Are you looking for fun party games for kids? Minute to Win It Games are perfect for kid’s birthday parties, group events, holiday parties, school parties, or family game nights at home.
You’ll love how easy Minute to Win It games are to make with items you have at home.
They’re great entertainment for big group games or when you simply need something to do at home on a rainy day. Each game is only a minute long so they hold kids’ and adults’ attention plus they’re hilarious to watch.
I find the best minute to win it games are ones that are fast and simple to put together. Take a look at these 20 Easy Minute to Win it games for kids and see what will work best for your next party or family night at home.
Bonus these are easy games to social distance – Each game is individual and can be done spaced apart. You can do them as a Zoom Game for a virtual party or on separate tables in a classroom or at home.
If you have older kids make sure to check out our Minute to Win It Games for Teens & Tweens.
When the holiday parties start try Family Minute to Win It Games for Christmas Parties.
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20 Easy Minute to Win It Games for Kids & Groups
Table of Contents
What Are Minute to Win It Games?
The idea of it started with a fun TV show on NBC called Minute to Win It with Guy Fieri. Each contestant had one minute to finish a task or party game. Contestants tried to win 10 rounds of these fun 1-minute games.
How Do the Games Work?
For Minute to Win It you want quick games that kids can complete in under 1 minute. You are racing to see which player can finish the challenge first.
Often the tasks seem simple but once you start it can be a real challenge. The games are all a little silly and add a lot of laughter and fun to your kid’s party.
These games can also be fun for adults to play at family game nights, parents’ night out, or office parties.
How to Play Minute to Win It at Parties
This is a super fun and easy way to host a party at your home or event space. Players can play the Minute to Win It in two different ways.
Game # 1 – Player vs Player For this game, each person is playing to win the whole game by themselves. Play one on one against another player whoever wins the game then goes on to play the next opponent.
The winner is the final player left who wins the round.
You can choose just one type of minute to win it a game or choose a few and see which player wins the most games. If you have a smaller group have all the players compete at one time. This will make it easier to see who wins.
Game #2 – Team Players Kids are divided up into 2 groups. Pick out several different Minute to Win it games to play. Each team puts forward one player to compete in each different game. Keep score of which team wins the most rounds.
Player vs. Clock – If you want to play these games at home as a fun indoor game have your child race the clock. Set an alarm for 1 minute on your phone and see if they can beat it. These are great on rainy days when you need to keep your kids busy.
If you want to social distance consider throwing a Zoom Family Game Night, Virtual Birthday Party, Virtual Christmas, or Virtual Easter Party with Minute to Win it games. It’s a great way to connect with family and friends when you can’t get together or live far apart.
Get More Family Game Night ideas in our Printable Family Game Night Planner with 12 Months of fun.
What You Need to Play
The best part about Minute to Win it is you probably have all supplies you need to play already at home. Each game uses everyday items & supplies to create these funny games. Which makes it not only fun but an affordable party game or family game night.
Below you will find each game listed and with it the items you’ll need to play. Make sure to gather all the supplies before you start the game.
20 Best Minute to Win It Games
Are you ready to find the perfect game for your upcoming kid’s party or family game night? Go through the 20 Minute to Win it Games below and find a few your family will love playing.
Make sure to visit our Minute to Win It Games for Teens & Tweens & Christmas Minute to Win It Games for Parties.
Cereal Puzzle
What You Need – 1 Empty Box of Cereal
How to Play – Cut up a cereal box into small pieces and see who can reassemble it back in 1 minute.
Tip – I used a pencil on the back to draw out my pieces before I cut it up.
Chopstick Pick Up
What You Need – 2-3 Sets of Chopsticks (depending on the number of teams/kids), two paper plates for each team, and a bag of candy. The candy can be chosen by the time of year.
Holiday Ideas – candy corn for Halloween, conversation hearts for Valentine’s Day, colored marshmallows for Christmas, jelly beans for Easter, or simply skittles and M&Ms.
