[For Kids] Fun Entertainment and Activities to Liven Up a Festival
We’ve collected ideas for entertaining performances and attractions that will liven up large community fairs as well as school and daycare festival events.
Since these are aimed at children, this is perfect if you’re looking for things like “performances involving lots of kids” or “entertainment for children enjoying the festival.” We’ve selected a variety of ideas, from activities that are especially fun within a close-knit group to ones that get everyone excited—even among people who don’t know each other.
Feeling unsure if you can pull it off? Don’t worry—keep challenging yourself to create wonderful memories, and let’s make it a fun festival!
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[For Kids] Fun Entertainment and Booth Ideas for Festivals (31–40)
Impersonation show
If someone in your group is good at doing impressions, how about planning an “impressions show”? There are many kinds of impressions—singing, voice mimicry, and comedy bits are the classics—but what’s most important is choosing targets with high name recognition that everyone knows.
If people can tell who it is just by the costume, the crowd will be excited the moment you appear.
Think of ideas you can imitate—major singers, famous anime characters, or currently popular comedians—and make sure to match the look as well to really liven up your impressions show.
Watermelon splitting
A classic of summer! “Watermelon splitting” is an activity everyone—from kids to adults—can enjoy.
Stand a short distance away from where the watermelon is placed, blindfold yourself with a towel or similar, and hold a stick.
Then, guided by the voices of the people around you, move toward the watermelon and, when you think you’ve found the spot, swing the stick down.
If you hit it, the watermelon will crack open and everyone can enjoy a tasty treat together.
Since it’s hard to walk straight or strike exactly where you intend while blindfolded, it’s fine to prepare only as many watermelons as everyone can finish.
If you want to play multiple rounds, try using a watermelon-patterned beach ball.
Stomp
“Stomp” is a type of performance where you treat anything as an instrument to make sounds and create rhythms.
You might bang the floor with a brush, clang a trash can lid, or crunch a plastic bag—without using a single item that’s typically called a musical instrument—but it still packs quite a punch.
You’ll need to coordinate in advance about what rhythms to play, but leaving some room for free expression can make it even more interesting.
Let’s share fresh, original sounds and beats for everyone to enjoy.
pantomime
Pantomime expresses a story using only gestures and movements.
Because there are no lines, it takes a fair amount of practice to captivate the audience.
However, for children who are used to plays and films with sound, a silent pantomime is sure to be an intriguing performance.
If you include it in a festival program, it will undoubtedly draw attention.
Come up with a short, easy-to-understand story and invite children into the enchanting world of pantomime.
Props are handy, so if you can prepare them, use them actively.
paper puppet theater
“Paper-theater” shows, known as “peep-sart” and hugely popular at daycare centers and kindergartens, feature paper pieces with different pictures pasted front and back onto chopsticks used as handles.
Performers spin them around to match songs or stories.
There are also versions without handles or with mechanisms built into the paper itself—there are many ways to present a paper-theater show.
Once you’ve picked the song or story theme, try coming up with fun staging ideas to match.
The children will surely watch with sparkling eyes.
[For Kids] Fun Entertainment and Booth Ideas for Festivals (41–50)
soap bubble
When you see lots of soap bubbles gently floating around at events, it’s not just kids—adults get excited too.
Let’s fill the sky with bubbles! The classic way of everyone blowing through straws is fun, and these days you can buy sets that make tons of bubbles at once or even create giant bubbles.
Giant bubbles aren’t something you see very often, so they’re sure to be a big hit.
Henshin Tunnel
The kamishibai-style act “Henshin Tunnel” is, as the name suggests, a performance based on the idea that you transform when you pass through a tunnel.
For example, before entering the tunnel the word is “tokei” (clock), but while going through the tunnel everyone chants “tokei” over and over, and the word transforms into “keito” (yarn)! It’s a show that combines wordplay with kamishibai.
Let’s take words and ideas offered by the children, turn them into illustrations, and make them part of the performance.
The audience joins in by chanting aloud together, which really helps build excitement.