7 Creative Games to Play for Kids to Practice Self Control

April 9, 2021 / Parent Resources

Does your little one get impatient often? Do they find it difficult to follow orders? These creative games to play can teach your little ones to improve their self-control capacities in no time.

Touch and Run: Creative Outdoor Games

This is an creative outdoor games for kids that is sure to enjoy! It requires orders to be followed and helps kids maintain discipline. For this fun-filled activity, all you need is two teams of kids to line up on chalk lines. They need to make sure to stand behind the line until the game begins! Then, draw a chalk circle in the center. On command, one child from each team needs to run to the chalk circle, touch it, and run back to their respective teams! This creative games to play with 8 year olds also enables kids to practice turn-taking skills.

Red Light Green Light: Creative Games for Children

Here is yet another super fun creative games for children that enables to practice self-control and maintain order. This one requires a leader and a group of kids to stand on one side of the space. The leader stands on the other side of the space and says, “Green light,” It is only when the leader gives this command that the students may begin moving forward. When the leader says, “Red light,” students must freeze. You can even add a level of difficulty by changing the required movements! For instance, kids could crab walk, hop, or jump on a green light!

Garage Band: Fun Creative Games to Play

Looking for fun creative games to play? Here’s a creative indoor games where kids can interact with one another through music! For this activity, kids need to take turns being a garage band leader, and other kids need to follow beats created by this leader! For instance, the leader could clap, thump on the table, or snap their fingers. Following this, kids would really need to listen carefully and activate their body control in order to follow the beat.

Mirror: Creative Indoor Games

This is an creative indoor games for kids that works best in pairs. You will need to assign the role of a mirror to one of the kids. This kid who is the mirror must mimic the other child’s movements. As they do this, they need to closely observe them, pay close attention to all facial expressions, and control their own movements to match their friends’ an creative games to play! 

Mother May I: Creative Games for Children

Yet another fun creative games for children that teaches kids to be disciplined is the Mother May I game. Your kids will need to ask the leader “Mother May I take….” – a certain amount of steps, hops, jumps, or leaps – to get to the leader. The leader needs to approve or disapprove. While this fun creative games to play helps your child maintain self-control and follow orders, it also helps kids be more mindful of their manners. You could also teach them to say “thank you” once they get approval from the leader. If your child forgets to say “May I” before asking for approval, they could follow it with a “Sorry”, or “Pardon me”.

Body Part Mix Up: Creative Games for Children

A great way to practice self-control is by teaching kids to think about their actions before they react. This is one such creative games for children that enables this! For this fun creative games to play, there needs to be a leader who will call out the names of body parts, following which kids need to touch their own. For example, the leader calls out “knees” and the children need to touch their knees. You could confuse them as well – when you say “head”, you can touch your toes instead of your head – and see if they’re able to follow through!

Ready, Set, Wiggle: Creative Games to Play

This is a great creative games to play to practice patience. Gather kids in front of you, and say “Ready…Set…Wiggle!”. Once you give this command, everybody needs to wiggle their bodies. Then, make it super fun by saying “Ready…Set…Watermelon!” No one must move! You could say anything you want, or state any word that closely resembles “wiggle” to see how well kids are actually listening and following instructions! As your kids listen and wait for the correct statement to be said, they hone their self-control abilities.

Did you like these fun creative games to play? We also offer a wide range of creative indoor games, educational iPad games, fun coding games for kids, and phonics learning games that your child is sure to love.