[Elementary School] Quick and Easy! Indoor Recreational Activities Perfect for Lower Grades
We’ve gathered a bunch of fun recreational activities that will make lower elementary school kids want to get moving! From active indoor games that offer plenty of exercise to brain-teasing games you can enjoy while thinking, these ideas are perfect for rainy days and cold seasons.
Kids can naturally deepen their communication skills by competing with friends or working together as a team.
Preparation is simple, and you can start right away—so make recess at school or time at home even more rewarding!
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Indoor games that foster cooperation and teamwork (1–10)
obstacle course
Why not enjoy an obstacle race—one of the classic events at sports festivals—right at home? Come up with different ideas and set up lots of obstacles in your rooms or hallways! You can actually create surprisingly fun obstacles using only easy-to-get materials like paper tape and cardboard.
The great thing about this activity is that kids can join in and have fun from the preparation stage.
Playing with things they’ve made themselves will surely be a valuable experience.
Indoor games that foster cooperation and teamwork (11–20)
Hand-holding dribble
If you’re looking for a recreation activity that improves teamwork, “Hand-Holding Dribble” is recommended.
The rules are very simple: everyone forms a circle, holds hands, puts a ball inside, and dribbles it.
The team that keeps dribbling together and reaches the goal first wins.
If you switch up the teams along the way, it seems like everyone can get to know each other better.
Ladder Rock-Paper-Scissors
This is “Ladder Rock-Paper-Scissors,” where teams line up at both ends of a ladder and attack the opponent’s territory.
Players start from each end and stop when they meet, then play rock-paper-scissors.
The loser steps off the ladder and returns to the back of their team’s line.
The winner continues along the ladder and plays the next opponent.
The team that manages to reach the opposing team’s territory first wins.
Ball Centipede Relay
This is a centipede relay using a ball.
Line up in a single file: the first person bends forward and passes the ball backward through their legs; the next person arches their back and passes it overhead.
Keep alternating like this to move the ball along.
It requires speed and accuracy, and communication is important when handing it off to the next person.
It’s a game that engages the whole body and is fun to take on, so why not try it as an enjoyable way to train?
pulling up a daikon radish
This is a game called “Daikon Pulling,” played by splitting into a Daikon team and Oni (taggers).
The Daikon team lies face down in a circle and links arms.
The Oni try to pull the Daikons out by tugging their legs.
The Daikons hold on tightly so their arms don’t come apart and brace themselves.
Anyone whose arms come apart and gets pulled out joins the Oni.
The players who aren’t pulled out within the time limit win.
Cat and Mouse
This is a game called “Cat and Mouse,” where players split into a cat team and a mouse team.
The cat team holds hands to form a circle, and the mouse team goes inside the circle.
The cats stand up and crouch to keep the mice from escaping outside the ring.
The mice dodge the cats’ defense and try to escape outside the circle.
After a set time, the teams switch roles, and the team whose mice escape the most wins.
Hula hoop tunnel
If you can prepare a hula hoop, try the “Hula Hoop Pass”! In this activity, everyone holds hands, and two people hold a hula hoop.
Without those two letting go of the hoop, everyone must pass their bodies through it to the other side—that’s the goal.
It’s a good way to stretch, so it also works well as a warm-up before more vigorous activities.