child’s team-building skills. Therefore extracurricular activities support your children by bestowing them with skills which will prove to be an asset when they are looking to be employed in the future.

Time Management 

Besides schoolwork, additional commitments to one’s already busy schedule might look hectic. As this demands your child to divide their attention equally amongst both academics as well as extracurricular activities. This will not only help your children in understanding the importance of time management but they will learn to keep themselves busy during free times as well. Being occupied will also help them focus on completing tasks rather than procrastinating them further. Time management plays a crucial role in their examinations as well. They will also be applying time management skills in various phases of their life.

Exploration

Children will learn more about themselves when they participate in various extracurricular activities. They will learn to explore their strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes. They will try out new activities and interests. This will help them choose their majors and minors when they enrol themselves to universities in the future. These diversified views gained by participating in various activities will broaden their perspective about the world. For example: Joining a philosophy club will provoke them to look at the world through the eyes of a philosopher. Scholarships achieved by excelling in non-academic activities will provide your child with an opportunity to attain admissions in reputed universities. 

Academic Performance

Students may worry that participating in non-academic activities might take up too much of their time and in turn hurt their grades. But these activities, in general, have proven to be effective in improving grades and their outlook on school. Participation in these activities will increase the functioning and help them concentrate and manage their time better. Training in high endurance sports will help them focus and build stamina. This will prove to be advantageous while taking up exams. These activities will help in achieving higher grades and aim for higher academic aspirations.

Children learn to adapt well to changes as compared to adults. So it’s a parent’s responsibility to put them in various stimulating situations when as they develop. These activities promote physical, emotional and mental health. It also contributes to improving your child’s self-esteem. They learn to make new friends and involve themselves in challenges – fail – improve and then try again. By maintaining proper schedules amongst various activities they can easily learn to manage their time. They can squeeze the best out of all the activities and gain the maximum benefit. It’s a great platform to have fun and prepare for the future as well.

Positive Punishment

Punishments are given to end negative behaviours. So when you add a negative consequence to a negative behaviour it becomes a positive punishment. It involves making your child suffer the consequence of negative behaviour. Examples of positive punishments would be:

• When your child fails to clean his room as part of his daily chores, you add an extra chore like doing the laundry. Now he has to clean his room and do the laundry as well.
• When you have restricted your child from eating more than one cookie in a day, he eats four to five of them and falls sick. In the future, your child will think twice before eating more than one cookie.
• Your child steals from the toy store. You make him do the right thing by writing an apology letter to the store and asking them to return the stolen toy.
• Your child uses cuss words when you’re trying to discipline him. As a punishment make them write the sentence “they will never use cuss words again” a hundred times.

Negative Punishment

When you strip your child of their privileges as a result of negative behaviour, it becomes a negative punishment. When you stop giving them attention and give them the silent treatment for a few days, they will rethink their behaviours. Examples of negative punishments would be:

• When your child fights with their sibling for the television, take away TV privileges for a week from both of them.
• Your child failed to complete their homework, strip them of their favourite toys for the rest of the week.
• Your teenage kid misses their curfew by 5 minutes, take their phone away for the rest of the week.
• Your child throws a temper tantrum, as a punishment ground them from playing with their friends for the next 2 weeks.
• When your child refuses to complete their daily chores, strip them of Wi-Fi privileges for the next week.

Positive Reinforcement 

Positive reinforcement refers to rewarding your child for good behaviour. They will exhibit their best behaviours in the future because their brain associates positive actions with a reward. Here the reward is the reinforcing stimulus. The reward could be in the form of praise or gifts. Examples of positive reinforcements would be:

• You praise them for a job well done, when they take up the initiative for putting away the dishes after dinner.
• When your child completes their homework without arguments, you add in an extra ½ hour to their screen time.
• Allowing your child to have a cookie because they cleaned their room before you even asked them to.
• Your teenager works hard and scores well for the semester, you take them out for dinner and a movie or provide them with funds to spend to do as they please.

Negative Reinforcement

Choosing to change your child’s bad behaviour to good behaviour by removing something that is causing them problems or displeasure. The child will portray acceptable behaviour to be rid of negative reinforcements. Examples of negative reinforcements are nagging and yelling. Negative reinforcements are less effective as compared to positive reinforcements. Examples of negative reinforcements would be:

• Your child will complete his chores to stop you from nagging them about it.
• Your child has been misbehaving at the bus stop, so you wait for him for the bus every day. He starts behaving appropriately to keep you from going with him every day.
• After playing with their toys, your child puts them in its rightful place because they don’t want to forget where they placed it or lose it.
• Your teenager studies hard to perform well at school to keep you from scolding and nagging them about their bad grades.

