New Year’s Games: Traditional Play and Fun Activities That Excite Everyone from Kids to Adults
New Year’s is a special time when family and relatives gather.
But are you wondering, “What should we all do together?” In this article, we’ll introduce plenty of ideas to liven up the New Year, from nostalgic traditional games to easy, DIY activities you can make and play with everyday materials.
There’s a wide variety—games everyone can enjoy across generations and active ones that use a large space! There are also many activities you can enjoy while spending time with grandparents.
How about creating special New Year memories together as a family?
New Year’s Games: Traditional Pastimes and Party Games That Excite Everyone from Kids to Adults (1–10)
daruma stacking
https://www.instagram.com/p/DEwdhr4BC32/It’s a game where everyone can work together and get excited.
It’s a simple challenge of stacking as many daruma as possible as high as you can, but it’s surprisingly deep! The key is how gently you place each piece on top—there’s a thrilling tension as you carefully move your hands, thinking, “Easy… easy…” The higher you stack, the more unstable it becomes, so both kids and adults naturally get serious.
Sometimes it can collapse with just a light touch, but even when it topples, it’s heartwarming to see everyone smiling and saying, “One more time!” It’s a game that combines the fun of aiming for success together with the irresistible urge to try again and again even after failing—perfect for New Year’s family gatherings.
TOSSIT
A game everyone can excitedly enjoy together over New Year’s, captivating kids and adults alike! It’s as simple as tossing soft dart-like pieces at a target, yet the difficulty changes with distance and angle, so people of all ages can compete on an equal footing.
You can tweak the rules however you like—turn it into a score battle or amp it up with team matches—which is part of the fun! Kids build confidence with every success, and adults can’t help but get serious.
It’s a highly recommended game that brings endless laughter and cheers when family and relatives gather for the New Year.
kite flying
Speaking of New Year’s, kite flying comes to mind.
One of Hokusai Katsushika’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, “A Sketch of the Mitsui Shops at Suruga-chō in Edo,” also depicts people flying kites.
When I was a child, a cool kite called the Gayla kite—with a big eye design—was all the rage, and over New Year’s everyone would compete to see whose kite could fly the highest.
It can be hard to find a place to fly kites in the city, but you still get the itch to do it at New Year’s, don’t you? Many workshops on making handmade kites are held at the end of the year.
Fukuwarai (a traditional Japanese “lucky laugh” face-making game)
For New Year’s, you want to liven things up with traditional New Year’s games, right? One great recommendation is fukuwarai.
Some younger people might be thinking, “What’s fukuwarai?” It’s a game where you’re blindfolded and place parts like the eyes, nose, mouth, and eyebrows onto a face of Okame or Otafuku.
The funnier the face turns out, the more exciting it gets.
It also sounds fun to enlarge photocopies of family photos and make a fukuwarai using your family’s faces! In this age where digital devices are everywhere, something as simple as fukuwarai can feel fresh and really entertaining!
Spinning a top
Aren’t grandpas really good at spinning tops? It might even be a grandpa cliché that they all say, “I used to be a top master back in the day!!” There are many kinds of tops, too—ones you spin by winding a string, ones you throw to spin, and more.
There are fun ways to play, like endurance matches where the longest spin wins, and battle tops where you crash them together to knock out your opponent’s top.
It’s packed with fun! If you’ve never tried it, I definitely recommend giving it a go!
Kendama
Kendama isn’t just a New Year’s pastime; it’s a toy people enjoy in everyday life.
Since there are established rules for competition, it’s actually a deep and nuanced game.
A cross-shaped ken and a holed ball (tama) are connected by a string, and the fun lies in how you land the ball on the ken.
Two key points are the gentle upward lift of the ball and the soft catch with the ken; precise, smooth vertical movement using your whole body is essential.
For ease of handling and stability, starting by landing the ball on the large side cup is the standard approach.
There are also tricks that use not only the four directions but other parts of the kendama as well, so why not look them up and give them a try?
beanbags
Beanbags that evoke the image of “Japanese juggling.” Curiously, grandmothers are all good at beanbag play and can jauntily sing the beanbag songs.
Since many people go back to their hometowns for New Year’s, how about playing beanbags with your grandparents? While you’re at it, try making your own using Job’s tears seeds or adzuki beans.
It’s even more fun if you sing beanbag songs like “Ichiban hajime wa Ichinomiya,” “Hitokake futakake,” or “Antagata dokosa” while you play!