Fun activities and recreation games for girls
Recommended for anyone looking for activities and recreation for girls!
In this article, we introduce a wide variety of popular games for girls, easy recreation games, and cute crafts.
They’re all fun activities that can be enjoyed regardless of age, so if you’re thinking, “I don’t know what games girls will enjoy,” or “I want to find games that girls can get excited about together,” please use this as a reference.
It’s also perfect for game time and hands-on activities during Hinamatsuri (Girls’ Day) events, and for livening up celebrations at home.
Fun Activities and Recreational Games for Girls (1–10)
Let’s make accessories with Perler beads!
Girls get excited when they play with beads and see or touch sparkly things, right? And I think they love accessories too.
Let’s play with fuse beads (Perler beads) so you can make accessories and mascots to suit your own taste! Fuse beads are plastic beads that you arrange on a pegboard to create any pattern you like; then you place a special sheet on top and apply an iron.
The heat melts the plastic so the beads stick together.
There are pegboards shaped like hearts, stars, and more, but it’s also fun to design your own.
You can even make hair accessories easily!
So fun you’ll get hooked! Tin Can Stilts
Cang-pokkuri stilts—your parents’ generation, and maybe even your grandparents, probably played with them too.
These days you can buy plastic or wooden versions, but how about making your own with empty cans you have at home? Just prepare two cans of the same size, make holes, and thread a cord through—easy to assemble.
It’s also fun to decorate them with tape or markers so you can tell which ones are yours.
If it’s hard for small children to play on their own, an adult should hold their hands and play together.
Popular hand game! One hundred thousand feet of the Alps ~ seventy thousand feet
Hand-clapping songs are one of those games that many people know and enjoy, from small children to the elderly.
Among them, “Arupusu Ichimanjaku” is very famous—a hand-clapping song that your grandparents probably know too, so you can play together.
Best of all, hand-clapping songs don’t require any tools and can be played anywhere, which makes them so easy and convenient.
And did you know that “Arupusu Ichimanjaku” actually has lyrics up to verse 29? It might be fun to look up the lyrics and try playing while singing all the way to verse 29 (haha).
Let’s make a cute kaleidoscope with origami!
A fascinating origami that whirls and changes shapes and expressions like a kaleidoscope.
It looks very intricate and difficult to make, but it’s actually quite simple—you just fold eight pieces into heart shapes and connect them together.
Plus, you don’t need scissors or glue; all you need is origami paper.
Once you start folding, you tend to get quiet and absorbed, don’t you? The key is to make crisp creases, and after connecting the pieces, keep them firm—ideally clip them to hold the shape—so it spins more smoothly.
Easy with a snack bag! Make a cute pouch
A super cute candy pouch.
It looks like something you’d buy, but you can actually make it yourself! And amazingly, you don’t need any needles or thread—no sewing required! The method is really simple: cut out the package of your favorite candy with scissors, stick it onto a card case with double-sided tape, then take two card cases cut to the same size, stick them together with double-sided tape, and attach a zipper.
Of course, you just attach the zipper with double-sided tape as well.
You can make it with your favorite candy packaging, and it would probably make a great gift for a friend too.
Easy hand knitting you can start at age 5!
I think many girls are interested in handicrafts.
But sewing can be dangerous because of needles, or you might not have a sewing machine, and knitting can be difficult and feel like a high hurdle.
However, finger knitting, which doesn’t use needles, is something anyone can easily do.
You wrap yarn around one hand and use the fingers of your other hand to loop and knit the yarn.
These days, you can find all kinds of yarn at 100-yen shops.
I think it would be cute to try knitting little accessories for dolls or plush toys with your favorite yarn.
Addictive! Rubber-band jumping steps
It’s a retro game, but for some reason everyone gets hooked on it—rubber band jumping.
Also known as “gomu-dan,” it’s been a classic game for girls for ages.
All you need is an elastic band and you can play anywhere, indoors or out.
It’s an easy game that lets you move your body even inside, so it’s popular with little kids right up to older girls.
There are all kinds of moves: spreading and closing your feet to straddle the band, stepping on it, twisting it and returning it, and more.
You often see kids who keep jumping endlessly—hooking the far band, pulling it over, letting it go, and so on.
Moms might find themselves joining in too, swept up by nostalgia (laughs).