Charade is a classic game for a perfect family game night. The rules aren’t set in stone, and you can adjust everything to the player’s age and/or skill level. Here you will get a short overview of how the game works and what you can do to adapt it to your needs. You will see that it is pretty simple, but still a lot of fun!
What do you need?
Here is another really nice part about this game: You don’t need any special materials for it. Just some paper and a pen.
Who plays?
You probably found this game in the category of games for preschoolers, but not only preschoolers enjoy playing it. It is a game for the entire family, both young and old. There is no age limit to charades! The only demand is that you need at least three participants.
How to play “Charade”
The basic concept of this game is that one person acts out a word or phrase, and their teammates try to guess the word. Normally, you are not allowed to talk while doing the pantomime.
So, you start by dividing the players into two groups with the same number of players. Keep in mind that one player in your group will start by acting out the word, and all the other players will start guessing. The person acting out the word switches every round. For one round, you can set a timer for two minutes. If your team guesses the word corrrectly in these two minutes, your team gets a point, and you can continue acting out another word. Continue like that until the time is up. If the team does not guess the word within the two minutes or if the time runs out, the round is over and it’s the other team’s turn.
For the words or phrases you want to act out, you can either use a list you made beforehand or come up with things spontaneously while playing.
A fun idea is, for example, that you choose a category in which the word has to fit. For instance, professions, animals, schools,… There, you can be creative and just do whatever you feel like. Of course, it is easy to make the game harder or easier while choosing a category with limited possibilities like ‘furniture’ or a category with a lot of possibilities like ‘nature’.
Words to guess
A fun way to play charade is that one team has to guess words that the other team came up with. Both teams write down words (you can even use phrases that everybody knows) on small pieces of paper. Here, it could be helpful to agree on some categories in which the words should fit. Now, you fold the papers so that you can’t read them anymore and put them in a bowl. The bowl is given to the player who represents the opposing team, and the first paper is unfolded. The timer gets started, and the player can start acting while the teammates are trying to guess the word.
If you don’t have the time or patience to come up with your own words, I’ve created a small collection of some words you can use for your next charade game.
Easy words and phrases:
Soccer, riding a bike, watching TV, playing the piano, playing the guitar, swimming, running, flying, sleeping, making pancakes, listening to music, driving a car, writing a letter, skiing, cutting hair, eating ice cream, doing make up, shuffling cards, tying shoes, ballet, banana, skateboard, being hungry, slippery, broken leg, button, ice skating, strong, karate, surprise, Macarena, sword, Harry Potter
Hard words and phrases:
Horror movie, roller coaster, turbulence in a air plane, hammock, flashlight, nightmare, waterfall, garden, window, giraffe, being overwhelmed, cooking pasta, writing a complain letter, hang gliding, winning a oscar, birthday, hedgehog, pizza, blanket, helicopter, president, brightness, hurricane, ghost, rock star, haircut, being sick, balloon, hiccup, braces, car, hitting your toe, stairs, sunshine, clown, light bulb, dinosaur, swing, party, color, pirate, fishing, reading, rainbow, Santa Claus, drinking coffee, shadow, buying clothes, marring, hick ups, policeman, trampoline, spider
Have fun playing!
