[For High School Students] Recreational Activities That Can Energize the Entire Grade or Class
There are times during school trips and other various school events when the whole grade gets together and does recreational activities, right?
Teachers and class representatives, in particular, may be wondering what kinds of activities to do so that everyone in the grade can get along and have fun.
In this article, we introduce exciting recreation ideas for high school students.
We’ve gathered a variety of ideas, from activities where classes in the same grade can compete against each other, to ones that help deepen bonds within a single class.
When you want your class or the entire grade to be connected by even stronger bonds, be sure to give these a try!
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[For High School Students] Recreational Activities That Will Energize the Entire Grade or Class (1–10)
Find Your Partner Game
How about a “Find Your Partner” game that everyone in the grade can enjoy? Prepare slips of paper—one per participant—each with a word that forms a pair with another word.
Without knowing what’s written on their own slip, participants stick the paper with the word on their back and go around asking others what their word is.
Everyone moves around at the same time, and it’s cleared when you find the person whose word pairs with yours and form a duo! When someone asks what their word is, don’t tell them directly—give them hints that lead them to the word.
It’s a game that gets the whole grade communicating, so give it a try!
Anything Basket
It’s a game where all participants sit on chairs in a circle and move seats according to given prompts.
There are fewer chairs than people, which heats up the competition to claim a seat and adds strategy to the game.
Choosing the right prompts is also key—if you put thought into them, you might uncover surprising details about the participants’ profiles.
It’s important to move carefully to avoid injuries during the scramble for chairs.
Counting how many times someone becomes “it” and giving a penalty to those with the highest count is also recommended.
Puzzle solving
Every participant is the protagonist, aiming for the goal by solving many puzzles to overcome the accidents that befall them.
Wouldn’t this be a blast to do as a grade-level activity? Let’s build excitement with a story that could almost happen at school—just a bit unrealistic.
Will anyone be able to solve every puzzle?
[For High School Students] Recreational Activities That the Whole Grade or Class Can Enjoy (11–20)
A game where everyone matches their answers
This is a game where everyone thinks of an answer to a given prompt and tries to match those answers.
Since the prompts allow for multiple correct answers, your teamwork in aligning responses will be put to the test.
If you can discuss too thoroughly, it becomes easier to match answers, so it’s recommended to set clear boundaries for how much discussion is allowed.
It’s not only about testing whether your thoughts align; progressing with strategies—such as choosing to match a specific person’s answers—may also be important.
paper tower
The paper tower activity used for team building is a perfect recreational game for strengthening the bonds of a class or an entire grade.
Using only paper, teams compete to see how high they can build their towers.
As long as no tools are used, cutting and folding the paper is allowed.
First, after a few minutes of strategy discussion within each team, they begin constructing their towers.
Set a time limit for building.
The team that creates the tallest paper tower within the time limit wins.
It’s great to do within a single class, but if you form teams with students from different classes in the same grade, it will also help deepen connections across the grade.
Six patients and medicine
It presents the ultimate choice: help one critically ill patient or save five moderately ill patients.
There is only one dose of medicine; the critical patient needs the entire dose, whereas the moderate patients can all survive if it is divided among them.
The dilemma of valuing a single life versus prioritizing the many exposes one’s values.
Key discussion points include whether all lives are equal in weight or whether social roles should be considered.
It is important for the whole class to debate and work toward a single final decision, making this a thought-provoking theme that lets students experience the challenges of ethics and difficult choices.
Illustration Telephone Game
It’s a game that tests how well members understand each other—both the willingness to communicate and the ability to grasp what the other person wants to convey.
Players express a given prompt through a drawing; the next person interprets the prompt from that drawing and passes it on with another drawing, and so on.
The final player then says in words what they think the prompt was, and everyone enjoys seeing whether they got it right.
If you reach the correct answer, you can feel the class’s sense of unity; even if you don’t, it’s fun to analyze how the meaning drifted along the way.
Noticing distinctive features and having a knack for drawing are also part of what makes this game enjoyable.