I've watched my own kids freeze up on FaceTime with friends and grandparents more times than I can count. Two minutes of hello, a lot of staring, then a nice view of the ceiling. (Try answering "so, what have you been up to?" when you're five.)
A game fixes most of that, because the game does the talking. These ten work for kids around 3 to 8 and need little more than the phone.
The ones that last have short turns (or no turns, with both people playing at once), let the kid be in charge, and get their hands or whole body moving. Pick something you can stop after five minutes. Anything with "best of three" will run long.
No props needed
1. I Spy, but with colors
Regular I Spy is hard on video because the camera only shows a slice of the room. So each person spies something in their own room, and the clue is just a color: "I spy something green." The other person finds something green on their end and holds it up.
Ages 3 to 6.
2. Simon Says (or freeze dance)
Pull this one out when the kid is already wiggling. Lean the phone against something so it shows their whole body, and let them be Simon first. A kid who won't answer a single question will happily make grandpa touch his nose forty times. For freeze dance, one person plays music from another device and pauses it.
Ages 3 to 7.
3. Animal charades
Act out an animal without making a sound, and the other person guesses. Guess wrong on purpose sometimes. Kids love being outraged that you thought their elephant was a dog.
Ages 3 to 8.
Find it and show it
4. Quick scavenger hunt
One item at a time, fast: "Find something soft. Go." You both run, then hold it up to the camera. Let the kid call some of the items, and keep it to the room they're in (once they head for another room, you've lost them).
Ages 3 to 8. Stop after five or six items.
5. What's missing?
Put five or six small things in front of the camera and name them. Point the phone at the ceiling, take one away, turn it back. What's missing? Then switch. The kid will tell you exactly which one they took, every time, with a huge grin.
Ages 4 to 8.
6. Mystery sock
Each person hides a small object in a sock and describes it without saying what it is: "It's bumpy. It's kind of squishy. It has a tail." Great for the kid who can never think of anything to say, because now there's something specific to say.
Ages 4 to 8.
7. Stuffie show
A lot of kids won't talk to grandma, but their stuffed bunny will happily chat with grandma's stuffed bear. Ask the grown-up on the other end to grab one too, and let the stuffies interview each other.
Ages 2 to 6.
Drawing games
8. The squiggle game
One person draws a squiggle and the other turns it into something. A loop becomes a snail, a zigzag becomes a dinosaur's back. Then switch.
On FaceTime this usually means holding paper up to a blurry camera, and nobody sees anything until the drawing's done. This is the exact problem PaintPal was built to solve: one of you starts a room and sends the link, and you both draw on the same page from your own devices, watching each other's lines appear as they're drawn. Kids who'd rather color can pick a coloring page and color it together instead. Start a coloring room and try it on your next call.
Ages 4 to 8, and the one most likely to work across a big age gap.
9. Draw and guess
One person draws something secret on the shared page and the other guesses. Your kid will draw a dragon in four seconds and make you guess "a bird?" three times. That's the game.
Ages 5 to 8.
10. Picture story
One person draws the first thing in a story (a bear, a house, a moon), the other adds one thing, and you keep going until there's a story. It's a calm one to end on.
Ages 4 to 8. More ideas like these are in my list of drawing games for kids to play together.
Skip these
Twenty questions turns into "is it a dog? is it a dog?" with kids under about six. Trivia and anything with reading leaves the little one waiting. And board games where only one person can see the board become one person narrating.
Tips for any game
Prop the phone up so nobody gets seasick. Have the game ready before the kid gets on. Offer two choices ("scavenger hunt or Simon Says?") instead of asking what they want to play. And stop while it's still fun.
If the calls keep falling apart no matter what, the problem is usually the setup of the call, not the game. I wrote about why video calls fall apart with young kids. For things to make together rather than games, see FaceTime activities for kids. For a longer call with a friend, try these virtual playdate ideas. And grandparents can find things to do with grandkids over FaceTime here.
If your kid loves to draw, try the squiggle game on a shared page. I'd love to hear which game becomes your family's favorite.
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