Ever have one of those times when only two kids show up for your fun night? Awful, right? Well, maybe not.

A fun time with two students can be fun, but you will have to throw out all of those games that have kids break up into teams of four. Here are a couple of ideas that have been around a while, but you can play them anywhere with no set-up . . . and they work with two kids.

1. Play Thumb Wars. Two people interlock the fingers of their right hands with thumbs sticking up. Then, each person tries to “pin” the thumb of his or her opponent using only their thumb. First one to hold the thumb of the other down for the count of three wins.
2. Play a giant game of Dots. Cover a page with dots that align in rows and columns. Each player places a line between two adjoining dots, either up and down or side to side. (No horizontal lines.) Any time a player creates a box, he or she puts an initial in the box and gets a point. The object of the game is to keep from leaving three sides of a box for your opponent. You can do it on the back of an envelope or on a giant sheet of paper on the wall.
3. Play the Double Letter game. This is a guessing game that works best if students don’t know the game. Begin by saying two related things. The first one has a double letter, the second doesn’t. For example, It’s apples but not oranges, or It’s rabbits but not hares. Each student should offer an example. Tell them if they are right and wrong. Keep going around the circle of three until they figure it out.
4. Going to the Moon. Like the game above, this is a guessing game. Each person says, “I’m going to the moon and I’m going to take . . . ” and they complete the sentence with something that begins with their first initial. Keep going until they both figure it out.
5. Hangman. Come up with a title (like a book or movie) or a person’s name and draw a space for every letter. Make sure to separate words. Draw a gallows and allow the kids to take turns guessing letters. If the letter exists in your title, write it in. If it doesn’t, begin drawing the person who is being hanged. When the head, body, both arms and both legs are drawn, they hang. If someone guesses the answer, he or she wins.
6. Boggle. If you don’t have the board game, just write a list of seven random letters and give students a minute to write as many words as they can with those letters.

So, anyone have great games to play with two kids? If so, add them in a comment below.