How to Play – Give each team two plates with 20 pieces of candy on one plate. Have the players move each piece of candy to the other plate using chopsticks in under a minute.
Tip: It is easier for younger kids to pick up squishy marshmallows than hard M&Ms with chopsticks.
Related Article – Fun Rainy Days Games When Your Stuck Inside & Their Driving You Crazy
What You Need – One tissue box per player, a bag of ping pong balls, and a thin belt or long ribbon
How to Play – This is the most popular Minute to Win It game because it’s so funny to watch. To get ready, take a tissue box and cut a slit on each side to slide your belt or ribbon through to tie the box around a player’s waist. Then add in 10 ping pong balls.
When the timer starts, players shake and jump around to try and get the highest number of ping pong balls out of their box. It’s hilarious to watch.
Make it into a Christmas Junk in the Trunk for holiday parties.
Snowman Stack
What You Need – Bag of Marshmallows, Chopsticks
How to Play – Players must stack 3 marshmallows in under 1 minute. They use chopsticks to build up their snowman.
Make it easier or harder based on the player’s age. Younger kids can use oversized marshmallows and older players can use mini-marshmallows. If you have a mixed age group use the regular size marshmallows.
Tip: For players that have a hard time using chopsticks, we got cheater chopsticks for our kids to use. It’s a simple reusable plastic piece you put on the end of your chopstick so it’s easier to use.
Cup Stacking
What You Need – 42 Solo Cups
How to Play – First, split cups into two groups (21 each) and have two children compete against each other. Kids have one minute to unstack the cups and create a pyramid then restack the cups back into each other.
Use the timer on your phone for this and write down the time as they finish. When all the kids are done, look at the times to find a winner. Just add more cups if you want to have more than two kids compete.
Tip: when stacking cups up, don’t press them tightly together or they can be hard to get apart.
Related Article – Best Family Game Night Ideas & Tips
Moving on Up
What You Need – 40 Red Solo Cups, 2 Blue Solo Cups (You just need two different colors, you can use whatever color you can find at the store)
How to Play – Stack 20 Cups of one color (red) together then add one to the top of the stack in a different color (blue).
When the timer starts, players put the blue cup on the bottom and start restacking the cups until they get the blue cup back up to the top of the stack.
Hold the Dice
What You Need – 12 dice and two plastic spoons or popsicle sticks
How to Play – Players place the plastic spoon in their mouth and try to stack 6 dice onto the end. For younger kids, you could lower the dice amount to make it easier.
Related Article – 8 Fun Elementary School Party Games Kids & Room Mom’s Love
Mummy Wrap
What You Need – Roll of Toilet Paper – how many you need is based on how many teams you have. Each team needs a roll.
How to Play – Each team has two wrappers and one individual to be wrapped with toilet paper. Players roll the toilet paper around the person until they are totally covered minus the eyes and mouth.
If the paper breaks start again at the bottom or try and tie the paper together. This one can be a pretty hilarious group game.
Tip: You could use colored streamers instead of toilet paper to match a holiday theme such as red for Valentine’s Day.
Related Article – Minute to Win It Games for Teens & Tweens
Defy Gravity
What You Need – Two Balloons Per Team
How to Play – Players keep one hand behind their back and try to keep two balloons up in the air for one minute. Adjust how difficult this game is by adding or taking away balloons.
My kids decided to make it more challenging by adding a lightsaber to help keep the balloons in the air. This would be fun for a Star Wars-loving family.
Noodle Pick Up
What You Need – 10 uncooked Spaghetti Pieces and 12 uncooked penne pasta noodles.
How to Play – Place uncooked penne pasta noodles on the edge of a table. Players try to pick up the penne noodles using a spaghetti piece they have in their mouth. See who can pick up the most in one minute.
I suggest a spaghetti piece for each person as these are in your mouth. The penne noddles can be used over again. To make it harder just increase the number of noodles they need to pick up.
