Teenage Paper Games

Categories

• Today's Parent outlines a paper game called "Categories." For this game, create a paper grid for two or more teenagers. Draw a square filled with rows of smaller squares on a sheet of paper. Give one sheet to each teenager. The number of vertical squares should equal the letters in one of the teenager's names. Write the letters of the teenager's name in the squares of the left vertical column. This creates rows for each letter in the teenager's name. Then write five or six different categories above the top row of vertical squares (for example, mammal, vegetable or famous actor).

  Each teenager then (on her own sheet) tries to come up with an item that fits into the category at the top of the column and starts with the letter at the beginning of the row. Give each teenager 1 or 2 minutes to fill out her sheet. The teen with the most answers wins. Any answers that more than one teen gave should be eliminated.

Guess Who

• For this paper game, write 10 to 20 names of famous men and women (that your teenagers know) on slips of paper. Include pop stars, music icons and even famous historical icons. Place the slips of paper in a hat. A teenager then draws a name from the hat and tries to get the other teens to guess who he is. All questions must be yes or no questions.

Name Bingo

• If you plan a party for teenagers, you can play a simple Bingo paper party game. For this game, inspired by a game from Printable Games Atoz, create a bingo card with a grid, five squares by five squares. Write down the names of all the teens at the party, one in each square. Fill the rest of the squares with names of famous men and women. Then draw the names, written on separate slips of paper, out of a hat, until one of the teens makes a five-square line out of names. Incorporate fun into the game by making the teen whose name gets called do a little dance or do something embarrassing.