If you’re hosting a large group of youth or you end up finding yourself in charge of how to entertain a group of youth, you’ll want to be armed with all the most fun activities for youth groups indoors. Keeping groups of kids entertained is always easiest with fun games to keep them engaged. Here’s a big list of indoor group activities you can use to make sure everyone has a great time! Whether you need party games, activities for youth camps, or some other group gathering with kids, this list is your answer!
Fun Activities for Youth Groups Indoors
M&M roulette
This is a great icebreaker for small groups. Before the game starts, open up a pack of M&Ms (or any multi-colored candy) and take out a piece in each color. Write a question next to each color of candy. These can be anything but if you want this to be an icebreaker game use questions like, “what’s your favorite color” or “what’s the best trip you’ve ever been on?” Pass around the pack of candy, with each kid picking out a piece. As they pick a color they answer the question associated with the color they picked. Go around until the bag is empty!
A Cold Wind Blows
Have your group stand up and form a circle. The group leader stands in the middle as the first person to be “it.” The “it” person then calls out a sentence beginning with the phrase “A cold wind blows on” and ending with something that refers to the other players. The players who fit the sentence then have to run through the circle to find a standing spot. The person left in the middle is now “it.” Continue until everyone has gone!
Circle of Friends
This one is a great icebreaker for large groups. Your group will form two circles (one inside of the other). Each circle takes one step in the opposite direction and gives a quick introduction to the person across from them. The process continues until everyone has met everyone! This should definitely be on your list of Fun Activities for Youth Groups Indoors!
Trivia
Trivia is a great way to get young minds going. Whether it’s about current events, famous people, history, or pop culture, a little friendly competition is fun to get your group engaged. This works a little better with older kids.
The Gas Up
Try this game when your group gets to a point where they feel they know each other pretty well. You’ll need enough writing utensils and paper for everyone, plus a hat or a bag. Hand out the slips of paper and have each person write their name. Put the slips in the bag or hat, and have everyone draw one name. Tell them to keep it to themselves! Choose someone at random. That person then has to say something nice about the person whose name they picked. It should be somewhat descriptive, but still difficult for the other players to guess! From there, everyone guesses who the mystery person might be. Right answers get a point (or not, go with the vibe of your group). Repeat the process with whoever is to the right!
Scavenger Hunt
Divide members into teams, giving each team the same list of things to find or do. Each item on the list should have points assigned to it, with more points allotted to the more difficult ones. From there, give the teams a set period of time to complete. Teams score points by documenting the completion of each goal. When the allotted time is up, tally up the point totals. The team with the most points wins.
Dice and Dare
Write 12 get-to-know-you questions on a board and have students sit in a circle. Have each kid roll the dice once and answer the number question shown on the dice. Go through the rest of the group and if they’re having fun, start over at the end so each kid has an opportunity to answer a different question the second time around.
This or That
Write a big list of this-or-that questions (for example: “Would you rather be a bee or a horse?” “Would you rather eat a beetle or get stung by a bee?” “Would you rather have five brothers or five sisters?” Have students sit in a circle and answer a this-or-that question one by one.
Life-Size Tic Tac Toe
Arrange three rows of three chairs (so that there is a square of nine chairs total). Arrange the kids into two teams. Each team takes turns sending one member to sit in a chair. The first team with three in a row wins!
Bank Robbery
Buy several boxes of streamers and tape them horizontally along a hallway as if they were lasers in a bank. Have the kids try to get through the “lasers” one at a time as fast as possible without knocking any streamers down. The fastest kid wins a prize.
The Worm Olympics (Prep time: 5 minutes)
Prepare two sleeping bags and set up the kids in pairs of two. Each person in a pair gets in a sleeping bag on the ground (one pair at a time). Have each member of the team race each other from a starting line to the finishing line. Extra fun: Create a “Playoff Bracket” and hold a championship game for a prize.
Sleeping Bag Worm Races
You’ll need two sleeping bags. Have the kids pull a name out of a hat and that will be their opponent. They’ll get into the bag and crawl down the hall like a worm. Winners go on to race other winners until there is one champion
Ready, Aim, Starburst!
You’ll need a bag of Starburst candy is needed and some tape. Make a target on the floor with a few rings. Have kids pair up and each person gets 10 pieces of candy. They get 10 chances to hit the target and get the points that the candy lands in. The winner gets a prize or moves on to play with other winners.
SPUD
You will need one ball for this game. The person with the ball will throw it up very high in the air and call out someone’s name. That person has to catch the ball.