Related Article – 15 Best Games to Play on Zoom with Kids
Coin Stack
What You Need – 25 Pennies per team
How to Play – Players need to stack 25 pennies up in a minute. Bigger groups could try and see how many of their players can stack up to 25 pennies in a minute. The team with the most players finishing the stack wins.
Spiders and Straws
What You Need – Bag of small spider rings, a bag of straws, and masking tape
How to Play – Two players line up with a straw in their mouth. Players need to blow the spider ring across the table to the finish line first. I use a piece of masking tape or painter’s tape at the end of the table to mark the finish line.
The other option is to make the finish line when the spider goes over the end of the table.
Tip: The spider ring can be changed for each holiday such as a heart ring for Valentine’s Day. Any cheap ring you can find at Dollar Tree or Amazon will work.
Apple Stacking
What You Need – 5 Apples per team
How to Play – Each team tries to stack 5 apples in 1 minute. This is a more challenging game so it could be done individually or as a team to figure out the best way to keep them stacked.
Cookie Face
What You Need – 1 Oreo Cookie for Each Player
How to Play – Players place the cookie on their faces and try to get it into their mouths without using their hands. This one can be pretty funny to watch and a great group game as several players can go at once.
Straw Race
What You Need – Bag of Straws, 2 paper plates per team, and a small type of candy such as M&M’s, skittles, or Goldfish.
Holiday Ideas – candy corn for Halloween, conversation hearts for Valentine’s Day, colored marshmallows for Christmas, jelly beans for Easter
How to Play – Each team gets two plates with one plate having 10 pieces of candy while the other is empty. Players then use a straw to suck up the candy and transfer it to the other plate. The one with the most transferred candies wins.
Ping Pong Transfer
What You Need – 6 Ping Pong Balls Per Team, a box of plastic spoons, and two plates per team
How to Play – Players try to move the ping balls from one plate to the other using a plastic spoon in their mouth. See who can move the most ping pong balls in one minute.
Balloon Air
What You Need – 1 balloon per player and 1 ping pong ball per team
How to Play – Each player blows up their own balloon. Then they line up at a table or along a hard surface floor with a ping pong ball in front of them.
Players release the air from the balloon to try and see who can make the ping pong ball go the furthest. This one involves some strategy and they might want to try it a second time when they get the hang of it.
Related Article – How to Throw An Awesome Nerf Wars Birthday Party
Fruit Loop Thread
What You Need – 1 Pipe Cleaner per player and a box of Fruit Loops
How to Play – Players have one minute to use a pipe cleaner to string as many fruit loops as they can onto their pipe cleaner. The tricky part is you can only use one hand.
Chandelier
What You Need – 15 Empty Cans and 4 paper plates per team
How to Play – Player must stack all 15 cans up using 4 paper plates in between. Each team can work together on their strategy to get them all stacked in under 1 minute.
There is no one way to make this work so it’s fun to see each team’s strategy.
Card Ninja
What You Need – 2 Watermelons and a deck of playing cards
How to Play – This is probably the easiest Minute to Win it Game to set up. Just slice the watermelon in half and lean against a chair or boxes to prop it up so the red part of the watermelon is showing.
Kids then throw the playing cards like a ninja at the watermelon and see how many they can get to stick in one minute.
What You Need – One tissue box per player, a bag of ping pong balls, and a thin belt or long ribbon
How to Play – This is the most popular Minute to Win It game because it’s so funny to watch. To get ready, take a tissue box and cut a slit on each side to slide your belt or ribbon through to tie the box around a player’s waist. Then add in 10 ping pong balls.
When the timer starts, players shake and jump around to try and get the highest number of ping pong balls out of their box. It’s hilarious to watch.
Water Pong
What You Need – 3 Solo Cups and 1 ping pong ball per team
How to Play – Fill up the cups with water. Then line them up in a straight line on a table and have the player stand at the end. The player puts the ping pong ball in the first cup and tries to blow it across to the last cup without falling out of the cups.
