Ways to use this list
- Parties: split into teams with the team generator, give each actor one minute and score a point for every correct guess.
- The last five minutes of a lesson: press Easy (ages 4–7) for Reception to Year 2, let one child mime, and the class guesses with hands up instead of shouting.
- English lessons: guessers must answer in a full sentence, such as "You are brushing your teeth", which practises the present continuous.
- Family game night: younger children act the Easy ideas while adults draw from Hard, so a six-year-old and a grandparent play on level terms.
- Drama club warm-up: everyone mimes the same idea at once and freezes on a clap, then the leader picks the clearest freeze to show the group.
- Wet break times: one child acts, whoever guesses first takes the next turn, and the game runs itself without a grown-up in charge.
Press Spin the wheel, tap the game or press the Space bar. Change the list in the box as you
like: add your own, delete what doesn't suit you, or write *2 after an entry to give it double the
chance. The game buttons switch the same list to a duck race, hat, claw machine and more.
The full list (75 entries)
- Brushing your teeth – easy
- Riding a bicycle – easy
- A chicken – easy
- Swimming – easy
- A monkey – easy
- Walking a dog – easy
- A penguin – easy
- A kangaroo – easy
- Brushing your hair – easy
- Eating spaghetti – easy
- Going to sleep – easy
- Skipping with a rope – easy
- A snake – easy
- An elephant – easy
- A frog – easy
- A gorilla – easy
- A crab – easy
- Kicking a ball – easy
- Blowing bubbles – easy
- Driving a car – easy
- Reading a book – easy
- Opening a present – easy
- Making a pizza – medium
- Flying a kite – medium
- Surfing – medium
- A firefighter – medium
- Baking a cake – medium
- Changing a light bulb – medium
- Playing the drums – medium
- Building a snowman – medium
- Fishing – medium
- Doing yoga – medium
- A robot – medium
- Washing a car – medium
- Juggling – medium
- Taking a selfie – medium
- A chef – medium
- Planting a tree – medium
- Playing tennis – medium
- Painting a wall – medium
- Ice skating – medium
- Climbing a mountain – medium
- Brushing a horse – medium
- A dentist – medium
- A lifeguard – medium
- A pilot – medium
- A hairdresser – medium
- A waiter – medium
- Building a sandcastle – medium
- A sloth – medium
- A peacock – medium
- An octopus – medium
- Stuck in a lift – hard
- Walking on ice – hard
- Losing your keys – hard
- Missing the bus – hard
- Building flat-pack furniture – hard
- A traffic jam – hard
- Lost in a maze – hard
- Opening a stuck jar – hard
- Herding sheep – hard
- Carrying a tray of full cups – hard
- A tightrope walker – hard
- Untangling a knot – hard
- A jellyfish – hard
- A butterfly leaving its chrysalis – hard
- Popcorn popping – hard
- A melting ice cream – hard
- Getting a haircut – hard
- A thunderstorm – hard
- A volcano erupting – hard
- A statue coming to life – hard
- Trying to catch a fly – hard
- Trying not to sneeze – hard
- Wrapping a present with no tape – hard
📖 Related guide: Who goes first? 12 fair ways to decide
Questions people ask
How do you play charades?
One person acts out the idea without speaking, making sounds or pointing at real objects. Their team guesses within a time limit, usually one minute. A correct guess scores a point, then the other team sends up an actor.
Are the ideas suitable for kids?
Yes. They are everyday actions, animals and jobs that children know, like brushing your teeth, a penguin or a firefighter. Young children can act most of them with no help.
Can I hide the idea from the guessers?
Yes. Pass one phone from actor to actor and spin where the guessers can't see. Because No repeats until everyone is picked is on from the start, nobody gets an idea that has already been acted.
What makes a charades idea easy or hard?
Easy ideas are one clear action or animal that children see every day, like a frog or kicking a ball. Hard ones are situations with several steps or a feeling to show, such as being stuck in a lift or trying not to sneeze.
What hand signals are used in charades?
For single ideas like these, most groups need only a few: a nod when a guess is right, beckoning when it is close and a wave when it is wrong. Holding up fingers for the number of words is the classic signal for longer titles.
How long should each charades turn last?
One minute suits most groups, with 90 seconds for the Hard ideas. Very young children do better with no timer at all: let them act until someone guesses, and cheer every attempt.