[Childcare / Physical Play] Fun Activities to Get Moving
Physical activity play is essential in early childhood education, isn’t it?
Here, we introduce ideas for outdoor play and activities you can do indoors.
Use these examples to incorporate a variety of movement games and help children grow strong in both mind and body.
Many of the activities don’t require special equipment, so you can feel at ease even without preparation.
When adults join in the fun, everyone can enjoy a great time together.
Create joyful moments filled with laughter.
Let both children and adults move their bodies a lot and play with energy!
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[Childcare & Physical Play] Fun Body-Moving Activities (1–10)
Banana Tag
An arranged version of tag where anyone touched by “it” freezes.
Help your friends who’ve turned into bananas! When someone is tagged, they raise both hands and press their palms together above their head, then freeze in a banana pose.
A person who’s become a banana must wait for friends to peel them.
When two friends each loosen one of the raised hands—peeling from left and right—the banana is freed and can move again! Try fun variations like saying “banana” when you tag someone or chasing while hopping on one foot.
Sinking Game
The “Sinking Game” is a slightly thrilling activity.
First, pretend the room is the sea, set up some islands, and have an adult play the role of a shark.
At the signal “It’s sinking!”, the children run away from the shark.
Divide the game into timed rounds, and if the children manage to escape to another island without being caught by the shark before time is up, they win.
If they can’t get away, they get eaten by the shark.
Since the kids run around freely, you’ll need a space with a reasonable amount of room, but it’s a great way to get lots of physical activity even indoors!
Daikon Game
This is the “Daikon Game,” where children pretend to be daikon radishes and are pulled out of the “field” like real radishes.
The children lie face down in a circle on the floor and hold hands tightly.
The adult “pulls out the radishes” by tugging on the children’s legs while saying they’re pulling.
If a child lets go of hands, it means they’ve been pulled out and they lose.
To avoid being pulled out, they should hold hands firmly and hang on tight.
A great point of this game is that it’s fun regardless of how many children are playing.
[Childcare/Physical Play] Fun Body-Moving Activities (11–20)
Animal Role-Playing Game
This is an “Animal Pretend Game” recommended for children around 4 years and older.
By pretending to be animals, kids learn how to move and control their bodies.
First, prepare a large space with cones, benches, or foam blocks, then have the children move their bodies by acting like animals with distinctive movements, such as gorillas, bears, flamingos, frogs, rabbits, or snakes.
Let’s make it fun exercise by moving to music and practicing balance with friends.
It could also be fun to ask the children which animals they’d like to be!
Handkerchief-snatching game
The classic indoor game you can play even on rainy days, the “Handkerchief Grab,” has lots of fun variations depending on the rules.
In this version, players sit on chairs facing each other with their knees touching, place a handkerchief in the middle, and grab it when the whistle blows.
It works well with a larger group, or you can do head-to-head matches and make it a tournament.
There’s also a high-level version where someone keeps chatting to distract players, then blows the whistle when their attention slips.
It’s a recommended game that everyone can enjoy while training reflexes and coordination!
Bingo Relay
Let me introduce a game called “Bingo Relay,” which gets kids using both their heads and bodies.
You’ll need bingo squares—prepare nine items you can use to mark off spaces, like mini hoops.
If you’re outside, you can draw circles on the ground instead.
Arrange them in a 3×3 grid.
Divide the children into two teams, and have only the first three players on each team hold their team markers.
At the signal, the first player from each team runs to the bingo grid and places their marker inside a ring.
When they’re done, they run back, tag the next player, and switch.
The team that first completes a line—vertical, horizontal, or diagonal—wins.
Starting from the third move onward, players should move one of their own team’s already placed pieces instead of adding a new one.
It’s a fun game that requires quick thinking!
Cat and Mouse
A heart-pounding Cat and Mouse game that moves along to the teacher’s calls! The cat team and the mouse team line up on opposite sides, and every time the teacher in the middle says “Ne, ne,” both teams step closer.
On the cue “nezumi” (mouse), the mouse team chases the cat team; on “neko” (cat), the cat team chases the mouse team.
Anyone tagged joins the opposing team, and the side with the most players at the end wins! Throwing in feints like “nezuko!” really amps up the excitement!