15 party games for 10 year olds
Charlotte Thomas
Social EditorPlanning a birthday party for your 10 year old and looking for fun party games? We've got loads of ideas to keep kids entertained, from indoor games to outdoor activities, to ensure kids have lots of party fun!
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If you're planning a 10-year-old's birthday party, you'll want some fun party games to keep them entertained.
At 10, kids have usually outgrown traditional party games like pass the parcel and Simon says, but they still enjoy taking part in team games and fun activities. Your child will probably have some good ideas of their own for what they'd like to play, and the games below are all tried and tested party pleasers, too.
Just make sure you have plenty of small gifts such as sweets and stickers to hand – older kids still expect prizes and they'll be happy to demand them!
1. Name that tune
Before the party, compile a playlist of some of your child's favourite songs and popular TV theme tunes.
Divide the kids into small groups, say of around three kids, and play snippets of each song. The kids then have to guess the names of each song. You can play as a quiz with kids writing their answers down or give a prize to the first team to guess each song.
For a fun variation, go full Never Mind the Buzzcocks: divide the kids into pairs and get them to take it in turns singing the songs to each other, but without the words. The team to guess the most songs is the winner.
2. Cookie face
This game can be played using After Eight mints, too, or for a healthier version, small, thin rice cakes work well.
Kids start with a cookie, mint or rice cake on their forehead and have to work it down to their mouth by using only facial expressions. If they use their hands or drop the cookie, they're out. You can either keep going until all but one are out, or see how many cookies each child can eat within a time limit.
Be sure to have a camera on standby for this one, to capture all the hilarious facial contortions!
3. Scavenger hunt
Scavenger hunts are a great way to keep kids entertained and you don't need to have a large space either. You can play indoors or in the garden, making it a great option whatever the weather.
Split children into pairs or small groups. Give them each a list of things they need to find and set them off – this could be a feather, a stone, a 20p coin (they'll probably have to ask some of the adults at the party for this), someone's shoe … whatever you want.
You can play in two ways. Either the first team back wins, or award points for each item gathered in a set time. If you have a polaroid camera or some tablets or mobile phones you don't mind handing out, you could ask kids to take selfies in certain places as one of the items on their list.
4. Limbo
Who doesn't love a game of limbo? Two people hold a pole at a child-friendly height. The kids then have to bend backwards to go underneath.
Each round the pole is lowered. If anyone touches the pole when limboing they're out. The person who manages to get the lowest without touching the pole or falling over is the winner.
There are fancy limbo sets available online, but a simple broom handle works just as well. You could even get your child to decorate the pole to match the theme in advance of the party. A glittery pole makes it easy to tell who's accidentally touched it!
You can buy ready-made limbo sets. See more details here at Amazon.
5. Would you rather?
A great game for small groups such as a sleepover or party at home. It also makes a fab ice-breaker to help kids get to know each other.
Give kids a hat full of 'Would you rather?' questions. Examples could be:
- Would you rather have fingers for toes or toes for fingers?
- Would you rather not be allowed sweets for a year or not be allowed to watch TV for a year?
- Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible?
Get kids to pick them out one by one and give their answers.
6. Chubby bunny game
Chubby bunny is a popular campfire game in the US and can prove good fun for smaller parties – particularly camping parties and sleepovers.
Each player has a bowl of marshmallows and sits round in a circle. They put a marshmallow in each cheek and then have to say 'chubby bunny'. Each round they put another marshmallow in their mouth, making it harder to speak.
When you can no longer understand what a child is saying or if a marshmallow falls out of their mouth, they're out.
It's important not to play this game with young kids as there's a risk of choking for under-fives.
7. Treasure hunt
Treasure hunts are always fun and you can create them indoors or outdoors, depending on your party venue.
Draw a map and mark where little gifts are hidden, or use clues that players have to work out, with each clue leading to another and another until you get to the big prize at the end. Give each group their clues in a different order or choose different starting places on the map so you don't have everyone fighting for the same spots.
With older kids you can use riddles for clues like: 'Things go inside me dirty but come out clean' for the washing machine. Or 'people climb me. I have rings but they're not made of gold' for tree. We've got a whole host of kid-friendly riddles here for inspiration.
Finishing with a piñata as the big prize works well. The first group to get there can start attacking it and others can join in as they finish.
