5 Easy Video Call Games to Play With Your Grandkids

“How was school?” “Good.” “What did you do?” “Nothing.”

If your video calls with your grandkids sound like this, you are in very good company. Most children are terrible at chatting into a phone. They are tired, the screen is small, and an adult asking questions feels a lot like a test.

What changes a call is having something to do together. A game gives a child a reason to stay, and it gives you something to talk about that isn’t school.

Here are five games that work on a phone or a tablet. None of them need a printer, an app or anything you have to buy.

What’s missing

Put four or five small things in front of the camera. A spoon, a sock, a toy car, an apple. Let your grandchild look at them for a few seconds.

Then ask them to close their eyes, and take one thing away. When they open their eyes, they guess what has gone.

Swap after every round so they get to hide something from you. You are allowed to be slow. Children enjoy watching a grandparent struggle a lot more than they enjoy winning easily.

For little ones: three objects is plenty. For older kids: go up to seven or eight, or move the objects around instead of removing one.

Guess the sound

Hold your hands below the camera and make a noise. Jingle your keys, crumple some paper, shake a box of cereal, close a cupboard door.

Your grandchild guesses. Then they go and find a sound for you.

Before you start, check that the sound actually comes through. Some phones filter quiet noises out, and a game of guessing silence gets old quickly. Louder, sharper sounds work best.

Find something nearby

This one is good for children who can’t sit still, because it doesn’t ask them to.

Give a challenge, and they bring something back to the camera. Something soft. Something blue. Something older than you. Something that makes a noise. Then it’s their turn to send you looking.

Keep it to things they are allowed to touch. Nobody needs to race down the stairs for a blue sock. The interesting part is what they come back with. A blue sock and a blue toy car already give you two things to ask about.

Draw what I say

You both need a pen and a piece of paper.

One person describes a simple picture step by step, without saying what it is. “Draw a big circle. Put two small triangles on top. Add whiskers.” The other person draws exactly what they hear. At the end, you both hold your drawings up to the camera.

They will never look the same, which is the whole point. A cat with ears on the side of its head is a lot more fun to talk about than a neat one.

Keep it to three or four steps for younger children. Older kids usually prefer to give the instructions, and some of them are very strict about it.

One sentence each

Make up a story together, taking turns, one sentence at a time.

You start. “Once there was a very small dog who lived in a very big boot.” They add the next sentence, then you, then them. Within a few minutes the dog will probably be able to fly. Go with it.

If the story is good, write it down after the call and post it to them. A child who gets a letter with their own story in it will usually want to write the next chapter.

A few things that make it easier

Keep it short. Five good minutes are worth more than twenty tired ones. Stop while they still want more, and the next call starts on a good note.

Prop the phone up. Most of these games need your hands. A phone leaning against a mug is enough.

Let them lead sometimes. If your grandchild would rather show you a new toy, follow them. The game is there to make the call easier. You don’t have to finish it.

Ask the parents about timing. A game that works brilliantly on a Saturday morning can fall flat at bedtime. It is worth asking which time of day suits the whole household.

When you want more

If your grandchild enjoys these, our free Video Call Play Pack has printable games for the next step, including Guess Who?, Finish the Drawing and What Changed? You print the same page in both homes and play together.

Get the free Video Call Play Pack

Which of these would your grandchild pick first, and is there a game your family already plays on calls that I should add to this list?