Recommended for childcare! Game and activity ideas to liven up a summer festival
The once-a-year summer festival that the kids look forward to is here! At nursery schools and kindergartens, you’ll want to make the special time with friends even more exciting.
Here, we’ll share recommended ideas for games and activities you can do together with the children.
Enjoy the preparation time together, too.
Classic activities like target tossing and yo-yo fishing can be even more fun with a few simple twists.
Choose ideas that fit the size and atmosphere of your school, and make it a summer festival that thrills both children and adults!
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Recommended for childcare! Game and activity ideas that liven up summer festivals (21–30)
Summer festival pretend play
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.
Himokuji Shop: Will I win something I like?
Despite its simple mechanism, the string lottery is one of those games that really gets kids excited.
Depending on the preschool, there may be restrictions on prizes.
In that case, it can be fun to start by making the prizes together with the children.
They’ll be thrilled, wondering, “Which prize will I get?” and the adults watching can’t help but get excited too.
If you’re giving the prizes as summer festival souvenirs, waterproof mini mascots or color balls that can be used in the bath or pool are likely to be a hit with the kids.
Let’s share ideas and liven up the game so we can hear them say, “That was so much fun!”
Recommended for childcare! Game and performance ideas (31–40) to liven up summer festivals
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.
Candy fishing
A fishing game where you can catch candy will be a hugely popular corner for kids.
For preparation, attach S-hooks to the fishing rods and clip paper clips onto the candy.
Put the candy in a spacious container like a kiddie pool, and then just try to catch your target treat! You can also prepare rods with different difficulty levels to match different ages.
It’s surprisingly hard to snag the candy you’re aiming for, so it’s sure to get everyone excited! Enjoy the game together with lots of lively chatter.
lottery; drawing lots; raffle
Raffles are also games that kids can enjoy casually.
Simply pulling a folded piece of construction paper can be exciting, but if you have time, why not make a raffle modeled after Ichiban Kuji? Prepare two sheets of construction paper in the size of the tickets; cut slits into one sheet so the pieces can be peeled open.
Since this involves fine work with a craft knife, an adult should handle it.
It might be a good idea to have the children take charge of preparing the prizes.
Let’s liven up the summer festival with a raffle that makes everyone excited to see what they’ll win.
Sparkle scooping
A glitter scoop game that’s popular at festivals and easy for kids to try.
It’s a booth where children scoop up shiny floating trinkets and super balls bobbing on the water.
There are all kinds of scoopable toys—candies, animals, goldfish, bugs, and more—so choose according to the target age.
You can float the toys in an inflatable pool, a washbasin, or a bucket; if your budget allows, renting a basin with a flowing-water feature could make it even more fun for the kids.
Plastic Bottle Bowling
Bowling’s popularity shows signs of a modest comeback here and there.
Many malls and shopping centers now have bowling alleys attached.
Some even have kid-friendly lanes with no gutters.
With that in mind, we recommend a handmade, warm-and-fuzzy “PET bottle bowling” booth for festival stalls.
For small children, use empty plastic bottles and a sponge ball; for older kids, use plastic bottles filled with water and a volleyball—prepare pins and balls suited to each age group.
The key to making it a hit is to set a rule where players receive a prize no matter how many bottles they knock down.