Get the Fun Going! Easy Classroom Games You Can Play at School: Recreational Activities for the Whole Class
Here are some games and class recreation activities you can play in an elementary school classroom! There are many options, including simple games for small groups, activities the whole class can enjoy, and team competitions.
Some require equipment, but there are also plenty you can start right away.
“Shiritori” and a “Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament” are easy to set up and really get everyone excited! Use these ideas as a reference and have fun with your friends during recess or at school events.
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Let's get hyped with psychological warfare, deduction, and Werewolf-style games (1–10)
Air-reading game
Let’s read the room so we don’t overlap with our friends! Here’s an idea for a “reading the room” game.
It’s a unique game that helps elementary school students develop the ability to act while watching the timing and what’s happening around them.
In a group of 4–5 players sitting in a circle, you take turns standing up while calling out numbers.
The rule is simple, but what matters is avoiding overlapping timing with your friends.
Through the game, kids can build awareness of others and quick decision-making skills.
The atmosphere is tense at the start, but when two people stand up at the same time, everyone can’t help bursting into laughter!
Let's Get Fired Up with Mind Games, Deduction, and Werewolf-style Games (11–20)
Question game
Let’s try to infer the correct answer from the responses and figure it out! Here’s an idea for a question game.
Ask the questions you think are necessary to guess what’s inside the mystery box.
Then, based on the answers, try to say what’s in the box! Through this game, you’ll develop your speaking and listening skills.
The rules are simple, so it’s easy to try with friends or family—that’s part of the fun.
Give it a try!
King’s Game
When it comes to classic games that get everyone excited at school, “King’s Game” is a staple! In King’s Game, everyone draws lots, and the person who becomes the King can give an order like “Person number X does Y.” It’s fine to give orders to multiple people, too! Usually, you make the lots with disposable chopsticks, but if you’re playing in a classroom, you can use notebook paper instead.
Any kind of order is allowed, but it’s a good idea to decide in advance that orders which could cause injury or bother others are invalid.
Give commands that make everyone laugh or amount to light punishments, and have fun together!
One-in-a-hundred survey
Do you know the “1 out of 100 Survey,” a popular segment from the variety show Waratte Iitomo? It’s a game where you ask a question that seems likely to apply to only 1 out of 100 people, and you clear the challenge if exactly one person actually fits.
That said, gathering 100 people can be tough.
In that case, you can still enjoy it by reducing the number to, say, 10 people.
It’s also fine to play with a larger group, like 200 people.
Feel free to adapt it flexibly to suit your situation.
staring contest
Two people face each other and, after the chant “Let’s play niramekko! If you laugh, you lose—uppuppu!”, they both make funny faces.
Whoever laughs loses.
This game is more fun and less tiring if you prepare your own repertoire of funny faces in advance.
Faces that are different from your usual look, or ones that are funny but cute—childlike expressions—seem to go over well.
Hachimaki bird
The two people stand back-to-back, about 50 centimeters apart, with their feet spread to shoulder width.
Place a single headband under both of their crotches so that either of them can reach straight down and grab it.
The two of them lightly hop in place, alternating both feet and landing on the same spot.
At the whistle signal, they pull for the headband, and whoever grabs it first wins.
Earphone Loud Telephone Game
A game of telephone where you whisper the prompt to the person next to you.
In this “Blasting Headphones Telephone Game,” the difficulty is cranked up: players listen to music through headphones that completely block out external sound.
Since you can’t hear the prompt, you have to read the other person’s lips to figure it out.
Even in a normal telephone game, the prompt often changes from the first person to the last.
In this version, you get to enjoy those changes in an even funnier way.
Nail the prompt perfectly and you’ll be showered with praise; even if you don’t, everyone will have a good laugh.
Just be mindful of the volume so you don’t hurt your ears while playing.
Block Game
This is a “Block Game” played with blocks numbered 1 to 6.
First, turn all the blocks face down and mix them.
Each player then takes 7 blocks.
The remaining blocks are not used.
Decide who goes first with rock-paper-scissors, and the first player plays any one block.
From then on, you may play only one block at a time, and it must match the number at one of the ends.
If you have no playable block, you may pass as many times as you like.
The first player to play all their blocks wins.
The losing player’s remaining block numbers are added up and that total becomes the winner’s points.
The first player to reach 50 points wins!
A game about finding the correct moves
Act out the prompt’s movement and have others guess it.
For example, if the prompt is “forward roll,” the guesser should try various movements that come to mind.
The children around, who know the prompt, should react to each movement.
Decide in advance how to react when the movement is close to the prompt—for example, by cheering.
Using those reactions, the guesser narrows down the correct answer.
It’s also fun to have multiple guessers or to play team versus team.
You don’t need any materials, it’s a simple game, and it’s sure to get everyone excited.
Roundup of Exciting Rhythm and Tempo Games (1–10)
Yamanote Line gameNEW!
Here’s a game where you clap in time and rattle off the stations on the Yamanote Line.
You can also try different prompts like animal names, flower names, and more.
If your answer doesn’t come out in rhythm, if you repeat something that’s already been said, or if you say something incorrect, you’re out.
It’s long been known by another name, “Kokon Tozai.” It’s a party game you can play anywhere, with any number of people, and without any props.
Whether you’ve played it before or not, give it a try!
