A collection of ideas for infant/toddler play, recreation, and games
Play and games help keep children’s minds and bodies healthy and lively.
They nurture physical activity, thinking skills, imagination, and the ability to get along with friends.
Here, we’ve gathered activities and games that preschoolers can enjoy.
There are many kinds: group games, traditional play, pretend and make-believe activities, and sensory play.
You’ll find lots of favorites from nurseries and kindergartens, as well as easy games you can do at home.
Choose fun activities that match your child’s age and development, and enjoy them together!
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Ideas for Toddler Play, Recreation, and Games (21–30)
Bomb game
A game with a scary-sounding name: “Bakudan Game” (Bomb Game)! Don’t worry, of course there aren’t any real bombs.
You treat a ball as the bomb and pass it around to everyone.
You only pass while the music is playing, continuously handing the ball to the next person.
When the music stops, the person holding the ball—the bomb—loses! Boom! Anyone who causes three “explosions” will have to face a penalty game!
Inside-out pots!
It’s said that the lyrics of the children’s song believed to be the root of this game are included in a nursery rhyme collection published in the late Edo period, so it’s a pastime that’s been around for quite a long time.
While this game is typically played by two people, it can also be enjoyed with three or more, and the more players there are, the more fun it is to watch everyone toppling over.
Give it a try!
Let’s go on a beast hunt.
This is a game where you go catch wild beasts along with the song “Let’s Go on a Beast Hunt!” Of course, no real wild beasts appear.
The players themselves create the beasts.
With spears and guns in hand—and the great allies that are your friends—there’s nothing scary about wild beasts! At the end of the song, the teacher or another leader says the name of a beast.
Players then group themselves by the number of people that matches the number of characters in that beast’s name.
For example, for “raion” (lion), you would form groups of four.
It’s also a handy game for organizing people into groups.
Rock-Paper-Scissors Train
It’s a game where you build an increasingly long “rock-paper-scissors train” to a song called Janken Densha.
While the song is playing, everyone moves around like a train.
When the music stops, you play rock-paper-scissors with the person in front of you.
The winner becomes the front, and the loser lines up behind the winner.
Repeat this process several times, and in the end, a long train is formed!
Catch
This is the Finger Catch Game, where you try to catch (or get caught by) the finger of the person next to you.
Stand in a circle.
Extend the index finger of your right hand and make a “tube” with your left hand.
Put your right index finger into the tube made by the person on your right.
At the cue “Catch!” from the teacher or someone not playing, quickly pull your right index finger out of your neighbor’s tube.
At the same time, try to catch the neighbor’s index finger inside the tube you made with your left hand so it doesn’t escape.
If you manage to escape, or you catch your neighbor’s finger, you succeed!
Butt-walking race
Let’s race by walking on our bottoms! Without using your leg strength, move forward while seated by wiggling your hips.
Kicking the ground with your feet would be easy, but don’t use your legs—do your best using only your glute power! How fast your legs are normally doesn’t matter.
It’s impossible to predict who will reach the finish line first.
By the way, this movement uses inner muscles you don’t usually engage, so it’s said to have a slimming effect as well.
Fruits Basket
Fruit Basket is a classic recreation game.
With a bit of creativity, it can be enjoyed by everyone from small children to adults.
In the standard way to play, you divide people into groups by fruit names, and when a fruit is called, those assigned to that fruit move to other open seats.
It can get lively if you use not only fruit names but also animal names or the names of kids’ favorite anime and characters.
And when the leader calls out “Fruit Basket,” everyone has to move—somehow that always makes things really exciting (lol).
