No worries even in the rain! Fun recreational activities you can do in the gym
Introducing fun recreation activities you can enjoy in the gym! When you hear variety games or cooperative games, you might imagine playing outside, but there are plenty of activities and recreations you can enjoy in a gym.
Even when rain or snow keeps you indoors, you can still build your fitness in the gym.
Basketball, futsal, dodgeball—there are tons of games and activities everyone can enjoy together! Try making time to be active in the gym with friends or family while having fun.
Exercise energizes both your mind and body!
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Tag and Chase Play Ideas (1–10)
Cat and Mouse
“Cats and Mice” is a game that many people can play and that helps improve agility.
How to play: First, divide into the Cat team and the Mouse team.
Then the Cat team forms a circle surrounding the Mouse team.
At this time, members of the Cat team hold hands.
The Mouse team members try to slip through the gaps and escape from inside the circle.
The Cat team members, by standing up and sitting down, block the mice who are trying to escape.
It’s a game that trains quick, explosive movement.
hand-pulled cart ogre
Wheelbarrow tag is a game of tag played in pairs.
You play while holding the “wheelbarrow” pose, which is a bit tricky, so it’s best for a parent and child to do together.
To make the wheelbarrow pose, first get on all fours with your palms spread wide and firmly on the ground.
Then, the supporting partner grabs the ankles of the person on all fours and lifts them up.
Keeping the palms spread, use your arm strength to move forward.
This pose helps children strengthen their arm and abdominal muscles.
It’s recommended when you want to get good physical activity even indoors.
Obstacle tag
For those who find regular tag boring, we recommend ‘obstacle tag.’ You deliberately place items from indoors in inconvenient spots and play tag around them.
Since you have to think about dodging obstacles, you can’t run or chase at full speed.
Tag and chase play ideas (11–20)
Sport Tag
It’s a sport that adds athletic elements to the traditional game of tag that everyone’s played.
While moving around to avoid being caught, you aim to capture treasures placed on the opposing team’s field.
Deciding how many players to allocate to offense and defense and how each person moves makes team strategy a big highlight.
Even if participants have different fitness levels, you can balance the game by adjusting team assignments, numbers, and rules, making it easy to enjoy even for those who aren’t confident in sports.
Rescue Demon
This is a game called “Rescue Tag” that kids can enjoy even with an age gap.
First, make pairs of two, such as an older and a younger student, and decide within each pair who will be the Child (who runs from the tagger) and who will be the Parent (who protects the Child from the tagger).
One pair starts as the taggers, and they try to hit the other pairs’ Children with a ball.
The thrown ball can be dodged or caught.
If someone catches the ball, the pair holding the ball becomes the next taggers.
A pair is out if their Child is hit by the ball, but they can return to the game if the pair that knocked them out gets eliminated later.
Cross Demon
There are many kinds of tag, but this one is a version played inside a court called “Cross Tag.” Draw lines in the middle of a 6-by-6-meter square court to make a cross, both vertically and horizontally.
One or two players are It, and the other players run within the court to avoid being caught.
The It players may only move along the cross.
The runners must keep circling in a single direction to escape; they are not allowed to change direction.
Stepping on the cross, which is the It players’ territory, is out, and of course being tagged is also out.
Anyone who is out should leave the court.
Tag (or Tag, holding hands)
In “Tetsunagi Oni” (Hand-holding Tag), the taggers hold hands and chase the children.
The taggers keep holding hands as they run after the others, and the line of taggers gradually spreads wider and wider.
As the number of taggers increases, the game becomes very thrilling for those being chased.
Figuring out how to escape from the growing line of taggers is the key, isn’t it? Try coming up with lots of clever ways not to get caught!