2026 Super Bowl Parental Survival Kit: Touchdown Dances, Kids Halftime Show

Your children bring you immense happiness and joy, but so does football. Can you have both during the Super Bowl? Of course you can while following our Super Bowl 2026 parental survival kit.

Kids just want to be included. Ideally you're aiming for the sweet spot of accomplishing that in a way that allows them to soak in the Super Bowl fun, and gives you a chance to embrace the warm glow from both your family and football.

👨‍👩‍👧 Super Bowl 2026 parental survival kit

The start time of the Super Bowl (6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday from Levi's Stadium) is probably the most unideal one for parents with kids older than about three, but still younger than say 10.

On the younger side, most won't be ready for bed or gearing down for it at that hour. And even on the older side, it's likely they're still not quite ready to stay up for the whole game without a much higher chance of unpleasantness the next day (add it to the growing list of reasons for the Monday after the Super Bowl to be a national holiday).

But embrace at least a later bedtime for what is truly the most wonderful time of the year, even if the bill comes due the next day to some degree. And while doing that, there's a way for everyone to win here (just not the Patriots).

Instead of treating the Super Bowl 2026 parental survival kit as a way to manage kids, embrace the experience. After all, they're endlessly curious, which leads to the desire to apply their play to pretty much anything.

🥳 Super Bowl activities for kids

Here are some ways to satisfy their curiosity and desire for engagement in a manner that allows you to take in the game still. We're looking for Super Bowl activities that are appealing to high-activity kids both mentally and physically. And ones that are pretty low maintenance with little preparation as well.

Make up their own Super Bowl touchdown dance

Dancing is happening all day around your house anyway on weekends, especially if you live in a cold-weather region during the winter months, when the frostiness outside leads to more time exploring the great indoors.

Kids naturally make up their own choreography whenever music plays, often consisting of rolling on the floor with total disregard for any sense of beat and rhythm. So before their high-energy nature leads to sitting on furniture in ways that go against the design intention, get them in on the celebratory fun.

Crafting a touchdown dance will keep them focused as they anticipate breaking out their moves whenever a team nears the end zone. Let's just hope the Seahawks' dominant defense allows a touchdown or two so your children can have the spotlight. It's also a good way to get them involved in our Super Bowl touchdown game.

Super Bowl bingo

Make up the kid's spin on the common Super Bowl party game that adults roll out, including our 2026 Super Bowl bingo card.

Usually, with adults, the bingo is tied into how to bet Super Bowl novelty props, with the focus on the entertainment elements of the game, like how often Cardi B will be shown on camera.

Kids can be included in some of the same fun, as the staple novelty prop focuses like the coin toss and national anthem length offer enjoyable ways to involve them, too. The coin toss and anthem occur right away, which is key with a still relatively decent bedtime in mind.

Stick to similar such events elsewhere on the bingo card, like the first play or what team scores the opening touchdown. Even better, include squares tied to the commercials, which are always part of the experience.

Rate the Super Bowl commercials

From something called a puppy monkey baby to a pug attack, the Super Bowl commercials have involved hilarity for all ages, and especially animal-related hijinks that kids adore.

The commercial breaks are frequent and longer, with NBC wanting to squeeze out every dollar it can from 30-second ad spots set to cost an average of $8 million, according to USA Today, with some even reaching $10 million.

So establish a rating system before the game, perhaps using the finest football-related emojis out there. As noted in the 10 Super Bowl commercials we'd love to see return, if your kids don't give something like the Wiener Stampede 10 footballs out of 10, you've made a mistake.

Create their own halftime show

Yes, this may take you away from the actual halftime show after you used the Bad Bunny prop bet guide. But surely by now you've learned that a certain amount of self-sacrifice is required in this whole parenting thing, and the halftime show is the easiest part of the evening to catch up on afterward.

So beforehand describe the halftime show to them, and maybe even show clips from the greatest acts (Prince forever). Be sure to note that, like the game itself, the halftime show is special while coming but once per year, and not every contest gets this treatment. Then tell them to choreograph their own show while using their favorite music.

That no doubt means you'll listen to something from KPop Demon Hunters for the 900th time. But by now that's the soundtrack of your life anyway, and it's brimming with bangers.

Football puzzles

If all else fails, puzzles are forever the perfect fallback for a low-key activity toward the end of the day that keeps kids mentally engaged and still involved in the football of it all on Super Bowl Sunday.

Inevitably, you have a closet overflowing with puzzles that your kids can barrel through. But there are plenty of affordable options online if you want to stick with the football theme of the day, including our free printable Super Bowl word games. Of course, even if the kids are locked into their jigsaw adventure, you run the risk of getting distracted yourself because how are they not seeing where that piece so clearly fits? Just turn it the other way! No, the other way!

Along the same lines, if you own one of these like I do and have invested more hours into it than your children, keep it as far away as possible during the game.