All children are not the same. What works for one may not be the appropriate plan of action for the other. For instance, you decide against buying your child an ice-cream cone as a punishment for their bad behaviour. For a child who does not enjoy sweet dishes, this punishment will never modify their behaviour. Choose to formulate those punishments that work for your child the best.

Micromanager

You interfere and try to rule every little decision like food, clothing, grades, hobbies, friends etc. Set them free, let them eat and wear what they like, let them sleepover at a friend’s place, let them choose their hobby. When you try to micromanage things for your child, you will become an obstacle preventing them from knowing about oneself. Your child might become lazy or think that they are incapable of making choices. This might lead to a lack of self-confidence in them. The idea is to bring up kids with confidence and creativity. Let them do what interests them

Preventing Failures

Parents’ cannot accept their children failing at things. They assume it’s a result of bad parenting. Allow your child to fail and learn from its mistakes. You never know, they might excel at it the second time. If they failed to complete their homework, they will learn to finish and submit it on time eventually after being reprimanded in school. If they fail to do well in their exams, they will study harder the next time and score well. Don’t expect perfection at the first go. Allow them to test the waters before pushing them to swim. Share your own stories and experiences of failures. Tell them how you overcame them and how that has changed you. This will make them believe that it’s not impossible to get back on your feet once you fail.

Responsibility

Teaching your child to be responsible at an early age is good. Stop doing their work for them even though you can get it done faster by yourself. Stop feeding them, cleaning their room, making their bed and putting their clothes in the wash. Teach them how, the first time. Let them do it on their own the second time. Assign them with age-appropriate household chores. As they grow they will learn to take more responsibilities and contribute around the house. Let them exercise these tasks on their own even if it means that you have to step back at times.

Consoling 

Stop shielding them from every little thing that would hurt your child. Stop pampering them more than necessary for an innocent bike injury. Provide them comfort, kiss and hug them, and talk to them and explain why they are feeling hurt or let down. They must pass through the process of pain to grow stronger emotionally. Portray the reality as it is and help them grow a thicker skin. Don’t go overboard by compensating for their pain by making trips to the toy store, ice-cream place or an amusement park just because of a few bad experiences.

Privacy

Privacy is a need for any human being. Any child no matter how small will have thoughts and feelings that they would want to keep for themselves. Let them have their privacy. Let them shut their doors and lock their wardrobes on occasions. If you think that they are doing it more than necessary ask them what’s happening in school, with their friends, involve yourself a little. Stop calling and texting constantly, stalking their social media accounts frequently, sneaking into their phones without their permission. Don’t demand on getting information about every little thing in their life, don’t practice helicopter parenting. Trust them, don’t make them resent you. 

Branching Out

Your child wanted to learn ballet during the summer but you enrol her to Bharatanatyam. Your child wants to join the carol singing team along with their friend at school but you force them to join the volleyball team, because of the physical activity. Though you are looking out for their best interests, you absentmindedly making decisions for them by blocking out their interests at heart. Stop preventing them from branching out, let them choose what interests them. If they like it they will pursue it further. If not there’s always next year to try on a new sport or a hobby.

Allow them to process through life experiences normally. When you try to control things too much the consequences as a result could fire back at you. Work collectivity and consider their feelings too. Don’t expect perfection, because nobody’s achieved it yet! 

Feelings

Kids get frustrated because they find it difficult to verbalize their feelings. Instead, they portray their feelings either by crying or lashing out. They undertake such behaviours to get your attention. Help your child by talking to them about emotions like angry, happy and sad. Make them understand that it’s good to verbalize these feelings rather than lashing out and crying unnecessarily. When your child is smiling and jumping around, Label it. Say “it looks like your feeling happy”. Over a period of time, they will start doing the same. At times aggression stems due to disappointments and other unhappy feelings. Talking to them about these underlying concealed feeling will teach them to control their behaviour.

