What are the best Charades ideas? This timeless game of silently acting out a clue never gets old - but the best clues depend on who you're playing with. Something simple is best when playing with kids or limited time, while more ambitious adults will be looking for a challenge. This guide features plenty of adult Charades ideas and simple, kid-friendly options for all kinds of Charades topics.
As a reminder, this is mainly a miming game. A team's elected play-actor must use their gestures to describe a random words, phrases, or titles before a timer runs out. Clever signals explain the category of the answer, and from there, you'll have to get creative with your miming to score the most points.
To make play easy, we've listed our Charades ideas by category and difficulty. Simply select a list, use a random number generator, and find a specially-crafted prompt that matches your result.
Before you get miming, here are a few more gaming guides from us. We can suggest some spicy Truth or Dare questions for grown up game nights. We can also recommend the best board games in the hobby right now.
Best Charades ideas:
- Charades categories
- Action Charades ideas
- Book Charades ideas
- Television Charades ideas
- Movies Charades ideas
- Songs Charades ideas
- Christmas Charades ideas
- Disney Charades ideas
- Funny Charades ideas
- How to make Charades more fun
- Optional Charades rules and signals
Charades categories
There are four main categories in a game of Charades: book, movie, song, and television show. Each of these has a specific miming action you perform to let your team know which category your word is from:
- Book - Unfold your hands to mimic an opening book.
- Television - Draw a rectangle with your hands.
- Movie - Pretend to hold an old-fashioned camera and turn the handle.
- Song - Open your mouth and gesture as if sound was coming out.
Some Charades categories are so simple that they have no category (for examples, see our action Charades ideas below). Other player groups like to add additional categories, such as stage plays or famous phrases. Since these are less widely known than the four basic categories, we recommend only adding these to advanced games.
Action Charades ideas
Easy action Charades ideas:
- Cycling
- Mowing the lawn
- Basketball
- Falling asleep
- Praying
- Singing karaoke
- Archery
- Shopping
- Washing the car
- Making a sandwich
- Taking a shower
- Brushing your teeth
- Using a jump rope
- Doing karate
- Climbing a ladder
- Surfing
- Swimming
- Putting on makeup
- Rowing a boat
- Petting a cat
- Bowling
- Playing baseball
- Playing pool
- Disco dancing
- Ballroom dancing
- Boxing
- Walking the dog
- Lifting weights
- Painting a Warhammer model
- Rolling dice
Hard action Charades ideas:
- Drinking out-of-date milk
- Doing the laundry
- Eating spaghetti
- Taking the dog for a walk
- Taking an exam
- Playing Hide and Seek
- Making a cup of coffee
- Riding a roller coaster
- Watching a scary movie
- Climbing a mountain
- Icing a cake
- Catching a cold
- Buying shoes that are too small
- Cutting down a tree
- Forgetting your keys
- Ordering a pizza
- Playing a board game
- Eating spicy food
- Winning a race
- Solving a Rubik's Cube
- Going camping
- Making cheese
- Taking a cold shower
- Falling asleep at the movies
- Fencing
- Winning a running race
- Fist-fighting a bear
- Not qualifying for the Olympics
- Getting mana-screwed in a game of Magic the Gathering
- Skydiving
Book Charades ideas
Easy book Charades ideas:
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- Rapunzel
- The Secret Garden
- Dungeons and Dragons
- The Witches
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
- Little Women
- The Cat in the Hat
- Of Mice and Men
- Frankenstein
- Dracula
- The Lord of the Rings
- Lord of the Flies
- Holes
- War and Peace
- The Bell Jar
- The Shining
- The Turn of the Screw
- Goodnight Moon
- The Tiger Who Came To Tea
- The War of the Worlds
- Captain Underpants
- Animal Farm
- Catch 22
- Dog Man
- The Famous Five
- War Horse
- Warrior Cats
- 50 Shades of Grey
- James and the Giant Peach
Hard book Charades ideas:
- The Bible
- The Thursday Murder Club
- The Wind in the Willows
- Charlotte's Web
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- The Wizard of Oz
