February: Liven up childcare! A collection of ideas for indoor play and physical activities
February brings plenty of seasonal events—like Setsubun and Valentine’s Day—even at daycare centers and kindergartens.
But when the cold days continue, there are many days when you can’t go outside.
That’s when activities that let children move their bodies freely indoors and recreations that incorporate winter’s unique seasonal feel come in handy.
From exercise games with an oni-slaying theme and traditional “kenken sumo” to ideas that let you enjoy a snowy play mood indoors, we’ll introduce lots of games perfect for February.
The content is enjoyable for infants through preschoolers, so please use it as a reference!
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- Make childcare more fun with winter quizzes! Seasonal ideas to get kids excited
[February] Liven up childcare! A collection of indoor play and physical activity ideas (71–80)
Daikon Game
The Daikon Game is a very unique indoor activity, so I hope you’ll give it a try! Here’s how it works: three children lie down in a circle holding hands, and the teacher pulls on their legs as if pulling up a radish.
The children brace themselves so their hands don’t come apart—if they do, the teacher wins; if they don’t, the children win.
It’s a simple game that warms you up while having fun, making it perfect for winter.
Teachers, join in and get moving together to beat the winter chill!
Cat and Mouse
Let me introduce a super exciting Cat and Mouse game.
First, split into two teams: “Cats” and “Mice,” and line up on opposite sides.
A teacher stands in the middle.
When the teacher says “Ne,” the children step up to the center.
When the teacher says “Ne, ne, neko,” the Cat team chases the Mouse team and tries to catch them.
The Mouse team should run back to their side to avoid being caught.
When the teacher says “Ne, ne, nezumi,” it’s the opposite.
If you’re caught, you join the other team.
The team with the most players at the end wins.
These are the basic rules, but feel free to tweak them with the kids and have fun!
Panel Theater: Nikuman Anman
A panel theater, where you stick black construction paper on the wall and move characters on it to make it look like a movie, is a recreational activity that little kids will love! In particular, a panel theater that uses a play song with meat buns and sweet bean buns as motifs seems like it would warm you up just by watching.
Play that uses music and pictures is also extremely helpful for children’s cognitive development.
By all means, try a variety of winter-themed panel theaters in addition to the meat-bun and sweet-bean-bun one!
Hula hoop relay
This is a recommended recreational game for large groups.
First, divide into teams and line up holding hands.
Then, without letting go of the person in front of you, pass a hula hoop along the line by stepping through it.
The team whose last person passes through the hoop first wins.
Everyone can enjoy it.
Plastic Bottle Bowling
Plastic-bottle bowling: knock down pins made from plastic bottles with a ball.
You can play even in small spaces, so it’s great for at-home fun.
It’s easy to adjust the difficulty by changing the pin arrangement or increasing the distance to the pins.
You can also put water in the bottles to make them harder to knock over.
Kariuta
It’s a karuta-style game where you grab cards printed with words that often appear in J-pop lyrics.
You lay out the cards and actually play music.
When words like “I” or “you” come up in the song’s lyrics, you take the card with that word on it.
It’s a fun game that lets you enjoy the music itself, too.
target practice
A game where you throw a ball at a target with numbers or pictures on it is called “target throwing.” The common rule is to add up the numbers you hit, and the person with the highest total wins.
But if you play in February, make the target an oni (demon) to match Setsubun! Just like driving the oni out of the house by throwing beans, throw balls at a target with an oni illustration to defeat it.
Of course, you can throw actual beans instead of a ball, too! By changing the target to suit the season, even a familiar target-throwing game can be enjoyed in new ways.
