Game ideas for kids: 15 games your kid can make, by type

The easiest game ideas for kids are the ones with one goal and one twist: find the hidden thing, get out of the room, reach the end before the dragon wakes. Pick a type (scavenger hunt, escape room, board game, card game or video game), let your kid choose the theme, and keep the first version small enough to play in ten minutes. In Kubrio's How to make a video game course, a kid ends up with a game someone else can play.

Below are 15 ideas in five types, what each type teaches, and how to help your kid choose and finish one.

What kind of game should my kid make?

Start with the type, not the theme. The type decides what your kid has to figure out, and kids tend to know which kind they love: running around, solving puzzles, beating a sibling, or controlling a character on a screen.

• Scavenger hunts are the easiest. The kid hides things and writes clues, and the player moves around the house.
• Escape rooms are for kids who love puzzles. Clues have to connect, so the kid learns to plan backwards.
• Board games suit competitive kids and family game night. The kid designs the rules that make turns fun.
• Card games are the fastest to prototype. A deck of index cards is a whole game.
• Video games suit kids who want a character on a screen. They take the longest, so start with a tiny one.

If your kid can't decide, ask which game they asked to play twice in a row. That's the type.

What are good scavenger hunt game ideas?

A good scavenger hunt idea is a story with a missing thing. Each clue points to the next place, and the last clue points to the prize. These are three that work for ages 6 to 9:

1. Find the missing dragon egg. Five clues, each a short riddle about a room, lead to a decorated egg in the freezer or the bookshelf.
2. The detective's trail. The player is a detective following fingerprints (drawn on sticky notes) to find who took the cookies.
3. Treasure map of our house. The kid draws a map with an X, and each clue unlocks a piece of the map.

Writing the clues is the real work. A clue has to be solvable, which means your kid has to read their own riddle as if they didn't write it. Kubrio's How to make a scavenger hunt for kids course walks a kid through building one.

What are good escape room game ideas?

An escape room idea is a locked situation, three clues, and a way out. Three clues is plenty for a first one, because each clue has to connect to the next.

4. Escape the haunted house. The player is stuck in a spooky house and must find a key, a code and a password. Each clue hides in a different spot.
5. Rescue the astronaut. A cardboard spaceship is "broken," and the player must restore power, open the airlock and send a signal.
6. The wizard's library. A spell book is locked, and the three clues are riddles hidden in three real books.

A good test: hand it to a friend and watch where they get stuck. If they never get stuck, add a clue. If they quit, make one clue easier. The How to make an escape room at home course ends in a three-clue escape room for the family.

What are good board and card game ideas?

A board or card game idea is a goal plus one rule nobody else has. Get the goal into one sentence and the twist into one rule, and the game is half made.

7. Race to the volcano. Players race along a path to the volcano, and every double you roll makes the lava rise two spaces.
8. Monster trading cards. Each card has a monster, a strength number and a weakness. Players take turns drawing and playing whoever has the better matchup.
9. Matching memory with a twist. Index cards in pairs, but every pair has one drawing and one word that describes it, so players match meaning, not just pictures.

For twelve more board game themes with the rule that makes each one work, see board game ideas for kids. When your kid is ready to finish one, the How to make a board game course ends in a game the family can play.

What are good video game ideas for kids?

A good first video game idea is small: one character, one goal, one thing in the way. A game your kid can finish beats a game they dream about and never get to play.

10. Collect the stars. A hero walks across the screen collecting five stars before time runs out.
11. Dodge the monsters. Falling rocks or bouncing monsters, and the player moves left and right to avoid them.
12. Maze runner. A hero must find the exit while a ghost patrols the corridors.
13. Pixel hero adventure. The kid draws their hero square by square, then makes a short level the hero walks through. The pixel art course covers the hero.
14. A 3D island on a tray. On a paper tray, the kid builds islands, a path and a goal. The How to make a 3D game course ends in a 3D island adventure on a tray.
15. Your own version of a favorite. A copycat game with one rule changed is a real idea, and it's how most designers start.

A tip for parents who worry about difficulty: the idea doesn't need code at first. A kid can design the whole game on paper, with the character, the goal and the obstacle, before anyone opens a screen. That paper design is the hard part.

Why is making a game better than playing one?

When a kid makes a game, they decide the rules and then watch real people find the holes in them. Playing a game is the opposite: the rules arrive finished.

Researchers have studied this for decades. Yasmin Kafai's 2006 paper in Games and Culture contrasts two views of games and learning: one treats games as material to teach from, and the other, the constructionist view, has students build their own games. Kafai noted that far fewer people had tried the second approach.

Mitchel Resnick's MIT Media Lab group, which built the Scratch programming tool, describes what keeps kids going in its paper Give P's a Chance: people who work on projects they care about work longer and harder and keep going when it gets difficult. Millions of young people have used Scratch to program their own interactive stories, games and other projects.

The American Academy of Pediatrics said in its 2018 report on play that play is not frivolous and that it promotes executive function. Making a game puts that play to work: your kid has to hold a goal, plan the steps, and fix what breaks.

None of these studies prove that one particular game idea will teach one particular skill, so treat them as the reason to let your kid choose, not as a promise.

How do we pick one idea and actually finish it?

Pick the idea your kid can explain in one sentence, and make the smallest version first. Most unfinished games fail because the idea was too big, not because the kid gave up.

Give the game a "done" line before you start: "It's done when someone else can play it from start to finish." That line is what makes a kid stop adding features.

Then play it, and let your kid watch. Don't explain the rules. If your kid has to explain them, the game needs a clearer goal or a sentence on the first card.

What to do at home this week

1. Monday: Ask your kid which game they'd play twice in a row. Write down its type: hunt, escape, board, card or video.
2. Tuesday: Have them say their idea in one sentence: "You have to ___ before ___."
3. Wednesday: Make the smallest version on paper: five clues, a 20-space path, ten cards, or a drawing of the hero and the goal.
4. Thursday: Play it with one other person, and let your kid keep quiet while you try to figure it out.
5. Friday: Change the one thing that confused you, and play again.
6. Weekend: Invite a grandparent or a friend to play. Then ask what the next version needs.

FAQ

What age can kids start making their own games? Most kids can make a simple scavenger hunt or board game by about age 6 with a parent writing things down. Kids 9 and up can handle escape rooms, card games with rules, and a first video game.

Do kids need to know how to code to make a video game? No. They can design the whole game on paper first: the character, the goal and the obstacle. Coding comes after, and a kid who has a clear design finds it much easier.

What if my kid's game idea is too big? Cut it to one character, one goal and one obstacle, and save the rest for version two. A small game that's finished teaches more than a big one that isn't.

How long should a first game take? A paper game can be made in an afternoon, and a first video game in a few sessions. If it's taking weeks, shrink it.

Should I help, or let my kid do it alone? Help by asking questions, like "What happens if someone rolls a six here?" Don't make the rules for them. The point is that they do the designing, and you are the first player.