[Kindergarten/Daycare] Games and Performances for Fun Events
At kindergartens and daycare centers, fun parties and birthday celebrations are held for the children.
Games and performances are essential for these events.
While many teachers are brainstorming ideas to delight the kids who eagerly look forward to them, some may be struggling with a lack of ideas.
In this article, we introduce games and performances that are perfect for such parties.
We’ve gathered a wide variety, from activities led by teachers to ones where children participate and have fun.
They’re all engaging ideas that spark children’s curiosity! Many of these games and performances are actually used in kindergartens and daycare centers, so feel free to use them as a reference.
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[Kindergarten/Nursery] Fun Party Games and Performances (11–20)
Hands, hands, hands
In 1760, Father de l’Epée established the world’s first school for the deaf and is later credited with developing sign language.
As the saying goes, “The eyes speak as much as the mouth,” and when we think of sign language, we realize just how powerful our hands and fingers can be.
Let’s liven up the party with a hands-only performance—“Hands, Hands, Hands.” Perform a bird-themed routine with white gloves, create water and wind with light blue gloves, and spark everyone’s imagination with a world expressed only through hands.
You can even depict rainbows and fireworks using seven different colors of gloves! It’s a perfect act for teachers and staff to perform, or for children to practice and present themselves.
paper puppet theater
If you work in childcare, you’ve probably heard of “pepu-sāto” at least once.
It’s said to be a coined term based on the paper puppet theater.
Simply put, it’s a paper puppet: you draw a picture on construction paper and attach a stick or something similar.
A full puppet show can be a lot to prepare, but a paper puppet show is relatively easy to get ready.
Stories with fewer characters—like Kachi Kachi Yama or The Tortoise and the Hare—tend to hold children’s attention better, so they’re well-suited to paper puppet theater.
Be sure to make your paper puppets in sizes that match the venue for your party or performance!
Panel Theater “Quiz Bus”
A “panel theater” that’s like a picture-story show crossed with a puppet play, where you can tell various stories and enjoy how they unfold.
This “Quiz Bus” also offers developments that only panel theater can deliver.
A bus appears to the rhythm of a song—at first glance it looks like an ordinary bus, but it’s actually a Quiz Bus.
If you peek open a window, you can glimpse something inside.
From that quick peek, you try to guess what’s riding on the bus, making it a panel theater you can enjoy as a quiz.
Several kinds of fruit are hidden inside, and the highlight is that, in the end, those fruits come together to become juice.
Fun to search! Transforming Game
This is a game where you compare teachers before and after they transform and find the differences.
The classic spot-the-difference is done by comparing illustrations, but since the teachers can’t duplicate themselves, you’ll need to remember their pre-transformation appearance carefully.
Changes range from easy ones—like holding a toy or a piece of fruit—to trickier ones, such as a different T-shirt color or accessories.
Be sure to include a variety of change patterns and encourage the children to aim for a perfect score!
Fruits Basket
When it comes to games kids love, “Fruit Basket” is a classic! Arrange chairs in a circle with one fewer chair than the number of children participating.
Choose one player to be “It”; They stand in the center while the others sit on the chairs.
Assign each seated child a fruit name.
For example, if there are 10 players, you can divide them into three fruit groups—strawberry, melon, and banana—with three children in each group.
When “It” calls a fruit, the children with that fruit name stand up and move to a different empty chair.
At the same time, “It” should also try to sit in a chair.
The child who fails to find a seat becomes the next “It.” If “It” says “Fruit Basket,” everyone must stand up and change seats, so watch out! At the party, have the teacher join in too so everyone can have a great time together!
hand play song
Isn’t the very first song small children learn usually a hand-play song? I still remember many of the hand-play songs I learned as a child, and strangely enough, you just don’t forget them.
How about you? By learning these hand-play songs, children naturally build their vocabulary, too, though some of them are puzzling even as adults—like, “What on earth does Zuizuizukkorobashi mean?” Let’s liven up your party with hand-play songs! Even the classic “Ton ton ton ton Higejii-san” can be customized for fun—try challenges like “How fast can you sing it?” or “How well can you synchronize with your friends?”
[Kindergarten & Nursery] Games and Performances for Fun Events (21–30)
Mysterious Pocket
Let’s have fun singing the beloved children’s song “Fushigina Pocket” (The Magic Pocket).
Are those forest animals? I heard there’s a birthday child, so they’ve brought all sorts of tasty treats.
Cookies, biscuits, doughnuts, fruit… When you pat the pocket, they multiply and keep coming out.
Before taking things out of the pocket, describe their features—like “Round, with a hole, and sweet?”—so the children can imagine what will appear next and enjoy the guessing.
At the end, a cake is completed, making it perfect for a birthday party.