Anger Meter

Draw an anger meter on a piece of cardboard and list numbers from 1 to 10. Tell them what each of these numbers represents on the meter. Level 1 would represent happiness, Level 5 would represent frustration or moderately mad, Level 10 would represent explosion or uncontrollable rage. Explain how their body reacts on each of these levels. They may feel hot, make fists, and breathe loudly. Tell them that feeling angry at level 10 is not good for their body. When they recognize these signs they will learn to control their anger on their own. If you sense them being unhappy or angry, refer to the meter and enquire about their anger level.

Happy Place

You can develop strategies to help them relax and control their anger. Tell them to think about the times they felt the happiest. Tell them to repeat the words calm and chill and practice breathing when they sense themselves getting angry. Teach them meditation techniques. Tell them to sing their favourite song that will help calm them down. Make an angry kit which consists of their favourite books, toys and scented stationery which can be referred to when they feel angry.

Anger Management Methods

When you’re feeling angry, it’s a good opportunity to show your child how you handle it. Sometimes you might react aggressively when you’re feeling angry. Apologize to your child and explain that they should have been kinder towards it. Children at a young age pick up on things around them, so it’s necessary to be cautious. Talk to them about anger management techniques like counting from 1 to 10, repeating phrases, going for a walk to cool off. Teach them that anger just like any other emotion is ok to have but it should not affect their behaviour.

Negative Consequences

Make them responsible for their actions. Tell them that there are rules and that being disrespectful will not be accepted. Inform them that they have to take responsibility for their temper tantrums and that there will be consequences. When they behave aggressively, make them do household chores, dismiss them to the time out corner until they cool down, retract their Playtime and TV privileges. When they break things around the house make them raise money for the repairs and don’t give them back their freedom until they have performed their tasks to repair the damages caused.

Positive Consequences

Teach them about the positive consequences of managing their anger. Give them rewards and appreciate them for trying to control their anger. Praise them and provide feedback. Make use of sticker charts to motivate them. Notice their growth and explain how they have improved than before. Shower them with gifts now and then for achieving milestones, no matter how small.

Media

If your child is already aggressive keep them away from TV shows and video games that are very violent. Introduce to shows that portray healthy settlements of disputes. Read them stories involving kind heroes and gentle giants. 

It’s normal for anybody to struggle in managing their anger in the beginning, especially kids. With some guidance from their elders, they can manage to do it. If your child is often uncontrollable and aggressive there could be some underlying health issues that need to be consulted. They could have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, anxiety, sensory processing issues and other learning disabilities. A psychiatrist can help identify if any. If not any of the above they might be bullied, stressing out about school work, having problems making friends. Talking helps in such cases.

Encourage Questions

With so much news up in the air, your children might have questions or concerns that they may not be asking. Their concerns could range from their grandfather’s health to when they can have burgers from McDonald’s. You can open up about this issue by inviting them to talk about it. Tell them that they can reach out to you with any kind of questions. Make sure you acknowledge their concerns with seriousness. Your objective is to ensure that your child hears factual information from you rather than from their friends. Also, remind them to maintain good personal hygiene like frequent sanitization. 

Practice Honestly

You might feel like avoiding some of their questions. Either because you don’t know the answer or because you don’t want to cause anxiety in them. Instead, be honest, tell them that they can find answers to some of their queries on websites like WHO and UNICEF. Explain that these are the most trusted sources for factual information. Explain that information posted online is not always accurate. By being honest about the whole situation you can assist them in enduring uncertainties and help them build resilience.

Information

Do not bombard them with too much information. Inform them of only what they ask, don’t volunteer to say too much. Clarify their questions honestly. Set an emotional tone and be calm while informing about these things. Watch out for their emotions and explain that people get cold and flu when affected by the virus.

Protect Oneself

One of the best things you can do to keep your children safe from coronavirus is to remind them of frequent handwashing and sanitization. To make it all seem less scary you can sing and dance along to tunes while performing these tasks to make it seem fun. Tell them to cover their mouth with elbows while sneezing and coughing. Explain the common coronavirus symptoms and tell them to stay away from people showing such signs. As them to inform you if they feel feverish and ill.

