Stumped for Charades Ideas? We Have 200 You’ll Love! (Updated 2021!)
It can be hard finding a game that’s suitable and challenging enough for the whole family.
We have a HUGE list of outdoor games for the whole family here!
Since readers loved those so much, we thought we’d give you more games the entire family can enjoy!
Charades is one of the games that parents love for their children to play.
It requires quick thinking, creativity, and it doesn’t leave a yucky mess to clean up.
This is a game that’s great for building teamwork between families and friends!
How to Play Charades
If you’ve never played charades, here’s how you do it.
Split up into two teams.
Ideally, each team will have the same number of players so no team has an advantage.
Write words or phrases on paper.
The words and phrases can be almost anything.
Generally, popular categories include names of songs, book titles, movies, and television shows.
When you’re playing with children, you might want to add cartoons to the category mix.
Place paper into a bowl or pile.
Each team should fold the slips of paper and place them into a bowl or pile.
Choose the starting team.
Pick which team goes first.
Have a player from that team draw one of the slips that the other team has written down and act it out for his teammates.
Keep Score During Charades
To score a point, the team must correctly guess what’s on the slip before the time agreed upon by each side elapses.
Make sure you have a stopwatch handy so you can keep an eye on the time — that way the game is fair for both teams.
A good rule of thumb is to give players three minutes to figure out each answer.
Choose the Winning Team
The winner can be determined in one of two ways — the team that guesses the most charades correctly or the total time needed to figure out all the answers combined.
If you go with the total time, you’ll need to keep precise track of how long each answer takes and tally it up at the end.
Tips for Using Some Common Gestures during Charades
To make things easier, you’ll need to know some basic shortcuts that will help each team with their guesses.
Here are some of my favorites!
Better Charades Game Tip #1:
To let your teammates know how many words your answer has, you’ll hold up the number of fingers that corresponds to how many words there are.
For example, if you drew the book, The Grapes of Wrath, you’d hold up four fingers.
Do this at the start of your turn.
Better Charades Game Tip #2:
If there’s a keyword you want to act out first, use your finger system to let players know.
If you want to act out the second word, hold up two fingers right after showing them how many words there are.
Better Charades Game Tip #3:
To let your teammates know it’s a book, unfold your hands, just as you would to open a book.
Movies are generally indicated by pretending you’re cranking an old-time camera.
To show you’re talking about a television show, you’d draw the shape of television in front of you in the air.
For a song, you’d act like you were singing.
Fun right?
Easy Charade Ideas for Beginners and Young Kids
This category is best for young children or for complete beginners.
You might need to do easier concepts, like sports and animals, for kids to feel successful at charades.
Adding a category all about emotions is great for pre-school children who won’t have the most sophisticated acting skills yet.
Although the concepts or ideas won’t be sophisticated, you’ll be surprised at how hard your child laughs when it’s your turn to pretend to be something silly like an elephant.
Sports and Activities Charade Ideas that are Easy
- Basketball
- Volleyball
- Golf
- Tennis
- Baseball
- Bowling
- Swimming
- Fishing
- Sleeping
- Drinking
- Eating
- Running
- Driving
- Jumping rope
- Playing drums
- Guitar playing
- Brushing teeth
- Karate
Easy Charades: Animals
- Dog
- Cat
- Bear
- Lion
- Pig
- Chicken
- Frog
- Bird
- T-Rex
- Horse
- Snake
- Elephant
- Cow
Easy Charades Ideas: Famous Characters
- Cookie Monster
- Peppa Pig
- Batman
- Spider-Man
- The Incredible Hulk
- Donald Duck
- Captain Hook
- Elsa from Frozen
Easy Charades Ideas: Emotions
- Sad
- Happy
- Angry
- Scared
- Surprised
- Bored
Easy Charades Ideas: Popular Movies
- Star Wars
- Up
- Frozen
- The Emoji Movie
- Cars
Medium-level Charade Ideas or for Tweens and Teens
For more experienced charades players, you can crank up the difficulty level some.
These ideas will be challenging, but not overwhelming.
When you’re playing with the family, these are more suited for junior high-aged children.
Movies for Medium Level Charades
51.The Lion King
52. Moana
53. Bolt
54. Shrek
55. The Princess and the Frog
56. The Little Mermaid
57. The Nightmare Before Christmas
58. Matilda
59. Diary of a Wimpy Kid
60. Peter Rabbit
61. Holes
62. Night at the Museum
63. Annie
64. Aladdin
65. Pirates of the Carribean
66. Lego Movie
67. Inside Out
Characters for Medium Level Charades
68. Robin Hood
69. The Grinch
70. Garfield
71. Spider Man
72. Baymax
73. Sherlock Holmes
74. Fancy Nancy
75. Winnie the Pooh
76. Snow White
77. Rapunzel
Books for Medium Level Charades Ideas
Books are always a favorite topic in classic charades!
