[Elementary School] Indoor Games and Recreational Activities Recommended for Upper Primary Grades
There are lots of elementary school children who love the internet and online games, right?
Of course, they can build relationships and develop various skills through them, but many parents and educators probably feel, “I’d like them to play something other than games a bit more.”
Kids can learn a lot from new experiences, so we hope they’ll try a variety of activities.
In this article, we’ll introduce fun games and recreational activities suited for upper elementary grades!
All of them can be played indoors, so they’re perfect for days when you can’t go outside!
- Recommended for upper elementary grades! Exciting indoor recreation and games
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- Indoor games and recreational activities recommended for junior high school students
- [Elementary School] Quick and Easy! Indoor Recreational Activities Perfect for Lower Grades
- Indoor and outdoor activities that avoid crowding. Enjoyable for students from first to sixth grade.
- [Play Right Away!] Exciting Recreation Games Recommended for Elementary School Students
- Play ideas kids can enjoy from 1st to 6th grade [indoors & outdoors]
- [Elementary School Rec] Recommended Games and Performances for a Fun Party
- Recreation popularity rankings for junior high school students
- [Part 2] Recommended Indoor Activities and Recreation Games for December
- No worries even in the rain! Fun recreational activities you can do in the gym
Elementary School: Indoor Games and Recreation Activities Recommended for Middle Grades (31–40)
Alarm bomb + Japanese/Western/Chinese (cuisines)
Clapping along to the beat, you say either Japanese, Western, or Chinese.
The next person then has to name a dish: Japanese cuisine if it was Japanese, Western cuisine if it was Western, or Chinese cuisine if it was Chinese, and then give the prompt to the next person, and so on.
Meanwhile, there’s an alarm bomb in hand.
You hold a smartphone with an alarm set, and after answering, you pass it to the next person.
The person for whom the alarm goes off while they are answering loses.
Balance game
Let’s try a “balance game” using a balance disc.
A balance disc is a rubber disc about 30 centimeters in diameter, and when you stand on it, it’s unstable and wobbly.
It’s used as a tool to train your core by mastering that instability.
Try striking various poses on the balance disc.
If you fall off the balance disc or touch the floor with your foot, you’re out.
Drawing Telephone Game
Speaking of the telephone game, it’s that fun game where you whisper a preset phrase to the next person in line, and if it reaches the last person correctly, it’s a success—but usually it changes into different words along the way, which is the fun part! This drawing telephone game is a version where you pass things along with drawings instead of whispers.
The first person draws a picture based on the given prompt.
Then the second person looks at the first person’s drawing and draws their own version of it… and so on! Drawing is often harder to convey than whispering, so the original prompt might drift further and further away.
At the end, everyone says what they thought they were drawing, which makes it even more exciting!
Newspaper Rock-Paper-Scissors
This is “newspaper rock-paper-scissors,” where you use a sheet of newspaper as your territory.
Each player lays down one sheet of newspaper and stands on it.
Then you play rock-paper-scissors.
The loser folds their newspaper in half.
As you keep losing, you keep folding it in half again and again, so your territory gets narrower and narrower.
You can keep playing as long as you can still stand on it, but once you can’t stand on it anymore, you’re out.
Bamboo shoot, bamboo shoot, nyokki-ki!
Start with the chant: Take-no-ko, Take-no-ko, Nyokkikki! Everyone stands by in a circle, and then pops up like a sprouting bamboo shoot, calling out “1-nyokki,” “2-nyokki,” and so on.
If two people speak at the same time, they’re out! The rules are simple, but timing your voice while reading the room can be pretty nerve-racking.
The more players there are, the harder the game gets, so why not try it when you have a big group? You might need plenty of penalties ready!
[Elementary School] Indoor Games and Recreation Activities Recommended for Upper Elementary Grades (41–50)
Forehead Biscuit
The game where you place a biscuit on your forehead and try to get it into your mouth without using your hands is called “Forehead Biscuit.” You tilt your head back, place the biscuit on your forehead, and then move your eyebrows, eyes, and mouth to guide the biscuit toward your mouth.
If you tilt your head forward, it will slide down, but there’s a risk it will fall to the floor.
If it drops to the floor, you have to start over from the forehead.
Epicenter Game
Everyone sits in a circle and does the same movements, but in fact there’s a leader among them, and everyone is copying that person.
The goal of this “Epicenter Game” is to guess who that leader—the “epicenter”—is.
The person chosen as ‘it’ steps into the circle and has to identify the epicenter.
The key is to spot the moment when the movement changes, but the more people there are, the higher the difficulty.