Provide Reassurance

With crisis going on around all of us and with these troubling images being shown on the news and everywhere else, children may tend to believe that they will face the same difficulties. In such cases, it is good to distract them from all the stress by spending quality time with them. You can play, relax, watch an animated movie together etc. follow regular schedules before their bedtime and create new ones in case of a new environment. Assure your children that their family members are taking precautions and making efforts in keeping everyone safe. Tell them that an outbreak in their area doesn’t necessarily mean that they will also catch it. Also, most people who have the virus don’t always get very sick. Remind your children that when they fall sick, they can keep their friends safe by following the rules and staying home.

Community Workers

Educate your children about public health and steps taken by our community to control it. Tell them about doctors, nurses, scientists and other public health workers working to keep the community safe. Tell them how these front line workers are risking their own lives and being away from their family members to help those in need. Help them make sense of their generosity and kindness.

Emotions 

Be cautious about how you perceive and react to new information and updates as stated by these media sources. Children can easily pick up on your emotions like anxiety, fear and stress. Keep yourself calm and reach out to friends and family whom you trust, whom you know will help you cope in such situations. This will help ease the situation a little and also provide clarity to oneself. 

Conversations

While having difficult conversations with your children ensure you end them without causing anxiety in them. Watch out for their reactions, breathing, and body language. Assure them that you are always there to talk and listen to their worries. 

It is such a difficult time where everyone is feeling helpless. As a part of this community, all of us need to play our part by following the rules, taking precautions and making it easy on everyone.

Behavioural Problems

The way a child perceives this world could be impacted by domestic disputes. As it becomes a part of their personality it can wreck their social interactions in the present as well as the future. If a child is maturing in an abusive environment they may have behavioural issues. They could resort to lying, destroying their toys or property and use foul language. Their aggression and rage could get them into trouble in school or they might even always want to dwell in silence. 

Emotional and Mental Complications

Studies show that there is a high chance of children developing Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Eating Disorders, Depression, Mood swings, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Since a child’s mind is too underdeveloped to cope with such scenarios at home, the chances of development of mental disorders in children are high. Being a bystander of regular bickering can even set off anxiety and panic attacks.

Problems in Forming Relationships

When a child is forced to grow in an unsympathetic environment, they tend to encounter problems in forming and sustaining their relationships. Not only in their romantic relationships but also with their friends, siblings, cousins, other family members, colleagues and even strangers that they would want to communicate with. They may treat these people with hostility. They may even have trust issues about various things in life.

Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are quite common in children who are going through domestic abuse. Eating disorders could further develop in Anorexia, where the food consumed is very less than normal consumption or Bulimia, where food is excessively consumed in short periods. This may lead to obesity. These disorders can cause a lot of complications in the physiology of a growing child and pose several health problems in the future.

Substance Abuse

A child who is a member of a dysfunctional and abusive household can resort to substance use like drinking, smoking, drugs like marijuana and others. They often resort to such measures because this is a way to cope with the pain that is being inflicted on them. Since their minds are still developing, they do not yet understand the risks of long term substance use. Excessive use of this could affect the normal functioning of their brain and internal organs.

Academic performance

When your child’s mind is occupied with tensions at home, it becomes difficult to concentrate at school. They could showcase below average performance with regards to their schoolwork. The emotional stress inflicted on them could even make them physically ill quiet frequently. They may develop frequent viral infections and allergies due to the compromised immune system caused by stress. This prevents them from attending school regularly hampering their performance.

Here is a list of signs that indicate that if a child is being impacted by parental bickering

• Showcases abnormal behaviour
• Fights with friends and siblings
• Signs of depression
• When they think that their parents are fighting because of them
• Is mostly antisocial and does not get along with other kids at school
• They feel insecure about themselves
• They become quiet or start crying when they sense that their parents are arguing
• Poor at school work as well as extra-curricular activities
• Showcasing irresponsible behaviour to seek their parents’ attention
• Health issues like fever, stomach ache, headache
• Wanting to run away from home

Parents can practice certain measures to safeguard their child’s health and well-being. It’s fine to have disagreements but disrespecting your spouse in front of your child will tell them that it’s ok to do so. Avoid fighting with your significant other in front of your child. Even if you do fight educate them on resolving such conflicts. Make sure to makeup and resolve your fights when they are around. Avoid shouting, screaming, and name-calling in front of your children. Explain to your child that arguing with your significant other does not mean that you love them any lesser. Keep away from abusive language and do not ask them to choose sides. This may not seem easy at first but with a lot of patience and perseverance, you can mould and nurture your child with empathy.