Recommended for upper elementary grades! Exciting indoor recreation and games
Ever find yourself unsure what to do for upper-elementary recreation time? Wouldn’t it be perfect to have activities that not only get kids moving but also build teamwork and social awareness? Here, we’ve gathered ideas that make full use of collaboration and brainpower—from a game where you stack cups by working together, to psychological battles that test your timing and when to jump in.
Everything can be done with familiar, easy-to-find materials and will get the whole class excited.
Have fun with your friends!
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Large-Group Party Game Classics & Crowd-Pleasers (11–20)
Musical chairs
When you think of musical chairs, hasn’t just about everyone played it? It’s a game that even small kindergarteners can enjoy, and adults can’t help but get competitive and excited too.
You set up the chairs in a circle with one fewer chair than the number of players, and everyone walks around the outside of the circle.
Music makes it even more lively and fun.
When the music stops, everyone tries to sit in a chair; the person who can’t sit is out.
Who will be the last one remaining?
Hula hoop down
This game is called Hula Hoop Down, where you rest a hula hoop on your fingers and slowly lower it.
Everyone stands in a circle and extends only their index finger on one hand.
Place the hula hoop on those fingers and carefully lower it; if you can set the hoop down on the ground, you succeed.
If anyone’s finger comes off the hoop along the way, it’s out and you have to start over.
It looks simple and easy, but it’s surprisingly tricky and requires teamwork.
Fruits Basket
Fruit Basket is a game you can play with a large group—everyone’s tried it at least once, right? There are two ways to play: one divides people by fruit names, and the other involves asking a question so that only the people who match the question stand up.
You ask something like “People who didn’t eat breakfast today,” and those people move; the person left without a seat becomes the next caller.
And when the caller says “Fruit Basket,” everyone has to move—those are the rules.
Balcony camping
How about a kind of leisure where, even if you can’t go anywhere, a little creativity turns your usual surroundings into a fun, new place? Take “balcony camping,” for example.
Pitch a tent on the balcony and, even if you just do your usual things—eating, playing, studying—spending time out there gives you a taste of the extraordinary and might make you feel like you’ve gone out somewhere.
For meals, you can heat up ready-made foods on the balcony, and if you live in a house, the whole family can even enjoy a barbecue!
Number Rock-Paper-Scissors
A two-player game called Number Rock-Paper-Scissors.
Normally, rock-paper-scissors has three hand signs—rock, scissors, and paper—to decide a winner and loser, but in this version you show one of six numbers: for example, rock is 0 and paper is 5.
You add your number to your opponent’s number, and whoever says the sum first wins.
It’s a game that builds calculation and decision-making skills while you play.