Fun activities for junior high school students. Recreation games.
Introducing recreational activities for middle schoolers to enjoy during breaks, after school, or in free periods! We’ve gathered games that get everyone excited with friends and group activities that strengthen class bonds.
From games that test your ability to read the room to ones that challenge memory and reaction speed, there are lots of genres to enjoy.
They can even be a great chance to get closer to your friends! All the activities have simple rules and can be started right away, so invite your classmates and give them a try!
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Wordplay & Shiritori Game Collection (1–10)
Picture shiritori
Picture shiritori, a version of the word-linking game where you draw instead of speak, is a quick and fun pastime you can enjoy even during free time in middle school! The rules are the same as regular shiritori: you keep drawing pictures that start with the last sound of the previous picture’s name.
What’s different from the regular version is that, depending on how well someone draws, the next person might not be able to tell what it is and fail to continue.
Even among skilled artists, drawings can be so good they’re hard to recognize! As long as you have the school essentials—writing tools and paper like a notebook—you can play anytime.
It’s an easy, low-effort game that always gets people excited.
Hiragana Karaoke Showdown
“Hiragana Karaoke” is a game where the person who can quickly sing a song whose lyrics start with the specified Japanese syllable wins! For example, if the specified syllable is “a,” you sing a song whose lyrics begin with “a.” Any part of the lyrics is fine—whether it’s the verse or the chorus.
The basic way to play is to prepare slips of paper with one syllable of the gojūon on each and draw them one by one, but if you have three or more players, someone can simply call out a random syllable instead.
The key to winning is how many songs—and their lyrics—you know.
Build up a wide repertoire, from J-pop to children’s songs!
Ten Times Game
Many of you may know the “say-it-10-times game.” You say a word ten times, then you’re asked a quiz whose answer sounds similar to that word, and you end up saying the wrong answer even though it should be easy.
Sometimes the respondent gives an answer different from what the quizmaster intended… but that’s what makes it fun!
Myanmar Game
“Myanmar Game” is a game that became hugely popular in the early 2000s after being introduced on V6’s variety show “Gakkō e Ikō.” Players take turns saying the word “Myanmar,” increasing the number of times they say it by one each turn.
Anyone who hesitates, mispronounces it, or stumbles loses.
Repeating “Myanmar” makes your tongue twist, so just saying it out loud feels amusing.
It’s fun with both large and small groups.
Memory Shiritori
Shiritori is a classic pastime and recreational game.
It needs no introduction—but how about trying this “Memory Shiritori,” which makes the usual shiritori a bit—no, quite a lot—more difficult? As the name suggests, you start from the beginning and keep linking the words while remembering the entire chain.
In regular shiritori, you connect words by the last letter, but in Memory Shiritori, using the last two letters is also allowed.
Still, the longer it goes on, the more challenging the game becomes.