As soon as the ball is thrown in the air, everyone except that person needs to run away from the ball. When the designated person catches the ball, he or she yells, “SPUD!” very loudly. Everyone must stop immediately. The person with the ball gets to take three large steps toward someone and throw the ball in an attempt to hit him or her. If he is successful, that person is out. Repeat until one person is left. If you have a lot of kids, split them up and have multiple games going on at one time.
More Youth Group Activities Indoors
60 Second Objects
In this game, the group will work together to create a series of objects using only their bodies, and they’ll only have one minute to create them. Begin by dividing into groups (if you have less than 8 youth total, then don’t divide into groups). Next, someone will call out an object and the groups will have one minute to figure out how to make that object together. If the object has moving parts, they will need to incorporate those into their build. Judge by which group uses the most creativity. The team with the most wins at the end of the game is the overall winner.
Spaghetti and Marshmallow Tower
The Spaghetti and Marshmallow Tower is a classic game that you may have played yourself. You’ll split your group into as many teams as you have supplies (keeping around 3-4 members in a group). Give each group one pack of spaghetti and one pack of large marshmallows. The teams will use their supplies to build the tallest freestanding tower they can, no holding the tower up! Give the groups a certain time limit to construct their tower – anywhere from 5-15 minutes generally works well – and give them a one-minute warning before their time up. The winning team is the one with the tallest freestanding tower, as measured by the game leader. Break any ties by having the teams move their tower across the room and measuring again, not allowing them to fix any breakages.
Three-Legged Dodgeball
If you have room for big indoor group games, this one will be a hit! They say teamwork makes the dream work, and in this game, we are going to put that to the test. Players will battle in a normal game of dodgeball, but in this version, players will partner up and battle together, with one acting as a shield and one acting as the weapon. You’ll need three bandanas for every two players and a few dodgeballs. About one for every five or six players will work.
Costume Relay
For this game, you’ll need two or more ridiculous (and large) outfits, with a couple of layers each. You want this to be awkward to run in, and it should take a while to put it on and take it off. Make sure you have a big room for the kids to move around. Break the kids teams and have them line up on one side of the room. When you say “go,” start music or give some other signal to begin. The first kid in line puts the outfit on and races to the other end of the room and back (mark a turnaround spot and finish line). As each kid runs down and back, they take off the outfit and sit down and the next person in line puts it on. The first team to have everyone make it down and back wins. If you have room, make this relay race more complicated by adding a mini obstacle course like hula hoops to step through or zig zag lines to walk.
Human Knot
This will require some critical thinking! For this youth group game, you need an even number of people on each team. You can have the kids form teams and then fill in with adults as needed. Teams can be anywhere from 4–20 people. It gets much harder the more people you have! Team members stand in a circle, and every person grabs a hand from two different people across from them. Once they are signaled to start, each team gets to work to untangle themselves but they can’t let go of anyone’s hand. The goal is to end in a circle with no hands in the middle. As the groups get untangled, some people will wind up facing the inside of the circle and others will face the outside. It doesn’t matter which direction they face as long as they end up in a complete circle. This game is great for improving problem-solving, working together, and taking and giving direction. It takes a lot of cooperation and communication! This is one of those really good team building games.
Secret dancer
You’ll need music for this one to make it more fun! Kids love a good dance party! Put all of the kids in a circle. One kid will be the detective. Choose who that will be and have them go outside of the room. Once they’ve left, choose one kid to be the secret dancer. All of the kids have to copy the dance move the secret dancer is doing. Once all the kids are doing the same dance move, the detective is allowed back in the room. The detective then has three guesses who the secret dancer is. The most challenging part is that the secret dancer has to change his or her dance move about every 10 seconds. So everyone has to try to seamlessly follow along so the detective can’t catch on.
Foot, cockroach, nuclear bomb
This simple game is just taking rock, paper, scissors and making it bigger! You start with two kids who will play each other. Once a player defeats another player, the player who is defeated must cheer for the player who beat them as they play the next player. Eventually, you’ll end up with two players with big cheer squads.
The rules are:
- Foot beats cockroach—Big stomp.
- Cockroach beats nuclear bomb—Hit the floor like a bug (all fours).
- Nuclear bomb beats foot—Big arm movements and explosion sounds.
More Fun Activities for Youth Groups Indoors
Marshmallow Catch
Divide the kids into two teams. If you have a large group of kids you’ll need a big open space. Each team has a thrower who stands with their back to the rest of the team. They get a bag of marshmallows. The rest of their team stands behind a line with a cup in hand. Line up all throwers and their teams behind them so everyone is playing at once. Yell go and the throwers throw their marshmallows over their head as their teammates try to catch them in their cups. Give them a set amount of time, like 1 or 2 minutes. When their time is up, the marshmallows are counted. Whoever has more marshmallows than the opposing team wins!
