For those of you who are stuck for fun activities to keep the kiddies busy (although perhaps the ‘grown-ups’ wouldn’t mind joining in) Tanja Cilia has compiled a list of games which surely entertain...

• Alphabet Game: Find a name, a verb and a noun that start with the same letter, with each person taking a letter in sequence – Albert ate apples; Brenda bites buttercups; Catherine cooks clothes. The person who falters or makes a mistake loses. Agree beforehand as to whether certain letters at the end of the alphabet will be included.

• Bacon and eggs: A magazine article is chosen at random, and everyone is allocated two minutes’ reading time. Each time a word commencing with ‘b’ is in the text, it has to be replaced by the word ‘bacon’, and words starting with ‘e’ must be replaced with ‘eggs’. Whoever forgets, is out.

• Box locks: Several things are collected from those present. The leader places them, one by one, inside a box, and rattles it a little. Each person gets a chance to guess what is inside the box; with the object being replaced when someone guesses what it is. Those who guess correctly go on to the second round.

• Can do: Place a tin of milk on the floor. Someone stands on it; time him until he loses his balance. Everyone takes a turn; the winner is the person who lasts longest without falling off.

• Donkey’s Tail: Instead of the usual donkey and its tail, you may have other pictures; try a nose on a face; a fish in a bowl; a shoe on a foot; and so on. A player is led, blindfolded, to the picture; the blindfold is removed when he is still holding the object he would have attached, in position; that way, there will be no accusations of cheating. The person who achieves the closest results wins.

• Dragons and damsels: A player who is ‘it’ tries to catch someone. They link arms and try to catch someone else. Each person caught will join the dragon-chain and catch someone else. The last person who evades the trap until last is the winner.

• Giant Obstacle Race: A child is shown a number of obstacles over which, he is told, he must cross when he is blindfolded. When he cannot see what is happening, the objects are silently removed, and he inevitably completes the course without having stepped on anything. He receives a prize for being the butt of a joke.

• Hark the bark: A leader is blindfolded, and everyone else mills about the room. He then calls “Halt!” points a finger, and the person at whom he is pointing has to bark. If he guesses who would have barked, they change places.

• High spy: A player goes out of the room and the rest think of a personality whose name he will have to guess upon returning. He is only allowed 20 questions to which the answers are ‘yes’ or ‘no’. If he wins, he gets the prize; if he doesn’t, the game continues until the prize has been allocated.

• House mouse: The players sit in a circle, holding hands. Outside the circle is the cart, inside the circle is the mouse. The cat is prevented form catching the mouse by the joined hands being raised or lowered. If he manages to get through the barrier, the mouse becomes a cat, and chooses his next victim.