Some afternoons the outside is simply not an option. Too hot to stand in, too hot to walk to, and the plan you had quietly stops being a plan.
Start with the room. Is there a clear patch to move in, a safe direction to throw in, or a short route across the floor? Each of these games needs a different kind of space.
Look at the floor first
Before picking anything, look at what you have got. A clear patch you could turn round in. A wall or a corner nothing is pointing at. A short strip of floor from one end of the room to the other.
See which of those the room can safely fit, then pick the game.
If you have a clear patch
Freeze Dance needs music and roughly six feet of clear space in every direction. Not a room, just a patch. Push the coffee table back, check what is at head height and elbow height, and that is the setup done.
Allow five to fifteen minutes of very active play with your 2 to 7 year old. You have nothing to prepare.
Music on, everybody moves. Music off, everybody stops. It can get loud, so check whether that will work if somebody is asleep or working in the next room.
Freeze Dance
Play music; everyone dances. Adult pauses the music; everyone freezes. Resume and repeat. Burns energy quickly.
Shaped to your child and the moment you are both in.
If you have a safe direction
Choose Beanbag Toss Target when throwing is safe in one direction but not across the whole room. It takes about five minutes to set up and runs for five to fifteen minutes. Try it with your 2 to 7 year old when you want moderate rather than very active movement.
Use soft objects only, and put the target on the floor rather than standing anything upright. Choose the throwing direction yourself and keep faces, windows, other children and pets out of the path. Clear scattered objects between rounds so nobody stands on one mid-throw. Stay close while they play.
This one suits a room with one clear wall or corner and a bit of open floor in front of it.
Beanbag Toss Target
Set a target on the floor - a bowl, a drawn circle, or a container - and take turns tossing a beanbag, rolled socks, or a small soft ball at it from increasing distances.
Shaped to your child and the moment you are both in.
If you have a short route
Slow Race needs a short clear path from one end to the other and something to mark the finish. A cushion, a shoe, a strip of tape.
Ages 2.5 to 7, five to fifteen minutes, nothing to prepare. The rule is that the slowest one across wins. It may fit a short hallway, though only if the whole route is clear.
It needs no music and no throwing, though how noisy it gets depends on how it is played.
Slow Race
Race to cross the room as slowly as possible without stopping. Last to arrive wins.
Shaped to your child and the moment you are both in.
Choosing between them
If two or three games would fit, choose by whatever else is happening at home. Is somebody asleep or working? Do you have five minutes to set something up? How much breakable stuff would you need to move?
If none of them fits, leave them for another day. Some rooms are simply the wrong shape for these games.
You do not need to tire anyone out before dinner. You are only choosing a game that fits the room on a day when the heat has kept you indoors.