A roundup of recreational activities to liven up cultural and school festivals
When it comes to school festivals, there are all kinds of attractions like food stalls and stage performances! How about incorporating activities that everyone can enjoy together—what you might call recreational events? In this article, we’ll introduce plenty of recommended recreation ideas for your school festival! We’ve picked activities that visitors of all ages can enjoy, such as lottery-style raffles and workshop-style hands-on experiences.
Try running a recreation event that other classes aren’t doing and make your school festival even more exciting!
- Recommended ideas for student council projects at a school festival, such as recreational activities and stage events.
- Ideas for stage events and attractions that will liven up a school festival
- Cultural Festival: Ranking of Popular Booth Ideas
- Games that rival street festivals and variety shows!? Crowd-pleasers for school cultural festivals
- [By Genre] Cultural Festival / School Festival Booth Catalog [2026]
- Unusual attractions you can do in a classroom for a cultural or school festival
- [For High School Students] A roundup of recommended attractions for the school festival
- Ideas for class projects at the school festival: A roundup of popular attractions
- [For Elementary Schools] Recommended Exhibits and Recreational Activities for a Cultural Festival
- [Middle School] Cultural Festival Attractions: A roundup of popular exhibits, games, and stage performances
- Stage performance ideas to excite a cultural or school festival
- [Non-food] Cultural festival attractions: from classroom exhibits to stage events
- Festival booth menu items that can be served without cooking and without using fire
Recreation Ideas to Hype Up Your School Cultural Festival (21–30)
Life-saving experience
Of course, AEDs are installed not only in hospitals but also at train stations, public facilities, and large shopping malls.
I’m sure there aren’t many people who feel confident using them correctly.
Knowing how to use one would be reassuring, right? With that in mind, how about trying a recreation activity where you learn about lifesaving measures such as how to use an AED and perform chest compressions? Even if you’ve attended a lecture, you might still panic when you actually face such a situation.
That’s why it would be valuable to include an experience where you can also learn the right mindset for those moments—turn it into knowledge and nourishment for the future.
Sugoroku
Sugoroku is a classic board game, but how about trying it out using an actual classroom as the board? Instead of figurines, you are the game piece.
You move along carrying things like fake currency.
It’s a game that feels like a real-life version of The Game of Life.
From classic spaces like “Go back 1 space” or “Lose a turn,” to squares that incorporate school-life clichés, it seems like it would get everyone excited!
Recreation ideas that liven up cultural and school festivals (31–40)
Let’s have fun harmonizing
We’ll split into teams of two or three and present harmonies.
Instead of a musical approach, we’ll break the rules of scales and create harmonies of words and sounds.
Noise is fine, too.
Let’s enjoy it with creativity and novelty.
Please give it a try!
Caricature Game
Sit in a circle with several people.
Draw portraits of others in a way that no one knows who is drawing whom.
When everyone is finished, reveal them all at once.
Then, guess one by one whose face each drawing depicts.
Whether the drawings are good or not, it’s sure to be a hit.
life-sized self-portrait production
Lie down on a large sheet of paper and have your entire outline traced.
Inside the outline, draw yourself.
Exaggerating a bit will probably make it more fun.
Why not use your creativity to draw a life-sized version of yourself?
Cosplay experience
Cosplay has started to feel more accessible lately, with costumes and useful accessories being sold in all kinds of places.
While some cosplayers invest in very expensive outfits, many also put in all sorts of effort by making things themselves using materials from 100-yen shops, gathering cosmetic products, and generously sharing their methods on social media.
Why not take inspiration from those cosplayers and make a cosplay experience one of your festival attractions? Try scheduling cosplay sessions at your cultural festival the way they do at tourist spots.
People will definitely want to take photos and try it out themselves.
Debate Tournament
Have you ever seen a debate showdown on TV or video sites? Unlike a discussion where people exchange opinions, a debate splits participants into affirmative and negative sides on a single topic, and they argue to persuade the other side and determine a winner.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to try that kind of debate showdown as a school festival activity? If possible, choose representatives who are articulate and have a strong vocabulary, and really push the message that our side’s argument is superior.
It’s a bit unconventional, so it’s sure to stand out as a showcase!