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!
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Games that liven up festivals. Ideas kids can enjoy (21–30)
Stacking empty cans
Precisely because it’s a fun festival, it’s important to stay mindful all the way through to the final cleanup.
By washing the empty cans generated during the festival and using them for a game, people may become more conscious about keeping the venue clean.
The rules are simple: within a time limit, players compete to see how many empty cans they can stack.
Even if the stack collapses, you can try again as many times as you like within the time limit; your record is the highest number of cans you successfully stack.
Even when it feels like you’ve reached your limit, boldly going for one more layer can be the key to victory.
Number push
Number Push lets kids experience the fun of moving their bodies.
In addition to the rule of touching the number cards on the wall in order, the key twist is that players must hold a balloon and keep it floating in the air at all times.
If the balloon drops, they have to start over, so both caution and speed are required.
It builds a sense of rhythm and reflexes, and the game encourages kids to move energetically.
Small groups can take turns, avoiding crowding while still sparking a competitive spirit and bringing lively energy to the festival venue.
Because it engages both seeing and touching at the same time, it keeps children interested and eager to try again.
crane game
If you want to create an authentic festival vibe, a handmade “claw machine” is perfect.
It can be made from familiar materials like cardboard, string, and paper cups, yet the thrill of operating it feels just like the real thing.
The mechanism is simple—pull the strings to grab a prize—but kids get totally absorbed.
Using plush toys or sweets as prizes boosts their sense of achievement.
You can adjust the size and difficulty to suit daycare, kindergarten, or elementary school events, and it’s great for indoor play.
It’s a thrilling idea packed with excitement that can be the star attraction of a fair or summer festival.
maze
Mazes always draw huge crowds at any event.
They may look hard to make at first glance, but one of their charms is that they’re easy to build using everyday materials like cardboard! Since fairs and festivals are usually held outdoors, rather than using cardboard, we recommend making use of nearby community centers or the intricate features of natural landscapes.
You can set puzzles along the route like an escape game, add various tricks to give it a haunted-house feel—there are lots of ways to enjoy it! Create a maze that gets hearts racing and sparks excitement, tailored to the ages of the children participating.
Dice game
This is a twist on a classic festival game.
Participants roll a pair of dice twice, and the prizes are determined by the total or by specific combinations of the results.
Beyond leaving it to luck, the anticipation of predicting the outcome is part of the fun.
If you display the prize lineup in advance, it will heighten participants’ excitement.
The rules are easy to understand and enjoyable for all ages, so it naturally creates moments where parents and children can join in together.
To make it a game people want to play again and again, we also recommend adding a rule where certain rolls earn a special prize.
Pinball
A handmade pinball machine made from cardboard is a festival-friendly idea that lets you enjoy the fun of crafting and the excitement of a game at the same time.
The mechanism where you move the flippers to guide a marble into scoring zones looks simple but is surprisingly deep, keeping kids fully engaged.
Seeing how the ball bounces makes it appealing as an introduction to basic physics.
The materials—cardboard, chopsticks, rubber bands, and other everyday items—are easy to gather, with many available at 100-yen shops, so preparation isn’t a high hurdle.
You can decorate it freely or add more scoring zones to create your own original version.
It’s a hands-on game where you can learn how it works while you play.
Frog Toss Game
https://www.tiktok.com/@kureha_planning/video/7258584872804011265Let me introduce a frog-flinging game everyone can enjoy.
Make a target on a large sheet of poster paper and write point values on it.
It gets more exciting if you prepare a range of scores from high to low.
Once you’ve set a frog on a plastic bottle, try launching it toward the target.
It’s fun to think about how hard to launch and which section of the target to aim for.
If you set up a table and chairs, you can enjoy it while seated, so kids and seniors alike can join in the fun!