Ankle Balloon Pop:
This is simple and funny and great for younger children! Give everyone a balloon and a piece of string or yarn. Have them blow up the balloon and tie it to their ankle. You may have to assist with younger groups. The object of the game is to try to stomp out other people’s balloons while keeping their own safe. Last person with a blown up balloon wins.
This Is a What?
“This is a what” is another game that seems simpler than it is. It’s also an easy way to get everyone talking to each other. Have everyone sit in a circle. Pick up an object and tell the person next to you, “this is a marble.” They respond with “a what?” “A marble,” you answer. “A what?” they ask again. “A marble,” you say. “Oh, a marble,” they say. The pattern is now established. The person asking then takes the marble and turns to the next person and starts the pattern again. As the marble goes around, you start on the next object and the next object. Eventually, there will be a lot of these conversations going on at once. The first time someone messes up the pattern, the object is taken out of the circle. This gets complicated and confusing! The goal of the game is to see how many objects can make it all the way around the circle.
Living Sculpture
This is just as much fun to watch as it is to play! Use toilet paper, saran wrap, tin foil, and streamers (whatever you can find – throw some duct tape in there if you really want to make it interesting) to make sculptures out of one person per team. The team with the best sculpture in the time allotted wins. You choose an amount of time depending on the age group. The sculpture volunteer stands in a position while the team wrap him or her to create a work of art.
Guess Who?
This makes a great icebreaker game and helps kids get to know each other! Players must anonymously write on index cards or pieces of paper something about themselves. They can write about an experience, interest, characteristic, or value that they have. Fold and collect the papers but keep each team separate. Each team would have its own pile. For each turn, the teams have to pick one paper from the other team’s pile. They will have to guess who wrote the information in the paper they picked. Teams can only guess once. (For more than two teams, the other teams can try to steal the point and make a guess.) If no one is able to guess correctly, the point goes to the team of the person to whom the information belongs. The team that gets the most points will be declared the winner!
Mega Duck Duck Goose
Not many kids really outgrow this game. It’s a fun activity for every age. Mega Duck, Duck, Goose requires a large group. Have the kids form a large circle and when someone gets caught have them go to the middle of the circle. Once six kids get in the middle, have them start their own mini-game of Duck, Duck, Goose. Once six more get tagged, have them begin another game just outside the middle game, and so on. If you have a lot of kids, you will get game after game going and the kids will have a blast.
Board Games
Depending on the size of your youth group, board games may be suitable for entertainment. Larger groups could be broken up into small groups and different table games could be played then switched as games finish.
Potato Sack Race
This classic game uses a burlap sack or pillowcase. Just have the kid put their legs in and jump from one end of the room to the other. Make it even more exciting with a relay for big groups.
Musical Chairs
This elimination game is fun for any age! Put your chairs in a circle, with one less chair than the number of people playing. While the music plays, everyone dances, walks, or runs around the chairs. When the music stops, everyone must find a chair to sit on. The person left without a chair to sit on is out of the game. Take away one more chair each round until there’s one winner left.
Hot Potato
Have everyone stand or sit in a circle (sitting is a little more difficult). Pass a ball or potato around as music plays. When the music stops, the person holding the potato leaves the game. The last person left wins! To make it more challenging, as the circle gets smaller, play faster music to encourage faster passing of the potato!
Creative Story Telling
Form a circle and have one person start a story. Use an object such as a small ball and when the first person is done with his/her two or three lines, the object is passed along, until the story is complete. Telling the story works best when the sentences are stopped at mid-point. The last person completes the entire sentence and so on. This can be a really good time if you have some creative minds present!
Charades for Kids
Divide players up into 2 teams. 1 player from a team will receive a card that will have a word that have to act out within a timeframe. You can choose a time based on the age group. That team receives a point if they can successfully guess the correct answer. Most points at the end wins.
Hope you’ve managed to find some fun youth group games and activities on this list that will work well to entertain your group of kids! These Fun Activities for Youth Groups Indoors are great for parties, camps, youth group meetings, or sleepovers. Some of them are even great for smaller groups like just your family at home on a rainy day. Whatever the case, everyone is sure to have a great time!
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Hi, I’m Jessica! I am wife to Chris, and mom to Kaiper, Alana and Koa. I am a graphic designer, website developer and aspiring author. In this space, I share about everything from parenting, working from home, food we cook, and lots of things for kids! Learn more about me here.