15 party games for three year olds
Charlotte Thomas
Deputy Editorial DirectorThis page contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small amount of money if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. All our articles and reviews are written independently by the Netmums editorial team.
Planning a birthday party for your three year old and looking for party games for toddlers? We've got loads of fun ideas to keep preschoolers entertained. From indoor games to outdoor activities, these simple games will keep young children happy and make sure they have lots of party fun!
If you're planning a three-year-old's birthday party, you're going to want some fun games and activities to keep the kids occupied. These great party game ideas are perfect for toddlers and will keep them happily entertained.
When you're choosing games for toddlers, remember to keep things simple. Rules can be hard to understand for some three year olds and being told they're 'out' in a game or not winning can result in tears – games should be all about having fun at this age, not competition.
Make sure you have plenty of prizes on hand so that every child can get a small reward in games, too.
If you think party games might be a bit complicated for some of your guests, invest in some bubbles, balloons and a craft table instead and let them make their own fun.
1. Hide and seek
Everyone's favourite! To stop kids feeling left out you might want to pick an adult as the seeker.
The seeker counts to 100 while the kids run around and find a hiding place. The seeker then shouts, 'coming, ready or not!' and has to find all the kids.
For a variation on this classic, you could try 'sardines' – in this version, only one person hides and everyone else has to try to find them. When a seeker finds the hider, the seeker joins them in their hiding place, until everyone's hiding together squashed up like sardines in a tin.
2. Egg and spoon race
It's a school games day favourite and it's lots of fun. You don't need to make this a race, instead kids can just have fun trying.
Use hard boiled eggs, potatoes or ping pong balls. Give each child an egg and a large spoon. They then have to try and cross the room or garden balancing the egg on the spoon without dropping it.
This can be a tricky task for three year olds, so you may want to give them big ladle-like spoons to make it a bit easier. If older brothers and sisters want to join in, give them an extra challenge, like putting one hand behind their back, or doing a silly walk.
3. Musical statues
The old-fashioned games are always the best. The rules of musical statues are super-simple, perfect for toddlers to understand.
Press play on some music and ask the children to dance. When the music stops they need to freeze.
If any of the children move they have to sit down and the last one standing is the winner. Although with three year olds you may prefer just to play a few rounds and reward everyone with a small gift, like a sweet, for staying still rather than having a winner.
4. Simon says
A classic party game, in Simon says, one person – it's probably easiest if you pick an adult – shouts out instructions for the kids to follow. Things like hop, skip, put your hands on your head, sit down, stand up, pretend to be an elephant …
Before each action they have to say 'Simon says'. If the adult doesn't say Simon says before an instruction, the kids shouldn't do the action.
For a simpler version you can play follow my leader. Kids follow an adult round the garden or party venue and copy what they do, hopping, skipping, patting their head and acting like an animal – the sillier, the better!
5. In and out the dusty bluebells
In this traditional party game, all but one of the children stand in a circle, hold hands, and then lift them up into arches.
The child in the middle weaves in and out of the arches to the tune of 'In and out the dusty bluebells' (you can hear it here on YouTube).
When you get to the chorus ('Tippy tippy tappy on your shoulder'), the child stops and taps the shoulders of the person in front of them.
These two children then form a chain and weave through the arches together.
Keep repeating the song while the chain gets longer and longer – and more chaotic!
For a simpler version, just get kids to dance along in a conga.
6. Chase the monster
Like a giant, fun game of tag, you're going to need a big space such as a garden or church hall.
Choose an adult or two to be monsters and get all the kids to line up on one side of the space. The space is the forest and the aim of the game is for the children to try and get to the other side of the forest without being captured by the monsters.
You can adapt this game to fit your party theme if you have one – so it could be sharks trying to eat pirates or space monsters chasing astronauts around space.
7. Musical chairs
For younger children, it's often easier to use cushions rather than chairs for musical chairs, this way they won't hurt themselves.
Line up some cushions along the floor and ask the children to walk around then. Play music and when it stops, the kids have to sit down on the cushions. Traditionally you'd take away a cushion each round and the child who doesn't have anywhere to sit is out.
For toddlers, to prevent anyone getting upset, just play for fun without anyone being 'out', or spot the first person to sit down each time.
8. Sleeping lions
This is a good game if kids are getting a bit over excited or to calm them down towards the end of the party.
Get the kids to lie down and pretend to be sleeping lions. Explain that the aim of the game is to stay as quiet and still as possible, while you try to distract them.
Then walk around and try to disturb them by talking or tickling them. Telling jokes and being silly will make it tricky for the tots to stop themselves bursting into giggles!
