Recreation Ideas That Truly Excite High School Students! A Fun Collection of Activities
Great news for high school students looking for new games to liven up your class or club! Here, we’ll introduce fun recreational activities that strengthen bonds with your friends—from brain-teasing games to get-you-moving activities.
They’re easy to prepare and work well for both small and large groups.
We’ve packed in exciting, heart-pounding ideas perfect for sleepovers and class recreation, too.
Give them a try and make awesome memories with your friends!
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Easy! Indoor Recreation (1–10)
The game of saying “number one”
In this “Say ‘One’ on Three” game, you first choose a leader.
The leader presents a prompt, everyone simultaneously answers with what they think is the best, and whoever names the true number one wins.
Coming up with a winning answer on the spot without freezing is trickier than it sounds, making it a thrilling and exciting game.
Give it a try!
Lyrics hijacking game
A lyric-hijacking game where you keep taking over the lyrics from someone who’s singing and shift into a different song! You don’t need any props—what matters is how many songs you know, down to the lyrics.
If you’re a high schooler who’s up on the latest hits, tons of songs will come up and it’s guaranteed to be a blast! How to play: when someone is singing, jump in with a different song that uses the same phrase found in the lyrics they’re singing.
There’s also a rule variation where the person who manages to sing the last line of some song at the end wins.
It gets even more exciting if you add constraints like only songs by female artists or only songs by male groups!
No-No Yo Game
This is a game where you say things that you’d hate to happen, set to the melody of the American folk song “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” The rules are very simple, but coming up with those “things you’d hate to happen” on the spot is surprisingly hard.
If you’re playing with school friends, it’ll probably get lively if you use themes like your class, studying, club activities, or teachers.
It might also be fun to do it as an endurance challenge like in the video.
Let’s see how long you can keep going without running out of ideas—game on!
Tasting/Comparative sampling of ○○
How about trying a “tasting challenge,” a classic from TV variety shows that YouTubers often do these days? In this game, you wear a blindfold or otherwise prevent yourself from knowing what you’re eating, and try to guess the food relying only on its taste and aroma.
The theme can be anything—snacks, drinks, whatever you like—so pick something you’re good at and give it a try.
Easy! Indoor Recreation (11–20)
Nanjamonja Game
Don’t underestimate it just because it’s a card game—“Nanjamonja” is a simple yet wildly exciting game.
The cards feature many creatures from a species called Nanjamonja.
You give them names and try to recall them, racing to call out the correct name faster than anyone else.
It’s also fun because your naming sense is put to the test as you imagine names from each character’s appearance.
Play with a big group and you’re guaranteed a blast!
Name demon
This is introduced as a type of icebreaker game.
An icebreaker game is an activity meant to ease the tension when people meet for the first time.
The game “Name Tag Oni” is said to have been devised by the director Hideki Noda, and it likely helped actors learn character names when starting a new play.
It also sounds fun to do right after class reassignments.
Pocky game
The Pocky Game is where two people eat a Pocky stick from opposite ends and compete over how much is left.
Since you’re blindfolded, you might end up kissing—that thrill is irresistible.
There’s also a rule where the first person to pull away loses, which makes a kiss even more likely!