No phone needed.Enjoy 30 minutesof bonding time.
Playin30 gets a printable game sheet ready for you, best for kids aged 8 to 13: real challenges, a bit of rivalry, and sometimes they end up teaching you. Laugh when the bridge collapses, argue over the maths. No prep, no screens. Just paper and you.
Best for ages 8 to 13. Every age plays differently.
Follow the pictures
Level one always works. It’s about building and having fun; the science is just a taste.
Guess and compete
Place your bet before you build, and see who called it, you or them. Level two adds a twist.
Design level three
They crunch the numbers, invent the next challenge, and explain the science back to you.
Younger sibling?
When they join in, the booklet saves a mini-mission for them, so nobody is left watching.
Over 13? Make them the quizmaster.
Teens don’t love being told to play, but they’re happy to run the show: setting puzzles for younger siblings, refereeing, or testing you.
The hardest place to beat screens is home.
Between dinner and bedtime, the tablet and the TV are an arm’s length away. That is exactly where a sheet of paper can win. Pick two or three evenings a week, put every phone in a basket by the door, yours too, and open the booklet on the table.
The phone basket: the simplest rule that makes it work.
After dinner
The 30 minutes that usually go to cartoons. Paper columns, a diver in a bottle, a book tug of war.
Rainy weekend
Nowhere to go and everyone restless. Play two challenges back to back.
Before bed
The calm version: talking games and puzzles only. Nothing to build, no screens before sleep.
Before your first game: make a superhero stamp
After every game the kids decide who earns a stamp: Super Dad, Super Mum, Super Grandparent. The grown-ups stamp the kids’ card too. It’s a craft and a science puzzle in one: why does the letter R print back to front?
Start with a Treasure Box.
One box by the door: rubber bands, string, tape, coins, and everything your child hunts down. What other people call a cardboard tube, you call treasure. Print the label, let your child write their name on it, and the games can start any evening without a shopping trip.
- One box only. Full? Something goes out before something new goes in.
- Last level of every game: everything back in the box in three minutes.
- Once a month, use up whatever you never played with.
Got a cardboard tube? Here is what you can play.
Type anything from your Treasure Box: a tube, rubber bands, a delivery box. You get every tested game that uses it, and exactly what else you need. Hands empty? Tap “nothing at all” for the talking games.
Games found: 47
No “um”, no “and then”
Car, 5 minSpeaking clearly
nothing at all
You have everything for this one.
Who helped you today?
At home, 5 minNoticing people, not listing blessings
nothing at all
You have everything for this one.
One-minute advert
Car, 10 minSpeaking clearly
nothing at all
You have everything for this one.
Explain it in 30 seconds
Restaurant, 10 minSpeaking clearly
nothing at all
You have everything for this one.
Story relay
Car, 10 minBuilding on someone else’s idea
nothing at all
You have everything for this one.
Guess what they ordered
Restaurant, 10 minReading other people
nothing at all
You have everything for this one.
Twenty questions, the smart way
Restaurant, 10 minEach question halves the field
nothing at all
You have everything for this one.
Reverse twenty questions
Car, 10 minAsking beats guessing
nothing at all
You have everything for this one.
What if…?
Car, 10 minImagination with reasons
nothing at all
You have everything for this one.
The worst bit of today
At home, 10 minListen first, then look for one real bright spot
nothing at all
You have everything for this one.
Next time I would…
At home, 10 minTurning a flop into a plan
nothing at all
You have everything for this one.
Make 24 from a number plate
Car, 10 minMental arithmetic
nothing at all
You have everything for this one.
Hands empty? Just Talk.
15 talking games with scripts: one-minute adverts, interviewing your parent, swapping sides in an argument, and the calm ones for the half hour before bed.
Print “Just Talk” (PDF)Play for a while, and moments like these happen.
Not because the games are new, but because for these 30 minutes you’re both fully there.
No laughs? That’s fine too. If they sit down and argue a puzzle out with you, you’ve already won.
Three taps. Tonight’s game, sorted.
Pick where you’ll be, how old your child is and how much time you’ve got. The card updates on the spot: what to bring, how to kick it off and what to ask first, all written for you.
No sign-up, no download. Play one first, decide later.
Paper columns that hold up books
Goal: Hold 5 books on one column
“Three sheets of paper against five books. Which shape survives?”
Ask first: round, square or triangle, which gives up first?
Bring: 3 sheets of paper, 5 books, some tape. The science: Shape beats material.
Plus a no-props bonus: make 24 from a number plate.
Not another app to stare at. A sheet of paper you look at together.
Phone asleep, you play
Once the timer starts the screen goes dark, with a gentle buzz when time’s up. These 30 minutes are just for you two.
Your lines are written
The opener, the question to ask first and what to explain afterwards are all printed on the back. No physics degree needed, just read it out.
Every game is home-tested
Only everyday things from your kitchen, the table or the roadside. Anything that flopped first time or left kids frustrated, we cut.
Three steps, like following a building manual.
- 1
Pick a day and a place
Wednesday evening at home, Saturday at the charging stop. We remind you the evening before what to bring, once.
- 2
Print an A5 booklet
Print double-sided on A4 and fold it in half. Their side is pictures only; yours has the lines.
- 3
Phones down, play together
They build, you ask, and when it collapses you laugh together. Note the score and go up a level next time.
They read this side. You read that one.
Each game fits on one A5 sheet: a hand-drawn guide on the front that kids can follow without reading, and your script on the back. Let them guess first, reveal the science afterwards.
A bridge from one sheet of paper
- Cups upside down
- Flat: one coin and it sags
- Fold a zigzag, the long way
- Add coins one by one
Read this first
- Opener
- “One sheet of paper has to carry 10 coins across this gap.”
- Ask first
- “Flat or folded, which holds more?”
- Explain afterwards
- A flat sheet bends straight away. Folded into a zigzag, every crease acts like a little wall standing on its edge, and that’s very hard to bend.
- Look around
- Run a hand along the car door: the creases pressed into the thin steel are there to stop it bending.
- Close with
- “What else could you fold to make it stronger?”
In the car? Switch to talking.
They’re in the back, you’re in the front, and there’s no table. Tear the sheet along the dotted line: the top half is theirs to write on, the bottom half stays with you. The louder the argument, the longer they’ll remember it.
The driver never reads the sheet. A passenger asks the questions, or save it for the charging stop.
How many times do the wheels turn?
One turn of a wheel covers about two metres. How many turns until we arrive? Guess first, then work it out.
My guess: ________ Score □ □ □
Answer: turns ≈ km × 1000 ÷ 2. That’s about 50,000 for every 100 km.
Follow-up: “Would a bike wheel turn more times or fewer?”
Want the next booklet?
One email when a new booklet is ready. No spam, unsubscribe any time.