Let's be honest about screens: they're not the enemy. They're useful, kids enjoy them, and sometimes you need twenty minutes of peace.

But there's a version of a winter afternoon that feels better — where the kids are actually engaged with something, where there's laughter in the room, where they're playing together rather than each in their own screen bubble.

Games are the most reliable way to get there. The right ones.

What makes a good indoor game for kids?

Not every game works for every age. The ones that hold attention tend to share a few things:

•    They're quick to explain and quick to start — kids lose interest during a long rules explanation

•    They offer a genuine chance of winning for players of different ages

•    They involve some physical doing — moving pieces, rolling something, flipping something

•    They work for 2 players or more, so nobody's left out

With that in mind, here are the games that work best for kids in a NZ winter.

Tabletop Connect Four (ages 3+)

Connect Four is a genuinely classic game for good reason: a 3-year-old can understand the rules immediately, and a 10-year-old is already developing a strategy. It scales with age naturally, which means kids don't grow out of it — they get better at it.

The tabletop version is small enough to stay on a coffee table or kitchen bench between games. It's the kind of thing that gets picked up again and again through the course of a day rather than being put away after one session.

Giant Connect Four (ages 4+)

The larger version of the same game, sized for the lounge floor rather than the table. The big discs are satisfying to drop in, and the larger scale makes it feel like more of an event. Works for younger kids who find the smaller version fiddly, and for bigger family groups where everyone wants to watch and comment.

Giant Tumbling Tower (ages 4+)

The classic block-stacking game where each move could be the one that brings it all down. Giant Tumbling Tower builds real tension in a way that kids respond to — the collective gasp when the tower wobbles is half the fun.

It works best for ages 4 and up. Younger kids enjoy the building and knocking-over part even if they're not fully across the strategic element. Older kids (and adults) get increasingly careful and increasingly tense as the tower gets taller.

Skittles (ages 5+)

Old-fashioned skittles — a ball and pins to knock over — is one of those games that's been around forever because it works. Young children can play it, the setup takes thirty seconds, and it's genuinely satisfying to knock the pins down cleanly.

It's also one of the few games on this list that works in a hallway. If the lounge is occupied, the hall becomes a bowling lane. Simple as that.

Cornhole (ages 4+ for casual play)

Cornhole is often thought of as an outdoor adult game — and it's both of those things. But it also works brilliantly for kids, particularly in a garage or on a covered deck. The throwing distance can be adjusted based on age and ability, which means a 4-year-old and a 12-year-old can play together competitively with a small adjustment.

For a rainy winter day when the garage is available, Cornhole at shorter range is one of the best options going. Kids who haven't played before usually love it immediately.

A note on screen time

We're not here to tell you screens are bad. They're a part of modern living. But there's a specific kind of boredom that screens don't fix — the kind that wants to do something, make something happen, beat someone at something.

That's what games solve. And the games on this list all have the same quality: they're easy to start, easy to stop, and easy to start again. Which means they work around the rhythms of a real day with real kids, rather than needing a dedicated slot in the schedule.

Browse all games for kids and families at Backyard Games NZ →