Games for 6-year-olds
Six is a year of transition: some kids are still in kindergarten and some are starting 1st grade, and most are beginning to recognize letters and numbers. It's the age when you can first add games with yes/no questions, keeping score and remembering a sequence, while still keeping the short pace young kids need.
Six-year-olds love to win and love rules, sometimes more than the game itself. So pick games where winning is clear but rounds are short, so whoever lost gets a fresh chance within a minute. Games like Do the Opposite or I Went Shopping build on exactly this: everyone slips up, laughs and starts again.
Tip for choosing: check how much reading a game needs. At 6, it's best when the adult reads and kids answer out loud, act or draw. For Bracket Battle or Who Am I? you can make cards with pictures instead of words, so kids who can't read yet play like everyone else.
Our top picks
- 🏷️ Who Am I?: At 6, use only animals on the cards. Yes/no questions are great thinking practice, and the asker doesn't need to read.
- 🔁 Do the Opposite: Every command is done the opposite way: a game that practices stopping and focus, and ends with the whole group laughing.
- ✈️ Paper Airplane Contest: Craft meets competition: fold a plane, write your name on it and see whose flies farthest.
- 🛒 I Went Shopping: 'I went shopping and I bought...' A seated memory game for the end of a party or a car ride, with no equipment.
- 🏆 Bracket Battle: Pizza vs. pasta: kids vote in every matchup, and for 6-year-olds eight options are plenty instead of sixteen.
All 59 games
- ✏️ Describe and DrawAges 6+ · 2-20 players · 10-15 min
- 🎯 People BingoAges 6+ · 8-30 players · 10-20 min
- 🏆 Bracket BattleAges 6+ · 4-30 players · 10-20 min
- 🗿 Group SculptureAges 6+ · 5-20 players · 5-10 min
- 🌍 Name, Place, Animal, ThingAges 6+ · 2-30 players · 10-20 min
- 🛒 I Went ShoppingAges 6+ · 4-20 players · 5-10 min
- ⏲️ Minute to Win ItAges 6+ · 2-20 players · 10-20 min
- 💪 Everyone vs. BugaAges 6+ · 5-30 players · 15-25 min
- 🏷️ Who Am I?Ages 6+ · 3-20 players · 10-15 min
- 🦸 Invent a SuperheroAges 6+ · 3-20 players · 10-15 min
- 🧹 This Is Not a BroomAges 6+ · 4-20 players · 5-10 min
- 🖍️ Drawing ChainAges 6+ · 4-20 players · 10-15 min
- 🎵 Guess the SongAges 6+ · 2-30 players · 10-15 min
- 🙈 Blind DrawingAges 6+ · 4-20 players · 10-15 min
- 🎂 How Well Do You Know the Birthday Kid?Ages 6+ · 5-30 players · 10-15 min
- 🔁 Do the OppositeAges 6+ · 4-25 players · 5-10 min
- ✈️ Paper Airplane ContestAges 6+ · 4-30 players · 15 min
- 🤹 CharadesAges 6+ · 4-20 players · 10-20 min
- ✅ Fact or Fib?Ages 6+ · 2-30 players · 5-15 min
- 🙋 Find Someone Who...Ages 6+ · 8-30 players · 10-15 min
- 📊 This or ThatAges 6+ · 5-30 players · 5-15 min
- 🧍 Human MemoryAges 6+ · 8-24 players · 10-15 min
- 📞 TelephoneAges 6+ · 6-20 players · 10 min
- 🖼️ Picture RevealAges 5+ · 2-30 players · 5-15 min
- 🦁 If I Were an AnimalAges 5+ · 4-25 players · 5-10 min
- 🎡 Challenge WheelAges 5+ · 4-20 players · 10-20 min
- 📐 Four CornersAges 5+ · 8-30 players · 10 min
- 🔄 Who Switched Places?Ages 5+ · 6-25 players · 5-10 min
- ❤️ My Favorite ThingAges 5+ · 4-25 players · 5-10 min
- 👜 Mystery BagAges 5+ · 4-20 players · 10 min
- 🐉 Invent an Imaginary PetAges 5+ · 3-20 players · 10-15 min
- 👂 Who Made That Sound?Ages 5+ · 6-25 players · 5-10 min
- 🥤 Cup Tower ChallengeAges 5+ · 2-20 players · 5-10 min
- 🎲 Challenge DiceAges 5+ · 3-20 players · 10-20 min
- ⚽ Speed Ball PassAges 5+ · 8-25 players · 5-10 min
- 🔍 What's Missing? (Kim's Game)Ages 5+ · 3-20 players · 5-10 min
- 🏃 Egg and Spoon RaceAges 5+ · 4-20 players · 10 min
- 🪞 The Mirror GameAges 5+ · 2-20 players · 5-10 min
- 👀 What's Changed?Ages 5+ · 4-25 players · 5-10 min
- 👏 The No-Instrument OrchestraAges 5+ · 5-25 players · 5-10 min
- 🧦 Sock BasketballAges 5+ · 2-20 players · 10 min
- 🤸 Add-a-MoveAges 5+ · 4-20 players · 5-10 min
- 🏝️ Shrinking IslandAges 5+ · 5-20 players · 10 min
- 🧟 Fold-and-Draw MonstersAges 5+ · 4-20 players · 10-15 min
- 🔀 Switch Places If...Ages 5+ · 8-30 players · 5-10 min
- 🕺 Freeze DanceAges 4+ · 4-30 players · 5-10 min
- 🎈 Keep the Balloon UpAges 4+ · 2-20 players · 5-10 min
- 👋 Name and MotionAges 4+ · 5-30 players · 5 min
- 🔥 Hot and ColdAges 4+ · 3-20 players · 5-10 min
- 🔎 Scavenger Hunt at HomeAges 4+ · 2-15 players · 10-15 min
- 💃 Dance SwitchAges 4+ · 4-30 players · 10 min
- 🐒 Copy MeAges 4+ · 4-20 players · 5-10 min
- 🎁 Pass the ParcelAges 4+ · 6-20 players · 10-15 min
- 👑 Simon SaysAges 4+ · 4-30 players · 5-10 min
- 🚦 Red Light, Green LightAges 4+ · 5-30 players · 5-10 min
- 🪑 Musical Chairs With No One OutAges 4+ · 6-20 players · 10-15 min
- ⭕ Tic-Tac-ToeAges 4+ · 2-30 players · 5-15 min
- 🐘 Walk Like a...Ages 3+ · 4-30 players · 5-10 min
- 🌈 Color HuntAges 3+ · 3-30 players · 5-10 min
Frequently asked questions
What games should we play at a 6th birthday party?
Mix one movement game (Freeze Dance or Color Hunt), one guessing game (Who Am I? with animals) and a short craft game like the Paper Airplane Contest. Three games like these, with time for cake and presents, fill a 90-minute party.
The 6-year-olds can't read yet. Which games work?
Any game where the adult reads and kids answer out loud, act it out or draw. Swap written cards for pictures or stickers, and guessing games work too.
How do I handle arguments about rules at age 6?
Explain the rules before you start, play a practice round and say who the judge is. Six-year-olds accept a judge's call fairly easily, as long as the rule was clear from the start.