[For Middle Schoolers] Let's Have Fun Together! A Collection of Bus Recreation Ideas
There are times when you’ll be riding a bus for a long time, like on field trips or school excursions.
It’s exciting to be in a different atmosphere from your usual classes and to chat lively with everyone—that’s great too.
But since it’s a special occasion, why not take the opportunity to get everyone pumped up and strengthen your team spirit?
In this article, we’re introducing bus recreation ideas recommended for junior high school students!
We’ve picked out lots of ideas that large groups can enjoy without having to move around.
Use this as a reference and have a great time!
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- Fun games that liven up bus recreation activities
- [For Adults] Exciting Bus Recreation
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- Games you can play in the car! Fun activities to liven up drives and traffic jams
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- [For Middle School Students] Recommended Ways to Spend Your Free Time
- [For High School Students] Recreational Activities That Can Energize the Entire Grade or Class
- [Elementary School] Games and Recreational Activities to Enjoy at a Forest School Camp
- [For Middle School Students] A Collection of Recreation Ideas to Liven Up Farewell Parties
- Brain-teasing game roundup
[For Junior High School Students] Let’s Get Everyone Excited! A Roundup of Bus Recreation Ideas (11–20)
Whose Voice Game
Form teams of several people, and have the representative team come to the front.
One person will speak, and the other teams should listen with their eyes closed.
It’s a game where you guess whose voice it is.
If the whole team guesses correctly, they earn 1 point! Repeat this, and the team with the most points at the end wins.
The speaking team should try to disguise who it is by changing their voice or doing impressions.
Prepare slips of paper or mini whiteboards for everyone to write their guesses.
You can also play it as an individual competition.
30-second guessing game
This is a game where you rely solely on your internal body clock to try to stop a stopwatch at exactly 30 seconds.
The rule is simple: press start and stop using only your sense of timing, without looking at any numbers, so you can add all kinds of variations.
You could keep a conversation going while measuring the time, or have people around you call out random numbers to distract you—both would likely make it more exciting.
You can also try closing your eyes to sharpen your senses, or keeping a rhythm to feel the passage of time.
Experiment with whatever method works best for you.
Tongue Twister Challenge
Prepare a tongue-twister script and challenge yourselves to see how many seconds it takes to read it! Announcers and voice actors use this as enunciation training, right? If you search for “tongue twisters,” you’ll find plenty, and you can also create your own.
Add furigana to the kanji so that even first-time readers can read it.
The person who reads it the fastest without stumbling wins! Tripping up, getting stuck, and struggling to say it will get everyone excited, and if you can say it smoothly, you’re sure to draw attention!
Drawing Telephone Game
This is a telephone game where you pass along a prompted theme by drawing it without using words.
Each person draws their own picture based on the theme they interpret from the previous person’s drawing, so depending on drawing skill and interpretation, the theme can drift significantly.
It’s more difficult than conveying it with words, so if the last person can infer the theme, it’s a big success; if not, let’s review how it went off track.
To adjust the overall difficulty, it’s also recommended to check everyone’s drawing level before starting the game.
Command Game
This is a game where you move your body while carefully listening to the quiz master and deciding whether to follow the instructions.
The rule is to follow only the words that come after “Everyone,” so be mindful not to be misled by the rhythm or the quiz master’s movements.
Changing the movements and words, and increasing the tempo of instructions, are tricky points for the quiz master as well, so it’s a good idea to prepare a script to keep the game running smoothly.
It’s easy to make mistakes if you listen halfheartedly, so it’s important to focus closely on the words.
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.
Lip-sync song guessing game
The lip-sync song guessing game is something even people who love listening to music but aren’t confident singing can enjoy, and it works well at workplaces or schools.
The presenter picks a song, then lip-syncs it—paying close attention to intonation and rhythm—without making any sound.
The guessers carefully watch the presenter’s mouth and facial expressions to figure out what song it is.
At first, it’s best to choose familiar songs that everyone knows.
Once everyone gets the hang of it, you can make the game more exciting by shortening the sung sections or speeding up the delivery.
In conclusion
As expected, ideas you can do without any tools might be easier to get into. Also, rather than settling on just one from these, it’s a good idea to prepare a few. By all means, use this article as a reference and have everyone on the bus enjoy a fun, lively time together!