[Nursery/Daycare] Recommended for Summer Festivals! A Collection of DIY Game Ideas

Summer Memory Pretend Play

[For 2-year-olds] Summer memory pretend play! Pretend BBQ, pretend fishing, pretend bug catching

Here are some pretend-play ideas for making summer memories indoors during the hot season.

Try handmade barbecues, bug-hunting searches, and goldfish scooping—create them together with the kids and have fun.

For the barbecue, talk with the children about what ingredients they want to make, then create them together.

For the bug-hunting search, the key is to think about where to stick photos or illustrations of insects at the children’s eye level and get creative with placement.

For goldfish scooping, rescue origami fish carefully so they don’t fall.

Competing to see how many you can catch also sounds fun! These are great activities for enjoying play indoors even on hot summer days.

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mayumi

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Summer Shop

@mammybear_

We had so much fun at our pretend summer festival, playing all kinds of games and running little shops!Summer MemoriesSummer Festival Pretend Play#Nursery school

♬ Kawaii! ♡⋆*॰ Electro Pop!(1439948) – SK MUSIC

Here are some ideas for a summer-themed pretend shop that kids can enjoy indoors.

Have the children wear happi coats or put on masks of their favorite characters to join in.

The shop themes are up to you.

You could set up a seashell hunt using strips of cellophane tape that evoke the summer ocean, a quiz where kids guess sea creature silhouettes, or festival-style stalls like shaved ice and yo-yo fishing—so many fun ideas! Try transforming the usual classroom atmosphere completely and prepare lots of wonderful little shops.

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sasashina

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Summer festival pretend play

Introduction to Summer Festival Play for Ages 1–5 | Torikai Higashi Yūiku-en [Nursery/Kindergarten Event]

I think many teachers are planning pretend summer festivals in July.

There are so many fun booths: a beanbag toss shop, a mask shop, a doll scooping game, and an agar play shop where kids can enjoy sensory play.

Children take turns as shopkeepers, and they can collect stamps as they visit each booth—guaranteed to get them excited by the special festival atmosphere.

It’s also a great chance to learn social skills through the shopkeeper experience.

Finish off with shaved ice to really soak up the festival mood! Adding a French fries stand or yo-yo fishing is also recommended.

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mayumi

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Plastic Bottle Bowling

[Ages 1–2] First-Time Plastic Bottle Bowling!!

Let us introduce PET bottle bowling, an easy game to enjoy at parties and more.

Line up plastic bottles like bowling pins, then throw a ball and try to knock them down.

Compete by seeing how many bottles you can topple.

It’s a good idea to adjust the weight of the ball according to the players’ ages.

You can also put a little water in the bottles for added challenge and excitement.

Writing point values on the bottles and competing for scores, or playing in teams, can make it even more fun!

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Curling Bingo Game

Make it with paper cups! Here’s an idea for a curling bingo game.

Curling is the sport where you slide heavy stones across an ice rink and try to place them as close as possible to the center of a target area called the house to score points, right? This time, let’s use paper cups as the stones and set the house as a 3×3 grid to enjoy a bingo-style game.

Split into two teams and, like tic-tac-toe, adjust your force and control your direction to line up three in a row vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.

Handmade Whac-A-Croc

@mammybear_

A handmade Whac-A-Gator game by a newly graduated teacher made its debut at the pretend summer festival! It was so much fun!#Summer FestivalRole play#Nursery schoolWani Wani Panic lol

♬ Cute and playful song(1169385) – zomap

Great for kids trying it for the first time! Here are some ideas for making your own Whac-A-Gator game.

Whac-A-Gator is the game where crocodiles pop out of holes at random and you hit them with a hammer, right? This time, let’s try making a homemade version.

You’ll need cardboard or empty boxes, colored construction paper, plastic ribbon, milk cartons, tape, and more.

It looks like you can make the hammer with a paper cup and disposable chopsticks! It’s sure to be a popular station that children from infant to preschool classes can enjoy.

Watermelon splitting

It’s great that you can play it over and over! Here’s an idea for a watermelon-splitting game.

Many people have probably experienced traditional watermelon splitting at the beach, river, or a barbecue in summer.

This time, let’s enjoy a pretend version using milk cartons.

What you’ll need: milk cartons, scissors, paper plates, thumbtacks, newspaper, permanent markers, colored construction paper, glue or double-sided tape, and so on.

It’s a wonderful idea that will let children feel a sense of achievement and fulfillment—like “I did it!” Be sure to give it a try.