Indoor Games for Small Groups: Exciting Recreational Activities

Original Sugoroku

We made our own original sugoroku and tried playing it!! [Pretty much a punishment game]

A homemade sugoroku game is packed with all kinds of ideas and is a lot of fun.

Small cut-out cards serve as the spaces: standard ones like “Warp” or “Skip one turn” are placed face-up at random.

The colored spaces each have a unique prompt thought up by a player, and those are placed face-down.

Prompts can be anything, like “Sing a song” or “Tell a funny story.” You won’t know what’s written there until someone lands on it, which adds a sense of anticipation and really livens things up!

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hiyori

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Pasta Twirling Race

[After-school Day Service] Pasta Wrapping Race! 🍝

Here’s a perfect indoor activity: the Twirling Pasta Race.

Prepare some “pasta” by attaching yarn to a paper plate with tape.

On the free end of the yarn (the side without tape), attach an empty plastic wrap core.

To race, hold the core and twist it to wind the yarn around it.

It’s a fun competition to see who can wind the yarn—pretend pasta—onto the core the fastest.

To make it even more exciting, place a cutout of an animal with its mouth open between the paper plate and the core, and set up a little sign showing it “eating.” You could also time each round to add a competitive element.

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mayumi

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Bingo Relay

[Recreation] Bingo Relay

Let me introduce a game called “Bingo Relay,” which gets kids using both their heads and bodies.

You’ll need bingo squares—prepare nine items you can use to mark off spaces, like mini hoops.

If you’re outside, you can draw circles on the ground instead.

Arrange them in a 3×3 grid.

Divide the children into two teams, and have only the first three players on each team hold their team markers.

At the signal, the first player from each team runs to the bingo grid and places their marker inside a ring.

When they’re done, they run back, tag the next player, and switch.

The team that first completes a line—vertical, horizontal, or diagonal—wins.

Starting from the third move onward, players should move one of their own team’s already placed pieces instead of adding a new one.

It’s a fun game that requires quick thinking!

Pyramid Rock-Paper-Scissors

Pyramid Rock-Paper-Scissors: Guaranteed to be a hit! A recreational activity

Guaranteed to be a blast—let’s play Pyramid Rock-Paper-Scissors! First, split into a defense team and an offense team.

Draw pyramid-shaped lines on the ground and place the defenders on the lines.

For example, if there are 15 defenders, put 5 people on the longest bottom line, then 4 on the next, and so on, ending with a single person at the top—that person is the King! The offense team starts by challenging anyone among the 5 at the bottom to rock-paper-scissors; if they win, they move up.

At the end, they play rock-paper-scissors with the King, and if they win, they clear the game.

If they lose at any point, they go back to the starting point.

Losing to the King also sends you back to start.

It’s a fun game where luck is put to the test!

Hoop Daruma-san ga Koronda

[Age 3] Daruma-san ga koronda♪

More ways to play! Here are some ideas for playing “Red Light, Green Light” using hula hoops.

You’ll need two balance beams, a hula hoop, a ball, and flat markers.

“Red Light, Green Light” is a game that’s been loved for generations.

Since the rules are easy to understand, many preschools and childcare centers likely include it in their activities.

Using hula hoops, balls, and balance beams expands the possibilities, so it’s highly recommended.

Once children are comfortable with the basic rules, give these variations a try!