About three weeks ago, my family and I went to Orlando, Florida for a fun vacation! We went to Disney Land and Sea World. The tickets included musical shows you can enjoy with your family. One show that was “epic,” in my son’s opinion, was Finding Nemo.

Below is what we saw before the show started.

We wanted to ensure we sat near the front, so we got to the theatre early. My family had to wait about 45 minutes before the show started. I usually keep activities in my backpack in case we have to wait for long periods of time. These activities include crayons, paper, Boogie board, playing cards, coloring books, and activity books. However, I took these items out of my backpack while walking around Disney Land. It was too much for me to carry all day.

I needed to think of games to play without my activity book, paper, and crayons. I wanted to make the time go faster while waiting for the show to start. Therefore, my son and I played four waiting games. We enjoyed playing the games and I wanted to share them with you.

Let’s Get Started

Rock Paper Scissors

You are most likely familiar with this game. The best thing about Rock, Paper, Scissors is all you need is your hands. You need two players for this game. We play this game in a tournament style. Below are the directions and how we played.

  • Each player uses their hand to represent the three items in the game: Rock, Paper, and Scissors.
  • The hand signals are as follows…
    • Rock = Balled Fist
  • Scissors = holding your pointer and middle finger to the side (similar to making the peace sign with your hands)

  • Paper = holding all five of your fingers out flat

  • Each player will say Rock! Paper! Scissors!” and then do one of the three hand signals towards their opponent.
  • The winner of a round is determined by three simple rules:
    • Rock wins against scissors.
    • Scissors wins against paper.
    • Paper wins against rock.
  • In our game, the first person to win 10 rounds won the game.
  • We played this way twice.
  • My son won one game and I was the victor in the other.
  • Try this game while you are waiting!
  • The time will go by faster.

Seek the Alphabet

My son and I love to play Alphabet Hunt Games at home. However, since we were at the Finding Nemo show, we played the Alphabet Seeking Game in the theatre. Below is how we played…

  • The object of this game to is find letters A-Z in the room where you are located.
  • The letters could be anywhere in the room like on clothing, books, pictures, magazines etc.
  • We found letters on our clothing, in the musical’s program, and on the theater’s backdrop
  • If you can’t find a letter in the room, you may either…
    • Say a word that starts with a particular letter
    • Find an object in the room that starts with a particular letter
  • We could not find the letter X, so my son said “x-ray” and moved on to Y.
  • Keep finding letters until you reach Z
  • There is no winner in the game.
  • The game participants are working together to find all the letters in the alphabet.

Alphabet Categories

In this game, you are identifying words in a certain category in alphabetical order. This game will make you think.

  • Choose the categories you want to use in the game.
  • Ideas for categories are…
    • Animals
    • Food
  • We chose food as our category.
  • Take turns saying words in alphabetical order until you get to Z.
  • The first person may say “A is for Apple
  • The second player may state ” B is for Banana.”
  • If a person gets stumped on a letter, the other players can assist them.
  • Once you have completed one category, choose another one.

Clue Game

This is a great listening game for players. It will help players practice their active listening skills. This game can be played with two or more people.

  • One player will pick an item in the room.
  • The same player will give clues to the other person(s) about the item in the room.
  • The other players’ job is to guess the item based on the clues given.
  • Once an item has been guessed, then another player will pick an item and give clues to others.

This is how we make waiting for long periods of time fun! It is a great alternative to having kids on a smart phone or tablet.

Have fun with these games!

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Published by simplyoutrageousyouth

30 thoughts on “4 Fun Waiting Games for Kids”

  2. Wow I tip my hat to you for coming up with these brilliant waiting games for children on such short notice. As a language arts teacher, I especially love the seek the alphabet game.

    Reply

  3. Oh I must try these! I never thought to do this with my son, I usually just give me my phone haha. I know bad but I like these tips!

    Reply

  4. I love the clue game idea – definitely more fun than i-spy. I think my kids would love it! We will have to try it out next time they need a distraction!

    Reply

  9. I definitely need to try the ABC on, finding things in the room — my oldest is in need of lessons on how to wait and have patience, and my youngest is still learning her ABCs so that sounds perfect for our family!

    Reply

  10. These are great ideas. As a grandparent I don’t usually have a plan for this sort of thing, so I love that these don’t require pre-planning or a lot of special materials.

    Reply

  13. Great list! My son is a bit younger so we point out different objects and talk about the names, colors, sounds or counting if applicable.

    Reply

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