Stumped for Charades Ideas? We Have 150 You’ll Love!
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
Animals
- Dog
- Cat
- Bear
- Lion
- Pig
- Chicken
- Frog
- Bird
- T-Rex
- Horse
- Snake
- Elephant
- Cow
Famous Characters
- Cookie Monster
- Peppa Pig
- Batman
- Spider-Man
- The Incredible Hulk
- Donald Duck
- Captain Hook
- Elsa from Frozen
Emotions
- Sad
- Happy
- Angry
- Scared
- Surprised
- Bored
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
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
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
78. Where the Wild Things Are
79. The Cat in the Hat
80. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
81. The Hunger Games
82. To Kill a Mockingbird
83. The Wizard of Oz
Songs
84. Tomorrow
85. The Adams Family
86. Baby Shark
87. Let it Go
88. It’s the Hard Knock Life
89. 99 Bottles of Pop
90. A Whole New World
91. Part of Your World
92. Under the Sea
93. Fly Me to the Moon
94. The Wheels on the Bus
95. Do You Wanna Build a Snowman
Television Shows
96. Paw Patrol
97. Blue’s Clues
98. Mickey Mouse Club
99. Doctor Who
100. Lost
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
101. God Bless the USA
102. Stop in the Name of Love
103. Don’t Worry Be Happy
104. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
105. Unforgettable
Books
106. Robinson Caruso
107. Little Women
108. Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
109. Anne of Green Gables
110. A Wrinkle in Time
111. Lord of the Flies
112. White Fang
113. Charlotte’s Web
Movies
114. Rocky
115. Annie
116. Home Alone
117. Sound of Music
118. Home
119. Old Yeller
120. King Kong
121. Ice Age
122. Finding Nemo
123. Smith Family Robinson
TV Shows
124. Pioneer Woman Cooking Show
125. Cupcake Wars
126. Unsolved Mysteries
127. Andy Griffith
128. Little House on the Prairie
129. Mandalorian
130. Fixer Upper
People
131. Albert Einstein
132. President Donald Trump
133. Abraham Lincoln
134. Jeff Bezos
135. Michael Phelps
136. Tim Tebow
137. Patrick Henry
138. Michael Jordan
139. Leonardo Da Vinci
140. Walt Disney
141. Dabo Swinney
142. Kate Middleton
143. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Characters
144. Tigger
145. Big Bird
146. King Arthur
147. Merlin
148. Sherlock Holmes
149. Scooby-Doo
150. Luke Skywalker
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!
