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 a festival. Ideas kids can enjoy (31–40)
Cotton candy making
Cotton candy is something that almost always catches children’s eyes at festivals.
At large festivals, adults make it for them, or pre-made cotton candy is sold in bags, but you can buy a small cotton candy machine for a few thousand yen, and there are safe models that kids can use themselves.
If children can twirl the skewers on their own to make it, it would surely become one of the festival’s most popular attractions.
White cotton candy is nice, but if you use colored sugar crystals, you can make colorful and cute cotton candy.
Corinth game
Also known as a pachinko game, the classic Corinth game is something you often see at festivals.
You can win various prizes depending on the points for where the ball lands, and since you never know where the ball you launch will end up, you can enjoy the excitement right up to the end.
Although it has an image of being an old-fashioned pastime, it’s sometimes made as a summer vacation project, so it’s surprisingly familiar to kids today as well.
Small ones are fun to make yourself, but there are also places that rent out larger versions for a few thousand yen.
If your festival is on a larger scale, it might be worth taking the plunge and renting one.
Shaved ice making
When you think of festivals, especially summer festivals, shaved ice is a classic, right? Kids and adults alike have fun choosing from all the different flavors and can’t decide which one to get.
How about recreating that shaved ice stand you’d see at a festival stall? These days, various types of shaved ice machines are available.
You can rent professional-grade machines like the ones used at festival booths, but I think home-use machines are more than enough to enjoy it.
They’re colorful to look at, too, and really help build that festive, exciting atmosphere.
children’s portable shrine (for festivals)
When it comes to local festivals, the mikoshi is a must, isn’t it? The large mikoshi carried by adults is powerful and impressive to watch, but the ones carried by children, shouting in unison as they do their best, are adorably charming too.
Even children—by the upper grades of elementary school—can carry it steadily and seem quite dependable.
It’s also cute to see little kids pulling the mikoshi or walking alongside it while chanting “Wasshoi!”
Balance game
A balance game made with paper plates and cardstock is a perfect festival activity that demands more focus and finesse than it looks.
Fold a paper plate and place cut pieces of cardstock on top to form the base.
Then stack cardstock parts taped together on the base.
The subtle wobble created by the plate’s curvature makes the balance precarious, so a careful touch is essential.
The tension of seeing how many pieces you can stack and how you read and respond to the wobble draws kids into deep concentration.
Since all the materials are paper, it’s lightweight, easy to handle, and safer, too.
From crafting to playing, you can enjoy the whole process, making it a hit for parents and children or groups of friends.
Children’s Bon Odori
Speaking of bon-odori, it’s a quintessential summer tradition and an event that everyone—adults and children alike—can enjoy together.
Festival music and Japanese drums are performed atop a yagura decorated with neatly arranged red-and-white banners and lanterns, while everyone dances in circles around it.
There are also many children’s bon-odori songs used as anime ending themes.
Even without a yagura, just playing the music and dancing is sure to get everyone excited!
Kids Flea Market
How about hosting a kids-only flea market, a “Kids Flea Market”? From listing to selling, everything is done by children, and even the customers are only children.
Kids often get bored with toys quickly or outgrow them, leaving many unused.
Knowing that the next person will make use of them makes the seller happy and also fosters a greater awareness of valuing things.
Slime Treasure Hunt
A slime treasure-hunting game where you turn the pool water into slime and search for hidden prizes inside.
There’s a product called slime powder, and using it lets you easily transform water into slime.
Lots of kids love slime, and if you play in summer it might feel nice… or maybe a little gross? Either way, you can enjoy a quirky kind of treasure hunt.
Put in small items like super balls, and the child who collects the most within the time limit wins! How about offering prizes to the winners? If you fill a vinyl pool with water and run it there, it won’t take up much space, so it’s great for small festivals.
lottery; drawing lots; raffle
When you went to festivals as a kid, didn’t you always try the lottery at least once? Those lotteries had so many toys and stationery that drew children in.
You’d hear rumors like, “Does the first prize ever actually come out? Has anyone even won it?”—almost like an urban legend.
Still, you can’t help but give it a shot.
Let’s prepare lots of prizes and make the lottery fun!
Bingo game
Bingo is a classic game for events that everyone—adults and kids alike—can enjoy.
Numbers are called as they come out of the bingo machine, and if you have the number on your card, you mark it.
Get a full line—vertical, horizontal, or diagonal—and it’s bingo! And of course, as with any bingo game, you can win prizes.
You don’t have to buy a bingo machine; you can rent one, and these days there are also apps, so it’s easy to enjoy.