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Child Hand Games

Children can entertain themselves with hand games when they are playing with friends at recess or at home. Hand games include a wide range of games that incorporate a child's hands as the main focus or instrument of the game. Children can use their hands to play physical games, make gestures or clap out rhythmic beats. Hand games may challenge a child's observation skills and hand-eye coordination.

Hand-clapping Games
- Hand-clapping games are typically noncompetitive games. Stand facing your partner. Both you and your partner should clap your own hands together. Open your hands and clap your right hand to your partner's right hand. You and your partner should clap your own hands together again. Open your hands and clap your left hand to your partner's left hand. Repeat the hand-clapping pattern while saying a rhyme. There are different kids of hand-clapping rhymes, such as "Miss Mary Mack" or "Miss Susie." One source for rhymes is Joanna Cole and Stephanie Calmenson's book, "Miss Mary Mack and Other Children's Street Rhymes."
Board Games
- The game Hands Down by Hasbro is a game for three to four players. The game board comes with a slam-o-matic unit with four plastic colored hands attached to it. The object of the game is to form as many matches as you can with pairs of cards. If you have a match, you must slam down your colored plastic hand as fast as you can. Another game kids can play is Hasbro's Twister. One player spins a colored spinner and tells the other players where to place their hands or feet on a mat with colored circles. The spinner will specify if players must place their left hand, right hand, left foot or right foot on a certain color.
Hand Gesture Games
- In the two-player game of rock, paper, scissors, players try to anticipate each other's gestures and create moves that will defeat their opponent. Players make a fist with one hand and hold it up in front of their body. Players then count to three while moving their fists up and down to each count. On the third count, players make a hand gesture. There are three different gestures players can make: a victory sign with their fingers to represent scissors, a closed fist to represent a rock or an open palm to represent paper. To determine who wins, you look at the gesture made. Scissors beats paper by cutting it, a rock beats scissors by smashing it and paper beats a rock by covering it. Another idea is for players to form a number with their fingers behind their backs. A player calls out "odd" or "even" as the players reveal their hands. If the player's number corresponds to the call, that player wins.
Party Games
- Players should sit in a circle around a table. Each player must cross his arms and lay his hands flat on the table. Have one player start by clapping the table with both of his hands. Play continues around the circle with each player clapping the table with their hands. If someone forgets to clap or claps out of turn, he is out. If a person claps twice in a row, the clapping changes direction. The last player whose hands are left on the table wins. A game you can play with little children is the hand guessing game. Place a small object in your hand and close both of your hands into tight fists. Have children try and guess which hand holds the object.

Kids Games