Ideas for pretend festivals you can enjoy at home
We’ve always taken it for granted that we could enjoy festivals, but during the COVID-19 pandemic many were canceled, and even when they were held, they were scaled down, so the chances to enjoy them dropped dramatically.
Amid this, a quiet trend has emerged: enjoying festival fun at home—kids love food stalls and festival games, while adults savor stall-style gourmet foods with a drink in hand.
Even just serving dishes you don’t usually eat at home or switching up the tableware can instantly create the right atmosphere, so try using items from 100-yen shops and have fun with it!
It’s not just for home—you can enjoy it at preschools and elementary schools too!
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- Play ideas kids can enjoy from 1st to 6th grade [indoors & outdoors]
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- [Play Right Away!] Exciting Recreation Games Recommended for Elementary School Students
- Great for festival stalls! Handmade game ideas
- Recommended for upper elementary grades! Exciting indoor recreation and games
Festival play ideas you can enjoy at home (21–30)
Wani Wani Panic
Wani Wani Panic is a simple, fun game you’ll always find at arcades.
All you do is whack the crocodiles that pop out of the holes with a hammer—but even adults can’t help getting hooked.
Let’s hand-make a Wani Wani Panic set and enjoy it at a home festival! You can make the crocodiles from milk cartons, the base from cardboard, and the hammer from a milk carton and a toilet paper roll.
It uses a mechanism where pulling and releasing the string attached to the crocodile makes it pop out with a snap, which kids are sure to love.
If the mechanism is too tricky to build, you can simply move the crocodiles by hand.
Goldfish scooping
Goldfish scooping is a classic at summer festivals, where your technique with the delicate poi is put to the test—how do you scoop a goldfish with such a tricky tool? Since preparing real goldfish is hard to manage, I recommend floating mascot toys that look like goldfish in water and having people scoop those instead.
If you vary the mascots’ size and weight, participants can enjoy the strategy of which “goldfish” to target and how to move.
Rather than giving the mascots themselves as prizes, it might be better to change the prize based on how many they scoop.
Candy grab
Candy grab games are full of dreams, aren’t they? You can make up your own rules, but a common one is that you can take home as much as you can grab with one hand.
These days, many allergy-friendly snacks are available, so it’s a good idea to choose the candy carefully so that children with food allergies can join the game.
On the day, if you let both adults and children participate, people will naturally start cheering for whoever’s playing.
It would be great if everyone could score lots of treats as a fun festival memory.
In conclusion
We introduced ideas for enjoying a make-believe festival at home.
These days, 100-yen shops sell lots of cute decoration items and food containers, so if you use them, you can create a very authentic, realistic festival vibe! Enjoy a pretend festival that will excite not only kids but adults too!