If the ping pong ball falls, pick it back up and start over. You’ll be amazed how well they skip across the water when you blow on them just right.
Need more games to play? Make sure to grab our Family Game Night Printable with 12 Pre-planned games and ideas to make throwing a game night at home fun and easy!
More Minute to Win It Games
Minute to Win it games are great for any time of year and for all different age groups. They’re perfect for group games because everyone can play and have fun together.
Find even more Minute to Win It Game Ideas below:
Best Minute to Win It Games for Teens & Tweens
Family Minute to Win It Games for Christmas Parties
Minute to Win It Prizes
Everyone loves to compete for fun prizes when playing games. You could choose to give a small prize to everyone, just the top three or only the winner. Whatever you think will work best for your party.
Here are a few ideas of things to buy for the party prizes.
1.Give out a medal to all the participants or just recognize the winner.
2. A Trophy for each player
3. Make little goody bags with an assortment of strategic games just like the minute to win it games.
4. Giving out candy is always a winner with kids. I find lollypops tend to be liked by most kids. You could also do a full-size candy bar for the winner.
Get More Party Ideas & Tips
Birthday Games & School Parties
Visit our Birthday Party Page for fun birthday ideas and parties by age group. Make sure to also visit our Kid Party Page for tons of party games & activities to try.
Here are some reader favorites:
How to Throw the Best Family Games Nights – Make it a night the whole family looks forward to!
30 Birthday Party Games for Kids – Fun DIY Games kids LOVE at Parties
Best Printable Escape Room Games for Kids – Cool Escape Room Kits with everything you need to plan.
15 Awesome Balloon Games for Kids Parties & at Home – Cheap Games kids have a blast playing
Virtual Birthday Party Ideas for Kids – How to throw a fun virtual birthday party
Funny Would You Rather Questions for Kids – Free Printable Game for Kids
15 Best Games to Play on Zoom with Kids – Host a Game Night on Zoom with family and friends.
Teens & Tweens Would You Rather Questions – Free Printable Game for older kids
Easy Elementary Classroom Party Games – No more stress about being a room parent with these easy-to-make school games.
How to Throw an Awesome Nerf Wars Birthday Party – Find out how to build bases, plan a nerf war, and the best goody bag ideas.
Kid Activities & Game Ideas
More fun activities on our Kids Activity Page too.
Rainy Day Indoor Activities for Kids – Keep the kids off electronics when the weather’s bad with these fun indoor games.
60 Fun & Free Things to Do with Kids Screen-Free – Find out how to entertain the kids without spending any money.
Cheap & Fun Family Bonding Activities at Home – New ways to spend time together as a family.
DIY Backyard Games for Kids from Dollar Tree – Easy to make outdoor games for kids with cheap items from Dollar Tree
Summer Camp at Home for Kids – Easy plan to create your own fun camp for your kids this summer.
Did you find a few easy Minute to Win It Games for kids at your next party?
It can be stressful to find the right party games for kids that everyone will love but now you’re ready. Enjoy these games at your next birthday party, holiday party, or school party.
Let me know if you have a favorite in the comments. I love to hear from my readers.
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Rick B
Monday 4th of September 2023
Brilliant great game ideas, I have made a board game involving dinosaurs for my daughter that she loves, its pretty easy to create games from their imagination that keeps their attention for a while. Only thing is they sometimes want to play it forever. Thanks https:primal42.com
Summer
Tuesday 9th of May 2023
Hi, I found your minute to win games very useful. I am planning games for a turning 13yrs old boy. It is usually very hard to find good games for teens and tweens, but these look like great games. Thanks 😊
happymomhacks
Tuesday 9th of May 2023
That's great to hear. I hope the kids enjoy playing the Minute to Win It games. Check out my Minute to Win It Games for Teens & Tweens too. They'll be a great fit for 13-year-olds. Have an awesome party!!