Games that rival street festivals and variety shows!? Crowd-pleasers for school cultural festivals
Looking for games or events that will get everyone excited at your school festival? There are plenty of easy, classroom-friendly activities like the “10-in-a-row Kendama Challenge,” “Gachapon,” and “Thousand-String Pull,” and with a bit of creativity, they can be even more fun.
They’re simple yet adjustable in difficulty, and perfect for instantly boosting the atmosphere at your venue.
In this article, we’ll introduce mini-games for school festivals that are sure to put smiles on everyone’s faces.
They’re also easy to prepare, so be sure to use them as a reference!
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Festival Stall Classics: Games (1–10)
Laputa Shooting Range
@kazuyo_dayo One year ago, we made a Laputa-themed shooting gallery for our school’s cultural festival.#CardboardCraftsCultural Festival#LaputaKazuyo
♬ Original song – Kazuyo – Kazuyo!
Studio Ghibli’s masterpiece, Castle in the Sky.
Whether you grew up with it or not, you probably know it.
Here’s a recommended idea: create a shooting gallery that recreates its fantastical world.
You could also incorporate display elements—decorate the entire classroom with greenery, or recreate the memorable character, the robot soldier, using cardboard.
Of course, you could also use other Ghibli works as motifs.
Pick the titles that seem most compatible with a shooting gallery.
Yo-yo fishing
How about setting up a Yo-yo Fishing game, a favorite at Japanese festival stalls? There are actually ready-made kits that let you recreate it easily.
Most of them cost around 2,000–3,000 yen.
You can also prepare your own pool and water balloons.
To excite visitors, try offering a variety of balloon designs.
Also, when setting it up, having multiple dedicated air pumps on hand will be convenient and help save time.
Fortune-teller’s House
@sundai_kanko I’m doing fortune-telling 🤣 You can choose from three fortune-tellers!Sundai College of Tourism and Foreign Languages & BusinessSundaiTourism vocational schoolRailway Vocational SchoolFun schoolTechnical collegeVocational school studentDepartment of Railway ServiceSchool Festival
♬ Egypt, arabic, ethnic song loop(241802) – Yuli Audio Craft
Japanese people love fortune-telling so much that big cities even have fortune-telling buildings and fortune-telling streets.
Horoscopes and zodiac fortunes appear in papers like the Yomiuri and the Asahi, so maybe fortune-telling and Japanese people are inseparable? A “House of Fortune-telling” popping up at a school festival would probably be a hit, too! It’d be nice to set up various booths—tarot cards, astrology, crystal gazing—and let visitors choose freely.
Getting the homeroom teacher to play the role of fortune-teller would likely liven things up as well.
Since it’s all amateur fortune-telling, the goal is just to keep it light and fun!
Optical illusion art
How about using trick art as your theme? Trick art refers to artworks that make use of optical illusions.
For example, you can make a flat painting appear to pop out, or make a flat area look sunken—there are many possible expressions.
If you prepare plenty of such trick art pieces, people are sure to enjoy them.
Another appeal of trick art is that it can be used as a photo spot.
Decide on a theme first, and then think about what kind of works to create!
Lucky Ball
Lucky Ball is a game whose play style and format vary by region.
You’ll find similar booths—or attractions—at places like Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan.
You set up cups or use a board drilled with holes in a grid, then toss baseball-sized balls to play.
Decide your own rules: aim to land balls in designated colors, line them up vertically or horizontally like bingo, and so on.
As long as you can throw a ball, anyone—young or old—can enjoy it, making it perfect for a school festival with a wide range of attendees.
And don’t forget the big plush toy prizes to steal the show!
Festival staples: Fairground games (11–20)
billiards
For a fun activity in a classroom at a school festival, a DIY billiards game using familiar materials is recommended.
Fix cups to the four corners of a desk to serve as pockets.
Use wooden balls as the balls, and a thin rod as the cue to create the right feel.
You can follow standard billiards rules, or freely tweak them and make it a point-based game—that’s fun too.
Part of the charm is that controlling the ball’s movement and strength is tricky, so shots often don’t go as planned.
Since it plays like a target-hitting game, even people unfamiliar with the sport can jump in right away.
smart ball
Smartball, with its nostalgic Showa-era vibe, is often seen at festivals and arcades.
While the machines are sold, they’re very expensive…
But you can easily make one using cardboard! One of the best things about school festivals is the handmade feel, right? Just cut holes in a cardboard board, write numbers by the holes, add some obstacles, and attach a lever to launch the balls—and you’re done.
Then prepare some balls and prizes.
Players try to land a ball in the holes on the board; add up the points written by the holes they land in, and give out prizes accordingly.
It’s an easy, casual game that even people with a light touch or those who aren’t great at games can enjoy.