Anyone who moves can stand up and help you wake the other sleeping lions.
9. Pass the parcel
Make a parcel by wrapping up a prize in several layers of paper (one for each child, plus an extra one). Wrap the prize in different paper so you know when you're at the last layer.
With the kids sitting in a circle, give one of them the parcel and when the music starts, ask them to pass it round.
When the music stops, the child who's holding the parcel opens the first layer. Put a small treat like a sweet or sticker between each layer.
Make sure each child gets a turn to unwrap a layer. With young children, you may want to add a few extra layers of paper and gifts as some kids may rip through a few more layers than they're meant to or refuse to let go of the parcel!
10. Pin the tail on the donkey
We've all played pin the tail on the donkey as children but the beauty is you can adapt it to fit any party theme. So you can pin the crown on the princess, for example or the horn on the unicorn.
All you need to do is draw a large donkey and stick it to the wall at toddler height. Cut out a tail from another piece of card or make one from wool and put Blu Tack on the end.
In the original game you blindfold the child, spin them round and ask them to pin the tail where they think it should go. For younger children the spinning or blindfold may be too much, if so, just ask the kids to pin the tail where they think it should go.
You can buy ready-made kits to play this game. See more details here at Amazon.
11. Pass the balloon
Super-simple but still lots of fun. Blow up a balloon and ask kids to sit or stand in a circle and pass it around while music plays.
Whoever's holding the balloon when the music stops gets a prize – you can use something small like a sweet and make sure everyone gets a turn at winning.
To up the ante and keep all the little ones active so they don't have to wait their turn, you could blow up enough balloons for each child to have one, but make one of the balloons a different colour. Then they all pass their balloons around in a circle, and the one holding the different-coloured balloon is the winner.
12. Bottom shuffle
When you're three, what's funnier than a bottom? Not much.
Ask the kids to sit on their bottoms and shuffle across the floor in a race to see who can get to the other side of the room first. You can add other rounds like crossing the room like an animal, hopping all the way across and other fun variations.
You could even turn it into an obstacle course, by placing a few cushions around on the floor for the kids to shuffle around.
13. Fun fishing
This is a really satisfying game to play and the adults are all bound to want a go, too.
Cut fish shapes out of card and attach a paper clip to each to make them magnetic.
Place the fish in an empty bucket, paddling pool or wash basin.
Make fishing rods by attaching small magnets to pieces of string and tying them to sticks. Let the kids go fishing and see how many they can catch.
You can also add some creative fun into the mix by getting the kids to colour in the fish with pretty colours before you play.
You can also mix things up by having different sea creatures such as octopus and sharks to catch as well as fish.
14. Dress up dancing
Toddlers love dressing up so place a box of dressing-up clothes on the floor and props like glasses and hats and ask them to pick something to wear.
Take them through sing-a-long songs with fun actions, like heads, shoulders, knees and toes and the hokey cokey.
There's no need to spend loads of money on fancy dressing-up clothes either. Perhaps you have some old gems from the 80s and 90s stuffed away in a closet that the kids would love? Or you can head to your local charity shop and find some brilliantly outlandish outfits for next to nothing.
15. Treasure hunt
Treasure hunts are a great way to keep kids occupied and at this age you don't need to worry too much about complicated clues or maps.
Simply hide some small gifts around your garden or the party space, arm kids with a basket or paper cup and set them out to hunt for the prizes. Every so often give them a few clues such as 'getting warmer' or 'I heard sweets like to hid in bushes' to help them discover all the gifts.
For three year olds, be sure not to hide the prizes too well, or you could be there forever! You may find it helpful to make a note of all the places you've hidden things, in case they don't all get found.
You can kits to make creating a treasure hunt easier. See more details here at Amazon.
Are you planning a child's birthday party? Have you got any great kids party games to recommend? From tug of war to charades, red rover to blind man's buff and duck, duck goose, share your faves on the forum thread below.
Related stories
100 activities if you're stuck at home with kids
More on kids' parties
Check out our complete birthday party guides by age:
1-year-old birthday • 2-year-old birthday • 3-year-old birthday • 4-year-old birthday • 5-year-old birthday • 6-year-old birthday • 7-year-old birthday • 8-year-old birthday • 9-year-old birthday • 10-year-old birthday • 11-year-old birthday • 12-year-old birthday • 13-year-old birthday • 14-year-old birthday • birthday ideas for older teens
Or browse party ideas by theme:
Dinosaur party • Disco party • Festival party • First birthday party • Frozen party • Mermaid party • NYE party • Pamper party • Pirate party • Pizza party • Sleepover party • Space party • Tea party • Toy Story party • Trampoline sleepover party • Unicorn party
