With Zoom, you can keep in touch with family and friends no matter how close or far apart you live. If you’re looking for the best Zoom activities for kids, or games to play on Zoom with students, you can find it here! While working on a puzzle as a family or having a family board game night are meaningful ideas for staving off boredom, even those tricks of the trade might be getting old now that we’re on week four or five of quarantine (ugh—what day is it, even?!). Luckily, almost any board game that you have laying around in the house can be played on Zoom with friends and family members that you typically can’t see amidst quarantine. And don’t worry—even if you don’t have these board games, most of them have virtual versions that allow you to play with a tablet, smartphone, or computer. Check out the list!
12 Zoom Games for Kids
5 Second Rule
Similar to Scattegories, 5 Second Rule and 5 Second Rule Junior require one person to call out a topic. The person whose turn it is has five seconds—hence the name—to call out at least three items that fit the topic. Now, if you don’t have the board game, that’s totally fine. It’s a really simple game so it can be easily adapted without the board. Just take turns, via Zoom, picking a category then go around, giving each player five seconds to name three things within the category. Need help getting started? Here are a few category ideas that work well for kids: types of animals, colors, ice cream flavors, types of candy, Disney movies, etc… Not enough ideas? You can play a similar version of the game by downloading Tuku Tuku - 5 Second Challenge on the app store. It gives you the prompts and you can share your screen on Zoom so everyone can see!
Boggle
You can play Boggle two ways: with the board game version of it (if you have it at home) or virtually. To set up the physical board game, do it as you normally would and then set a timer. Everyone takes turn saying which words they have and if you have a similar word as someone else, that word gets crossed off the list. Now, if you want to try the virtual version, you can use Puzzle-Words.com/Boggle to screenshare the digital version of the board game. Just split your screen with Zoom, so you can see all of your opponents and then play the game online!
Charades
This one’s an easy one. No board game or setup necessary. All you need to do is see each other via Zoom. Each person takes turns acting out a prompt. You can either let the person doing the acting make up the prompt or you can message the prompt to each other so only two people know what they’re acting out. Alternatively, you can use this kid-friendly Charade Idea Generator. If the grown-ups still want to play once the kids are asleep, there’s an adult version of the Charade Idea Generator, too.
Heads Up!
Heads Up! can be a little tricky to play virtually because we all have cameras and along with seeing other players, we can also see ourselves. Since this game requires that you don’t see yourself—or the prompts you’re given—HouseParty has created a way to play. If you download HouseParty, there’s a way to play Heads Up! on the app that is perfect for kids. Just make sure you can all see each other on Zoom. It’s free and every player gets three decks to start. You can purchase additional decks, but if you want to keep things timely, you can use the #trending deck (which is totally free) because it gets updated weekly with the most relevant topics. Although if you want to keep things kid-friendly, it depends on the ages you’re working with, but animals is usually the best topic for little ones to get involved in.
Name, Place, Animal, Thing
Keep it simple on Zoom by playing a Scattegories-eque game without the help of an online tool. Pick a letter, then each player is challenged to choose a celebrity (name), place, animal, and thing that starts with that letter. The first player to type all four into the Zoom chat feature wins that round. If you plan on playing a few rounds, you could just go in alphabetical order. Alternatively, if you prefer the help of an app, you can download Name, Place, Animal, Thing in the app store.
Pictionary
Some pretty craft Zoomers figured out that the Whiteboard feature in Zoom could be used to play digital Pictionary. One player shares their screen and selects the Whiteboard feature. It’s that player’s turn, so they have to use the annotation tools on the Whiteboard toolbar to draw a picture with their mouse. Need help choosing topics? This Pictionary Generator generates random words that players can attempt to draw. Everyone else on the Zoom call takes turns guessing what the picture is! Remember: In order to play this way, you have totake turns sharing the screen, as the person screen-sharing is the only one who can draw at a given time.
Quick Draw
Similar to Pictionary and Skribbl.io (more on that down below), Quick Draw challenges you to draw a prompt. However, Quick Draw is a little different because you get significantly less time—only 10 seconds, that is. As you go on through the levels, you get a bit more time. You know, like 20 seconds or so. It happens really fast, so it keeps kids engaged for a long time as it’s a very quick-paced game.
Scattergories
If you and another player both have the Scattergories board game, then you can both play over Zoom that way. However, if you’re lacking the physical board game, you can use Scattergories online. With Scattergories online, you can play with randos, robots, or invite friends with a unique game link. The website will generate letters, categories, and give you a timer to go through as many of the categories—or Scattergories—as you can. It automatically takes a tally, too, of who wins the round. Make sure to split your screen with Scattergories and Zoom so you can see and hear each of your opponents!
Scavenger Hunt
A scavenger hunt is one of the simplest things you can do for kids. Have them call in on a Zoom meeting with some of their friends, then challenge them to an at-home scavenger hunt… virtually. Use Treasure.run to generate the scavenger hunt requirements. Each kid will have the same prompts AKA things that need to find around their homes. Parents can customize the scavenger hunt, choosing the hiding places that are fair game. Parents can also customize by picking one of two age groups, a theme—holidays, pirates, super heroes, etc.—and the type of riddle the game generates—3x3 jigsaw puzzle, color-coding puzzle, falling words, etc.
Skribbl.io
No, that’s not a typo. Skribbl.io is the name of a virtual version of Pictionary that players in a Zoom meeting can partake in together. To play, share your Zoom meeting ID with the rest of the players, then enter your name in a private room on Skribbl.io. You can share the private room link with all other players so you don’t end up playing with strangers. Up to 12 players can participate and once you’re in a private room, you can take turns drawing the prompts. Split your screen between the Skribbl.io interface and the Zoom one, that way you can see peoples’ reactions as they shout out the answers!
Taboo
Fantabulous is an online version of Taboo that can be played digitally, using Zoom. Log onto PlayTaboo.com and Zoom at the same time, splitting into two teams or more. Each round of Fantabulous, a team selects a clue-giver. This person has to help their team guess the main word using one word at a time or by picking two words total from the list. You can say ANYTHING except the main words on the list.
Things
Things can be played with the physical board game version or online, using The Game of Things game mode. Split your screen with Zoom and choose “Remote game” where everyone is in different locations and joining virtually. Things is a lot like Scattergories or 5 Second Rule in that each player has to come up with items within a specific category. You’ll get prompts like, “Things you can eat,” “Things that are spicy,” “Things you should never chase.” Need more ways to keep kids entertained? Here are 29 kid scavenger hunt ideas!
