18 fun games to help you pass the time, but the 100+ activity sheet bundle will also work like magic, too! I wish I would have made this activity set sooner, but it comes in handy now for snow days, stuck-inside-days, sick days, school days off, on airplanes, car rides and waiting for oil changes, dr. offices, and restaurants.

Simple & Fun Quiet Games for Kids to Take Anywhere

HINT: BE SURE TO READ #13 and SNAG YOUR FREE PRINTABLE GAME ON THE GO

Each day, there are inevitably several times you’ll spent minutes, even an hour or more waiting. Waiting is simply an unavoidable fact of life and understandably not our favorite thing to do, especially with kids in tow.

You wait for appointments, for your car’s oil to be changed, in the grocery store check-out line, watching big brother’s practice to end, waiting for the school bus and sitting in traffic. The list of times we all have to wait is long.

Waiting for periods of time with kids is as fun as listening to nails scratching on a chalkboard. It can be downright unpleasant.

Well… at least before you had this list of kid-approved waiting games to pass time.

For adults, waiting 10 minutes seems brief but to children, 10 minutes of sitting in a waiting room can feel like agonizing torture.

Kids, they get fidgeting, start bouncing around impatiently like a chipmunk who was just fed 2lbs of sugar and unless you have some form of entertainment, time moves as slow as watching paint dry – for you and for them.

You might pull out a couple snacks which they eat in 15-seconds flat. Then you dump your purse upside looking for something you may have missed the last two times you checked. Quickly you realize you’re out of activities. That’s when the nail biting and the sinking feeling in your stomach starts.

After regular doctor’s appointments when I pregnant with our third child and had to bring along three-year-old twins whose meltdowns could be heard in the office next door, I wised up and began to prepare better. I started a list of fun games to pass time and help us all keep our sanity while we wait.

Now I always have little activities in my diaper bag which I keep in a zippered pouch and pull out when we’re waiting. I might bring them out when we’re at the doctor’s office or sitting on the sidelines at the soccer field, but these items always stay in the pouch so they feel new and exciting because I don’t use them too often.

 

THE ADDED BRAIN BENEFIT OF PLAYING FUN GAMES TO PASS TIME 

Waiting games are great to help kids develop self-regulation, the means to which children regulate their behavior and emotions by learning to control their impulses.

These activities help build self-control through periods of clear focus, discipline and brain-building activities.

Here are 18 kid-approved and wonderfully fun waiting games to pass the time. They make the time more enjoyable but also help me keep my cool because my kids aren’t jumping off any waiting room chairs and causing a scene.

 

18 WAITING GAMES TO PASS TIME YOUR KIDS WILL LOVE

1. STOPWATCH REACTION

Holding a stopwatch, see how quick your kids can push the start and then the stop button and try to better their reaction time. Older kids who are in sports can improve their reaction time with this simple activity.

Make it a friendly competition between kids – one child takes their best time out of three and then another child has three turns to beat the set time.

What You Need:

• Stopwatch (get something with a big screen to read the numbers, like this one)

 

2. I’M THINKING OF…

This is a fun guessing game kids go wild for!

Using words to describe something you’re thinking of – an animals, place, clothing, book, etc. – without giving away what is is, your kids will guess at what it is you’re thinking of.

For example: “I’m thinking of something yellow and big, with feathers and a beak.”

The answer is Big Bird.

It’s fun to watch your kids guess but it’s interesting to see first-hand how their brains bounce concepts and ideas around to come up with guesses and then zero in on the answer.

 

3. MAGNET & PAPERCLIP TOWER

All you need for this activity is a large magnetic base and a stash of paperclips. You might even have all the supplies already in your office. Building on the magnetic base, kids can see how high they can build their tower of paperclips or what shapes and designs they can orchestrate through magnetic play.

What You Need:

• Magnetic Base like this one which is large enough and powerful enough to build on
• This aquarium styled magnetic one would be a hit with kids
• Handful of paperclips

 

4. PAGING DOCTOR FIX IT

If you have kids, you’re probably already familiar with the fascination they have for band aids. Throw in a small baby doll with drawn on cuts and scrapes (optional) that require tending – or let them use your arm, leg or baby sister – and you’ll burn through time while they give a check-up and play doctor.

Sometimes I pack a small baby like this one with band aids, and a couple pieces of doctor equipment from this doctor’s set and they’ll play quietly as they fix all the invisible injuries. You can also throw in household items like q-tips, cotton balls and old medicine droppers.

What You Need:

• Small Baby Doll
• Variety of Bandaids
• Doctor’s Toys

 

5. ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS

This old-school game of rock, paper, scissors is a great time burner and kids love playing this fun game to pass time! Play with your kids or if you have more than two kids, make it a friendly competitions of elimination.

 

6. ABC LETTER FINDING GAME

Using your surroundings, find something that starts with each letter of the alphabet. For example, something that starts with A, then B, C and so on.