78. Where the Wild Things Are
79. The Cat in the Hat
80. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
81. To Kill a Mockingbird
82. The Wizard of Oz
83. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
84. Goodnight Moon
85. The Giving Tree
86. Stone Soup
87. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
88. Charlotte’s Web
89. The Tale of Peter Rabbit
90. Little Women
91. Anne of Green Gables
92. Corduroy
93. The Secret Garden
94. The Snowy Day
95. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
96. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
97. The Jungle Book
98. Diary of a Wimpy Kid
99. The Little Engine That Could
100. Stuart Little
101. Matilda
102. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
103. Curious George
104. Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer
105. Fahrenheit 451
106. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
107. A Series of Unfortunate Events
Songs for Medium Level Charades Ideas
108. Tomorrow
109. The Adams Family
110. Baby Shark
111. Let it Go
112. It’s the Hard Knock Life
113. 99 Bottles of Pop
114. A Whole New World
115. Part of Your World
116. Under the Sea
117. Fly Me to the Moon
118. The Wheels on the Bus
119. Do You Wanna Build a Snowman
120. You’ve Got a Friend in Me
121. My Favorite Things
122. Do Re Mi
123. I’m a Little TeaCup
124. You are My Sunshine
125. Bicycle Built for Two
126. Baby Bumblebee
127. Climb Every Mountain
128. It’s a Small World After All
129. I Love You, You Love Me
130. Itsy Bitsy Spider
Television Shows for Medium Level Charades Ideas
131. Paw Patrol
132. Blue’s Clues
133. Mickey Mouse Club
134. Doctor Who
135. Lost
136. Callilou
137. Thomas the Train
138. Sesame Street
139. Fancy Nancy
140. Spiderman
Advanced and Difficult Charade Games Ideas
You and your family had better put on your thinking caps for these ideas.
These ideas are harder to act out and to figure out.
You’ll feel like a genius when you can pull some of these off.
Popular Songs for Advanced Charades Ideas
141. God Bless the USA
142. Stop in the Name of Love
143. Don’t Worry Be Happy
144. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
145. Unforgettable
Books for Advanced Charades Ideas
146. Robinson Caruso
147. Pride and Prejudice
148. Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
149. Anne of Green Gables
150. A Wrinkle in Time
151. Lord of the Flies
152. White Fang
153. Charlotte’s Web
Movies Ideas for Advanced Charades
154. Rocky
155. Annie
156. Home Alone
157. Sound of Music
158. Home
159. Old Yeller
160. King Kong
161. Ice Age
162. Finding Nemo
163. Smith Family Robinson
164. The Mighty Ducks
165. Toy Story
166. Inside Out
TV Shows for Advanced Charades
167. Pioneer Woman Cooking Show
168. Cupcake Wars
169. Unsolved Mysteries
170. Andy Griffith
171. Little House on the Prairie
172. Mandalorian
173. Fixer Upper
People for Advanced Charades
174. Albert Einstein
175. President Donald Trump
176. Abraham Lincoln
177. Jeff Bezos
178. Michael Phelps
179. Tim Tebow
180. Patrick Henry
181. Michael Jordan
182. Leonardo Da Vinci
183. Walt Disney
184. Dabo Swinney
185. Kate Middleton
186. Arnold Schwarzenegger
187. Mr. Rogers
188. Benjamin Franklin
189. George Washington
190. Oprah Winfrey
Characters for Advanced Charades
192. Tigger
193. Big Bird
194. King Arthur
195. Merlin
196. Sherlock Holmes
197. Scooby-Doo
198. Luke Skywalker
199. Baymax
200. Grogu
Make Charades a Fun Family Time
Playing charades gives you a way to have a fun family night, and it’s totally free, which makes it a good option for cash-strapped families.
We have an entire stash of ideas for a fun, family night here! Including games and snacks ideas!
If you have a little room in your budget, you can make a big production out of family night.
You can make snacks for everyone to enjoy, and you can invite your children’s grandparents to participate too.
Soon, everyone in the family will be looking forward to the charades parties you host.
About the Author:
Amy Anthony is a stay-at-home-mom, seasoned writer, and a home cleaning and organization authority. Amy enjoys having an absolutely spotless home and has worked hard to develop
strategies to keep it that way, despite having 2 kids and 3 dogs!
