Children's Games to Play Without Light

Everyday Fun

• Take a wire hanger and bend it into a diamond-shaped looking glass, using lots of tape if there are sharp edges on the handle. Hold it up to the night sky and let your child draw a picture of what he sees inside of the frame. You can count the stars and name them.

  You can also think of a theme like the zoo and have your child draw trees, tigers or whatever he wishes; when the lights are back on, you will have some fun art to see.

  Play the coin game by dropping coins on a hard floor; use various coins and ask your child to identify them by the sound they make. If he gets it right, let him keep the coin; if he doesn't, spin him around one time and have him find the coin.

Party Games

• Any type of hide-and-seek game is fun to play with no lights. For older kids use a big area, whether indoors or outdoors; smaller kids will do better with a small area. You can reverse the traditional procedure: Have just one person hide--she is "it"--and everyone else will search individually to find 'It' and join her in her hiding place until only one seeker is left.

  Zombie is a fun outdoor game. Have all the children (except one) lie down on the lawn as still as possible. Choose one Zombie to slowly find his way to the other side of the lawn. The object of the game is to get across the lawn without bumping into any bodies. If the Zombie bumps into someone, he must go back to the beginning; or, in another version of the game, the person he bumped into becomes the Zombie. Play until everyone gets a turn being the Zombie.

  Invest in some glow-in-the-dark accessories, necklaces and bracelets, and keep them handy for glowing games at night. Tape a glow-in-the-dark necklace around a volleyball or Frisbee with strong, clear packing tape. Put neon bracelets on the individual players for a spirited game of blind ball.

  There are a million ways to have fun with all the glowing accessories available today; a bit of imagination goes a long way. Try hiding fluorescent stars as treasures for a special dark-night scavenger hunt.

Considerations

• According to Parenting-ed.org, playing children's games in the dark can help children overcome any fear of darkness. Obviously you do not want to use frightening games if easing fear is the goal; instead, choose games that make the darkness seem fun.

  When choosing children's games to play in the dark, keep in mind the age of the child or try to adjust the game to the child's level of understanding and abilities. Always keep the area in which children are playing clear of harmful obstructions or objects.