Charades Generator

Never run out of game night prompts or topic ideas

Co-authored by Caroline Heiderscheit

Last Updated: September 19, 2025 Fact Checked

Running out of charades ideas? Instantly generate fun prompts for kids, teens, or adults. Just pick a category and get playing!

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Charades Category Ideas

While you’re generating individual charades prompts, here are a few category ideas to give you some direction. You can tailor categories to your own interests or have a healthy mix of just about everything—your choice!

Animals:
This category includes all members of the animal kingdom, from cows to crocodiles and everything in between. Animals tend to be a little easier for young charades players to guess and act out, making this a perfect category for games with kids (as well as any animal lovers, of course). Example charades prompts include:

Mouse
Cat
Bee
Snake
Elephant
Kangaroo
Bull
Crocodile
Fish

Sports:
Even if you’re not a sports mega-fan, sports-themed prompts are usually pretty easy to act out in charades—so they’re perfect for players of all ages. And, if course, you can get creative with the sports (or athletic activities) chosen if you don’t want to go for the obvious choices! For example:

Diving (into a pool from a diving board)
Jogging
Playing basketball
Skiing
Playing tennis
Playing frisbee
Golfing
Skateboarding
Jumping rope

Hobbies:
Hobbies are an obvious choice for charades categories—there are so many to choose from, some that are easier to act out than others. For example:

Cross-stitching
Doing yoga
Ballet dancing
Playing corn hole
Bowling
Shooting a bow and arrow
Painting
Doing photography

Everyday activities and actions:
You can also find plenty of charades inspiration in things many people do every day, in some cases as part of their routine. Because these activities are so ordinary and universal, they make for excellent prompts. For example:

Buttoning a shirt
Applying makeup
Washing hair
Buckling a seatbelt
Cutting food
Washing dishes
Fluffing pillows
Grocery shopping
Sneezing
Opening presents

Jobs:
You don’t have to know the inner workings of a job to be able to act it out in a game of charades (most of the time, anyway). Here are some job-themed charades prompts:

Astronaut
Farmer
Lumberjack
Hairstylist
Computer programmer
Bartender
Firefighter

Movies and TV shows:
Explore some movies and shows in your game of charades—the ones most of your players have probably seen (or at least heard of). You can act out iconic scenes or act out the titles word by word; either way, here are a few ideas:

Back to the Future
Game of Thrones
Lord of the Rings
Star Wars
Jurassic Park
Jaws
Lost
Grey’s Anatomy

Fictional characters:
You can also add a charades category for iconic characters in books, movies, shows, and beyond! Take a look at a few options:

Spider-Man
Katniss Everdeen
Frankenstein’s Monster
Superman
Homer Simpson
Ellen Ripley

Musical instruments:
Why not pantomime playing an epic solo on a musical instrument during charades? Here are a few instrument prompts to get you started:

Guitar
Drums
Saxophone
Violin
Cello
Trumpet
Piano

Food:
Food-themed prompts can be fun in charades—you can act out making the food or eating it to give other players their clues! And food-themed charades prompts are usually kid-friendly, so you can use them in games for all ages. Here are a few examples: