Games you can play over FaceTime, Zoom or WhatsApp with a 5-year-old

If you've ever tried to hold a five-year-old's attention on a video call using nothing but conversation, you already know how that goes. 'How was school today' gets you three words and a wandering camera pointed at the ceiling. Five-year-olds aren't being difficult. They just aren't built to sit still and talk the way adults are. What holds their attention is doing something, not answering questions about their day.

The good news is that almost none of the games that actually work need any special setup. Most of what follows works on any video call app, with nothing but the phone or laptop already in front of you.

1. I Spy

The oldest trick in the book still works because it forces both people to actually look at what's around them. 'I spy something blue' turns the room behind the camera into the game itself. With a five-year-old, keep the categories broad (colors, shapes, first letters) since anything more specific tends to stall the game out.

2. Twenty questions, kid-sized

Full twenty questions is too complex for most five-year-olds, but a stripped-down version works well. Pick an animal, and the other person gets five yes-or-no questions before guessing. Kids this age are often better at asking wild, delightful questions than actually guessing correctly, and that's half the fun.

3. Simon Says over video

This one translates almost perfectly to a screen, since both people can see each other. 'Simon says touch your nose' works exactly the same as it does in person, and a five-year-old will happily be Simon for far longer than you'd expect.

4. Draw the same thing

Give both people paper and something to draw with, agree on a subject ('draw a monster'), and hold your drawings up to the camera at the same time. The mismatch between what a five-year-old draws and what an adult draws is usually the best part.

5. Freeze dance

Play music on your end, dance, then stop it without warning. Whoever is still moving when the music stops loses that round. It's loud, it's silly, and it burns off exactly the kind of energy that makes kids restless on calls in the first place.

6. Scavenger hunt

Call out an object ('something red,' 'something soft,' 'something that starts with B') and have the child run and find it, then bring it back to the camera. This one buys you a minute or two of anticipation while they search, which is its own small gift on a call.

7. Would you rather

'Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or be able to fly' is a genre five-year-olds take completely seriously. Keep the options silly and concrete rather than abstract, and let them ask you the questions too. Kids this age often enjoy quizzing the adult more than answering themselves.

8. Story building, one line at a time

Start a story with one sentence ('once upon a time there was a dog who could talk') and take turns adding a line each. Five-year-olds will take the story in directions you can't predict, which is exactly what makes it fun rather than educational.

9. Guess the sound

Make a sound off-camera (a cough, a clap, a dog bark) and have the child guess what it was, then swap roles. It's a low-effort game that works even when everyone's a little tired.

10. Show and tell with a twist

Regular show and tell gets old fast at this age, so add a rule: the person on the other end has to guess where the object came from or what it's used for before being told. It turns a passive activity into a small performance for the kid.

11. Copy the pose

One person strikes a silly pose, the other has to copy it as closely as possible on camera. Kids five and under find this endlessly funny, mostly because adults are usually bad at it.

12. Alphabet countdown

Pick a category (animals, foods, things in the kitchen) and take turns naming something in that category starting with each letter of the alphabet. You won't get past F most of the time, and that's fine. The getting-stuck part is often funnier than getting it right.

A few things that make all of these work better

Keep rounds short. Five-year-olds do better with five short games than one long one, so don't be afraid to cycle through two or three of the above in a single call.

Let the kid win, or at least let them be in charge of the rules sometimes. Kids this age enjoy having authority over a game far more than they enjoy winning it fairly.

Have a backup ready. The game that works brilliantly on Tuesday can fall completely flat on Thursday for no clear reason, and that's normal.

All of the games above work with nothing but a phone, a pencil, and whatever's lying around the house. If you'd rather not think of a new one every call, apps like JoJu Kids sit open in a second tab alongside FaceTime, Zoom, or WhatsApp and give you a drawing board, story builder, and a handful of quick games already built for this exact age range. It's one option among plenty of others, useful mainly on the days you're too tired to invent something new.

Either way, the games that work best all share the same shape: they give the child something to do, not just something to watch or answer. Once a call has that, five minutes turns into fifteen without anyone trying very hard to make it happen.