Let your kids lead the game to practice recognizing letters and connecting to sounds when they sound out their surroundings.

You can do this in the car with billboards, signs, and places as well as any waiting room you’re in. If you’re in a waiting room, pull out a magazine and look for the ABCs throughout the pages too.

 

7. TIC-TAC-TOE

Bring a notebook with you and pen for a good ‘ol game of tic tac toe. If you’re crafty or have a spare moment, pick up 10 stones from your yard and with paint or a paint marker, write Xs and Os on them. Throw the stones in your bag for a fun impromptu game of tic tac toe.

If you’re at a restaurant, build your own board with a napkin and a pen or use four straws to make your playing board and for the Xs and Os use different colored sugar packets (white and pink are usually the standard colors). The first person with three yellow, or three white lined in a row or diagonally wins that round.

 

8. CAPTURE THE SQUARES

This is another game to have a notebook and pen handy for, or a napkin will do too. Capture the squares is played like this:

• Put rows of dots on a piece of paper (25 – 50 dots will do)
• Each person takes a turn drawing a line, connecting from dot to dot
• Whoever has the final line to form a square gets to put their initial inside the box
• Continue playing until all squares have been formed
• Tally up the initials inside each box to see who formed the most boxes
• The person with the most initials is the winner

 

9. I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE

This game can be played anywhere – in the car, in a waiting room, while standing in a long check-out line. Use books, magazines, art, cars, etc. to play “I Spy with My Little Eye” and take turns at guessing what the person is trying to get them to identify.

Use descriptive words to describe colors, purpose, form/motion, size, and shape to help the guessers correctly identify the item. This is a fun game and great learning tool for cognitive recognition.

 

10. DISAPPEARING OBJECTS… GUESS WHAT’S MISSING

Set out a group of objects and let your kids look and memorize the items for 20 seconds. Ask them to turn around and close their eyes while you remove one or two objects from the group. Once the kids turn back around, they need to figure out which object(s) are missing.

A group of 6 – 10 items is best for toddlers and preschool aged.

For older kids 5+, 10+ items work well and start by removing one item and then increase to 2-3 objects.

 

11. MAGNIFYING GLASS

Bring along a magnifying glass (or a couple) and suddenly everything around you gets infinitely more interesting. Kids can kill time observing everyday objects through a magnifying glass – fibers on their clothes, grass, paper, books, food, bugs, money… the list is endless.

What You Need:

• Large or Medium Sized Magnifying Glass

 

12. HAND-SLAP REACTION GAME

This is game to test reaction skills. One person stands facing another person and holds out their hands facing upwards. The other person stands with their hands out facing downwards so if they were to clap their hands together, they’d touch palm to palm.

The person with their hands facing upwards is trying to slap the hands of the person above their own by bringing their hands around over top. The person on the top, is trying to outmaneuver the reaction of the other and move their hands before they get hit.

 

13. WOULD YOU RATHER

Would you rather sit on a cactus or swim with jellyfish?

Would you rather eat a worm or have a mud milkshake?

Would you rather take a bath full of slime or swim in a pool full of Jello?

Playing “Would You Rather” is a fun game for kids of all ages.

BONUS DOWNLOAD:  42 Would You Rather Questions For Kids

 

14. DROP A PENNY  

Standing upright, practice dropping a penny on your shoe. The point is to drop the penny on the top of your shoe and get it to stay there, without it dropping off.

 

15. TRAVEL-SIZED GAMES 

Travel sized games pack up easily and don’t take up much space. An Etch a Sketch, Magna Doodle, Magnetic Silly Faces or Build a Face with Magnets are great at keeping kids occupied.

What You Need:

• Pocket Etch a Sketch
• Magna Doodle
• Magnetic Wooly Willy Face

 

16.DROP A FEATHER

Carry a couple feathers in a bag in your purse and play drop a feather. The adult stands up and drops the feather, and the child tries to catch the feather before it touches the ground. You can also do this with a small piece of paper. Both are lightweight and will float side to side to the ground, giving time to coordinate grabbing it mid-air.

 

17. FIND THE COLOR

Pick a color and find objects and items around you in the same color. See how many items your kids can find and name in that color, and then move from one color to the next. Color recognition is a great cognitive tool for object identification.

 

18. LEGO TIN BOX 

Take an old tix box (altoid boxes work great) and pack a mini-set of legos inside for building and playing the next time you’re stuck waiting. I have three kids so I have three small tins they can rotate through and keep things fresh and no fighting over sharing.

What You Need:

• Tin Box (Altoid Tins are the best for this!)
• Mini Lego Set
• OR Random Handful of Pieces to Build With

 

BONUS DOWNLOAD:  42 Would You Rather Questions For Kids

Waiting never has to be slow and painful again with these 18 fun waiting games to pass the time.

 

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