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- Macbeth
- The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
- Dune
- The Grapes of Wrath
- The Hound of the Baskervilles
- Through the Looking Glass
- The Gruffalo
- The Hobbit
- Great Expectations
- A Streetcar Named Desire
- Pride and Prejudice
- A Tale of Two Cities
- The Picture of Dorian Gray
- Beloved
- The Catcher in the Rye
- The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-Time
- Green Eggs and Ham
- The Color Purple
- The Great Gatsby
- The Davinci Code
- Middlemarch
- Lady Chatterley's Lover
- The Life of Pi
- Das Kapital
- Moby Dick
- 1984
Television Charades ideas
Easy television Charades ideas:
- Friends
- Rugrats
- Peppa Pig
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- How I Met Your Mother
- Ben 10
- Sherlock
- Breaking Bad
- Game of Thrones
- Planet Earth
- House of the Dragon
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- The West Wing
- Lost
- Doctor Who
- The X Files
- Star Trek
- The Walking Dead
- House
- Batman
- Firefly
- Archer
- The Office
- Mad Men
- Slow Horses
- Walking with Dinosaurs
Hard television Charades ideas:
- Cheers
- Succession
- The Expanse
- Sesame Street
- Better Call Saul
- Battlestar Galactica
- The Simpsons
- The Last of Us
- Stranger Things
- Peaky Blinders
- Boardwalk Empire
- Band of Brothers
- Bojack Horseman
- Avatar: The Last Airbender
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
- Twin Peaks
- South Park
- The Queen's Gambit
- The Sopranos
- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
- Teletubbies
- Grey's Anatomy
- The Good Place
- Survivor
- Saturday Night Live
- You
- Bluey
- Tiger King
- Fallout
- The Handmaid's Tale
Movies Charades ideas
Easy movies Charades ideas:
- Frozen
- Beauty and the Beast
- The Dark Knight
- Fight Club
- The Silence of the Lambs
- Babe
- Alien
- Toy Story
- Scarface
- Jurassic Park
- Gone with the Wind
- Kung Fu Panda
- Jaws
- Chicken Run
- Star Wars
- Psycho
- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
- Up
- Taxi Driver
- The Karate Kid
- Ghostbusters
- A Beautiful Mind
- How to Train your Dragon
Hard movies Charades ideas:
- Pulp Fiction
- Reservoir Dogs
- Full Metal Jacket
- The Thing
- Finding Nemo
- Despicable Me
- Spider Man: Into the Spiderverse
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
- Back to the Future
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- The Exorcist
- Donnie Darko
- The Terminator
- Get Out
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Gladiator
- Shutter Island
- Trainspotting
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Apocalypse Now
- Avengers: Endgame
- Interstellar
- The Shawshank Redemption
- Cruel Intentions
- Freaky Friday
- Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
- Titanic
- Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Songs Charades ideas
Easy songs Charades ideas:
- Mary Had a Little Lamb
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
- London Bridge is Falling Down
- I Want to Hold Your Hand
- Running Up That Hill
- Rocket Man
- The Final Countdown
- Creep
- Bad Guy
- Jump
- Dancing Queen
- Lean on Me
- Ring of Fire
- Poison
- Umbrella
- Baby Shark
- Free Bird
- Bad Romance
- Over the Rainbow
- Flowers
- Heart of Glass
- Yellow Submarine
- Stuck in the Middle with You
Hard song Charades ideas:
- Smells Like Teen Spirit
- My Way
- Rolling in the Deep
- Stairway to Heaven
- Vogue
- The Sound of Silence
- Wish You Were Here
- Single Ladies
- Sympathy for the Devil
- Ace of Spades
- The Phantom of the Opera
- Blue Suede Shoes
- Cruel Summer
- Circle of Life
- Uptown Funk
- Old Town Road
- Smoke on the Water
- Born to be Wild
- Dancing in the Dark
- Smooth Criminal
- Wonderwall
Christmas Charades ideas
Easy Christmas Charades ideas:
- Building a snowman
- Wrapping a present
- Elf
- Elf on the Shelf
- Eating Christmas dinner
- A Christmas Carol
- Kissing under mistletoe
- Silent Night
- The Little Drummer Boy
- Santa Baby
- Decorating the Christmas tree
- Pulling crackers
Hard Christmas Charades ideas:
- Miracle on 34th Street
- It's a Wonderful Life
- Christmas Eve
- Advent calendar
- Love Actually
- The Grinch
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Away in a Manger
- Fairytale of New York
- Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer
- Krampus
- Whamageddon
Disney Charades ideas
Easy Disney Charades ideas:
- The Little Mermaid
- Under the Sea
- Circle of Life
- The Princess and the Frog
- The Lion King
- The Fox and the Hound
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
- DuckTales
- Sleeping Beauty
- Pinocchio
- The Jungle Book
- The Muppets
- Robin Hood
- Brave
- Toy Story 2
- Cars
- Monsters Inc
- Aladdin
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Frozen
Hard Disney Charades ideas:
- When You Wish Upon a Star
- Tangled
- Let It Go
- The Bare Necessities
- The Emperor's New Groove
- We Don't Talk About Bruno
- Lilo and Stitch
- A Whole New World
- Ratatouille
- The Black Cauldron
- Colors of the Wind
- Lady and the Tramp
- Do You Want to Build a Snowman
- You're Welcome
- Peter Pan
- The Swiss Family Robinson
- Let's Get Down to Business
- Aladdin And the King of Thieves
- Simba's Pride
- Encanto
Funny Charades ideas
Easy funny Charades ideas:
- Going to the bathroom
- Slipping on a banana peel
- Singing in the shower
- Disco Dancing
- The Hangover
- YMCA
- Farting
- The Moonwalk
- Being a falling tree
Hard funny Charades ideas:
- Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
- Dumb and Dumber
- The Carlton dance
- Shaun of the Dead
- Stepping in dog poop
- The Cha Cha Slide
- The Thriller Dance
How to make Charades more fun
Charades can be an enjoyable game to fill a spare 15 minutes, but with a bit of tweaking, you can easily create an experience that's a lot like Charades but (in our opinion) even better. Known as Celebrities (or Monikers) this Charades variant works best with a decent-sized group of people.
Simply split into two teams, then have everyone write down an agreed-upon number of characters, celebrities, or historical figures, and add them to a hat. Or, if you want the hard work done for you, you can buy CMYK's bestselling box full of ready-made prompts:
The aim is to claim as many cards for your team by having them successfully guess the characters, each team taking it in turn to act them out in 60-second rounds.
The first time through, the rules are a bit like Articulate: you can describe the characters or people on your card, but not say their names. Then you add up the points and put the names all back into the hat.
The second round is where the fun starts. Now you can only say one word (feel free to pass if your team gets stuck). And in the third round, you're reduced to Charades: Miming only.
The fun of this game is that over the course of it, you'll develop a shared, silly language. It's hilarious to see people guess the most obscure clues, from a single inane action.
Optional Charades rules and signals
Like pretty much all age-old, social party games (and quite a lot of board games, now we come to think of it), there are a wide range of optional Charades rules that many groups like to use to make their games easier or harder - or simply to keep things moving along by scrubbing out the boring parts.
The most common house rules involve using standard hand signs to show very common words - saving time for the really challenging ones. They're optional, but we recommend them, as they help to keep fun levels high and stave off frustration!
Here are the three main signs to use:
- 'Little word' - clench your fist with your thumb and pointer finger extended and close together, as shown in the picture above. This tells your team it's a short, filler word like and, of, in, on, an, a, or similar.
- 'The' - The word 'the' comes up so often that you can make a capital 'T' with your hands (like the 'time out' signal in sports) to get it out of the way quickly.
- 'Sounds like' - Cupping your hand around your ear tells your team you're not going to act out the exact word in the clue, but another word that sounds just like it. A useful option for trickier words, and often results in hilarity.
That's it for our compendium of the best Charades ideas for now - but we've got loads more game night ideas for you! Here are the best party games we'd recommend - and if you fancy any tips on how to get the best from 'em, hop into the free Wargamer Discord community and ask us directly! You don't even have to act it out either, we use words!