You can buy ready-made treasure hunt games complete with clues. See more details here.
8. Cereal box game
Best played in a small group, this fun game is perfect for a sleepover. All you need is an empty cereal box and some bendy kids!
Place the box on the floor and get the kids to stand around it in a circle. The aim of the game is to pick up the cereal box – but you can't use your hands or feet! Kids have to have their hands behind their back and use their mouth. They also have to keep both feet on the floor at all times – no kneeling allowed!
Each round, rip around an inch off the box so it gets lower and harder to pick up. The person who can pick up the box at its lowest is the winner.
9. Doughnuts on string
Doughnuts on string makes a great game for any type of party and can be played indoors or outdoors.
Tie doughnuts onto pieces of string – one for each child – and suspend them from a line of string or pole at a height kids can reach with their mouth.
With their hands behind their backs, kids have to eat the doughnuts. The fastest to eat their doughnut is the winner. You can play as a relay if you want with the fastest team to finish crowned the doughnut-eating champions!
Go for mini doughnuts if you're worried about kids having too much sugar!
10. Obstacle course
If you've got a group of boisterous kids on your hands this is a good way to use up some energy. You can fit the course to your party theme so an army obstacle course for example, or a land from a favourite video game.
Make an obstacle course in your garden or any available outside space using things you have to hand – a tunnel to crawl through made from boxes, a section where they have to ride on a toddler's bike, make a balance beam from tape on the floor, have a section where kids have to run while others squirt them with water pistols.
Set a timer to see who completes the course in the quickest time or split the kids into teams and make it a relay.
11. Dress-up relay
For a dress-up relay you'll need around four accessories and items of clothing per team. You can adapt these to your theme, so a sparkly outfit for a unicorn party or an explorer's outfit for a camping party.
The first child in the team has to put the clothes on, run to a turnaround point and then pass the clothes on to the next person.
The first team to finish are the winners.
The sillier the outfits, the more fun this game will be! You can pick up some brilliantly outlandish dressing-up clothes at your local charity shop for next to nothing.
12. Charades
A classic party game. Write down some TV shows, books and films that kids will know on slips of paper and put them in a bag or box. If you have a party theme you can work it around those, so for a Harry Potter party you might have the names of some of the books for example.
Divide kids into two teams. One person from each team pulls a charade from the bag and has to act it out without using sounds or words. Their team gets a point if they guess it. Whichever team gets the most points is the winner.
13. Pin the accessory on the pop star
Your tweens may have outgrown pin the tail on the donkey but throw a pop star in the mix and they'll love this game.
Get a big poster of your child's favourite singer or celebrity, such as Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish or Harry Styles and stick it to the wall. Now cut out a picture of an accessory, it could be a hair bow, moustache, glasses, whatever you want.
Blindfold each child in turn, spin them round three times and ask them to pin the accessory where they think it should go. Write each child's name where they stuck the accessory, the person who gets closest to the right spot is the winner.
14. Who am I?
This is a good game to get kids mingling at the beginning of a party and perfect for smaller gatherings like a sleepover, too.
Write the names of famous people such as pop stars, TV and book characters as well as animals like unicorns on Post-It notes, one for each child. Don't make it too hard though!
Stick a Post-It on each child's forehead – don't let them see it! They then have to work out who they are by walking around the room and asking 'yes or no' questions such as 'Am I an animal?', 'Am I a singer?'.
Every time someone correctly guesses who they are they win a small prize.
If you're playing with a smaller group, you can get the kids to sit in a circle and each person takes it in turn to ask questions and work out who they are.
15. Cupcake wars
On a large table, get together different coloured icing, sprinkles, edible glitter, sweets and other fun things to decorate cakes with.
Give each child an un-iced cupcake and a set time to decorate their cakes then pick the most creative as the winner. You could theme the decoration towards the party, so have green icing and jelly snakes for a jungle party or rainbow sparkles for a unicorn party.
Use simple shop-bought cupcakes, or even make your own with our vanilla and chocolate cupcake recipes. Or if you'd prefer to keep things savoury, try a pizza decorating contest instead.
Are you planning a child's birthday party? Have you got any great kids' party games to recommend? From musical chairs to Simon says to duck, duck, goose, share your faves on the forum thread below.
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