Games that liven up festivals. Ideas that children can enjoy.
Festivals and fair days are fun events that kids can take part in, aren’t they? In addition to local festivals, many kindergartens, nursery schools, and elementary schools also plan summer festivals, don’t they? In this article, we’ve gathered ideas for festival games and activities recommended for those who want to find games that kids will love or want to know about events beyond food stalls.
It’s packed with fun ideas you can enjoy both indoors and outdoors, so please use it as a reference.
If you’re making the games by hand, having the children help will make great memories!
- [For Kids] Fun Entertainment and Activities to Liven Up a Festival
- Great for festival stalls! Handmade game ideas
- Fun for adults and kids alike! Home festival ideas to capture the lively spirit of a Japanese matsuri
- [For Elementary Schools] Recommended Exhibits and Recreational Activities for a Cultural Festival
- Liven up your children’s club event! A collection of ideas everyone can enjoy
- [For Kids] Popular party games. Fun games that get everyone excited
- Elementary School Fun Day a Big Hit! Indoor Game Idea Collection
- Handmade summer festival games: a collection of ideas you can enjoy at kindergartens, daycare centers, and at home.
- [For Kids] Today's Recommended Recreation Idea Collection
- Recommended for school cultural festivals! Stall ideas that let you enjoy a traditional fair atmosphere
- Handmade decoration ideas for summer festivals
- Recreation Activities That Excite Kids’ Clubs! Plans and Ideas Children Will Love
- [For Kids] Fun Indoor Game Ideas for After-School Day Services
Games that liven up festivals. Ideas that children can enjoy (11–20)
Cardboard Frisbee
Cardboard Frisbee: throw a frisbee at holes cut into a cardboard target! It’s a bit like a strikeout-style game, but since controlling a frisbee is harder than throwing a ball, you’ll enjoy a different kind of fun.
Draw animals, people, or characters on the cardboard target and cut out the mouth area large enough for the frisbee to pass through.
That way, it looks like you’re tossing food into their mouths, creating a unique target.
Feel free to get creative with the drawings and try all kinds of variations!
darts
Let’s take cool darts and give them a fun, festive twist! Make the target using cardboard, Styrofoam, or similar materials.
A classic style where the points increase toward the center works well, but scattering various point values around the board is recommended so many people can play at once.
For the darts, make sure they’re safe for kids by matching the sticking method to the target material—tape, magnets, or hook-and-loop (Velcro) all work.
Drawing different pictures on the target will also grab children’s interest!
Handmade food stall
When you think of fair and festival events, the first thing that comes to mind is food stalls, right? How about making the stalls themselves out of cardboard? Not only the day of the festival—building the stall is fun too, so it’s perfect for building excitement and atmosphere leading up to the event.
It’s surprisingly easy: just combine a few large cardboard boxes to make the table section and attach the roof on top.
Let the little kids take charge of decorating the signs for takoyaki or cotton candy—they’ll have a blast.
If you have red cardboard, you could even make homemade lanterns!
Yo-yo fishing
Yo-yo fishing is a classic at night stalls and temple fairs.
There’s a hook at the end of the paper string, and you use it to snag the little rubber ring attached to the yo-yo water balloon and lift it out.
Since the string is made of paper, it will tear if it gets wet, so be careful to keep it dry, and lift slowly while considering the weight of the yo-yo.
Goldfish scooping
Goldfish scooping—the classic sight at summer festivals and fair stalls.
Didn’t everyone try it at least once as a child? It’s also fun just to watch goldfish of various sizes, from red ones to black telescope-eye goldfish, gracefully swimming about.
And goldfish scooping really shows kids’ personalities: some plunge their poi into the water without hesitation, while others carefully survey the different fish and think hard about which one to scoop.
You don’t see it as often these days, but it’s something you’d love for them to experience at least once.
Ball rolling game
The ball-rolling game is where you roll a ball over a bunch of paper cups lined up, and you get the prize in whichever cup the ball lands in.
Since all you do is roll the ball, it’s a festival game that even small children can enjoy.
You can put prizes in the paper cups, change the cup colors and make it a points-based game, or put winning tickets in only a few cups—feel free to get creative.
If you keep the prizes separate, you can get just the paper cups and a ball at a 100-yen shop, so it’s very easy to set up.
Games that liven up festivals. Ideas kids can enjoy (21–30)
Basketball
If you’re looking for a game that excites crowds at festivals and fairs, basketball is a great pick.
It’s easy to incorporate into preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school events, and its simple rules make it highly engaging.
Using a mini hoop or basket, players just throw a ball from a set distance, and every successful shot draws cheers and energizes the venue.
You can adjust for age by giving younger kids smaller balls or closer shots, and increasing difficulty for older kids.
Adding a scoring system or prizes boosts motivation even more.
It’s a versatile game that’s fun both indoors and outdoors, so we highly recommend it.
