Play ideas kids can enjoy from 1st to 6th grade [indoors & outdoors]
Looking for games everyone from first to sixth grade can enjoy together? In response to those requests, here are activities that bring excitement across grade levels.
From escape-room style games where teammates work together to solve puzzles, to chase games where everyone holds hands to flee from the tagger—there are plenty of options you can enjoy in the classroom or the gym! Build teamwork and share lots of smiles.
From active, movement-based games to brain teasers, you’ll find a wide variety of activities that support children’s growth.
- [Play Right Away!] Exciting Recreation Games Recommended for Elementary School Students
- Indoor and outdoor activities that avoid crowding. Enjoyable for students from first to sixth grade.
- [Children’s Club] Easy and fun indoor games. Exciting party games
- Recommended for upper elementary grades! Exciting indoor recreation and games
- No worries even in the rain! Fun recreational activities you can do in the gym
- [Elementary School] Quick and Easy! Indoor Recreational Activities Perfect for Lower Grades
- Elementary School Fun Day a Big Hit! Indoor Game Idea Collection
- [Elementary School Rec] Recommended Games and Performances for a Fun Party
- [For Kids] Indoor Fun! Large-Group Recreational Activities and Games
- Liven up your children’s club event! A collection of ideas everyone can enjoy
- Recreation Activities That Excite Kids’ Clubs! Plans and Ideas Children Will Love
- [For Kids] Exciting Class-vs-Class Games: Team Competition Activities
- Recommended outdoor games and recreational activities for lower elementary school children
Classic nostalgic games (1–10)
Instruction Jump Game
There are times when it’s hard to get closer to friends who are a lot older or younger than you.
In those moments, trying the Command Jump Game together can really help bring you closer.
In the Command Jump Game, several people form a circle around a facilitator and hold hands.
Then, they jump forward, backward, left, or right according to the facilitator’s instructions.
Since everyone has to move at the same time, it’s a great way to build a sense of unity.
It could also be fun to include commands other than jumping, like saying something.
beast hunting
A fun indoor adventure game: Monster Hunt.
Start by singing the Monster Hunt song together, following the leader’s singing.
The lyrics say you’ve brought lots of weapons needed for the hunt, so try adding gestures that match the words as you sing.
At the end of the song, the leader calls out the name of a beast they’ve found.
Everyone then forms groups and sits in numbers that match the number of characters in that beast’s name.
例えば、獣が日本語で4文字の「ライオン」(lion)なら、4文字ずつのグループを作ります。
You can make it more challenging by choosing beasts with longer names over time.
See how many beasts you can find!
10-second stopwatch challenge
A very simple yet difficult game: the “10-Second Stopwatch Challenge.” You hold a stopwatch, start on the signal, and stop it at the moment you think exactly 10 seconds have passed.
You compete to see how big the error is and who gets closest to 10 seconds.
It sounds easy, but even if you count to ten in your head, it rarely lands perfectly—some people end up at around 12 to 5 seconds.
It’s only 2 to 3 seconds, which you wouldn’t normally think much of, but in this moment everyone gets surprisingly serious.
Pose Matching Game
The “pose matching game” is where you strike a pose that fits the prompt and keep going until everyone’s poses match.
It sounds easy, but it’s actually quite tricky.
For example, if the prompt is “baseball,” what pose would you take? In baseball there are many positions—batter, pitcher, catcher—and the poses are completely different for each.
It’s a game that people of all ages can enjoy, so you can play without worrying about age differences.
If you’re playing with small children, make the prompts easy to understand—try sports or animals.
Rock-Paper-Scissors Train
Many people probably played this recreational game in early childhood—here’s an introduction to “Rock-Paper-Scissors Train.” It’s a group game where the person who loses at rock-paper-scissors moves behind the winner, placing their hands on the winner’s shoulders so the “train” links together.
The person at the front does the rock-paper-scissors, so the one who keeps winning earns the honorable reward of leading the final, long train.
Drop the Handkerchief
Speaking of “Drop the Handkerchief,” this is another classic children’s game.
The kids sit facing inward in a circle, and the tagger walks around the outside and drops a handkerchief behind someone.
If the tagger completes a full lap and taps the back of the person behind whom the handkerchief was dropped, that person becomes the next tagger.
The key is how skillfully you can drop the handkerchief without being noticed!
Trivia Quiz
How about trying a trivia quiz? With a true-or-false format, you can have the people who choose true go over here and those who choose false go over there, so even a large group can enjoy it.
Using age-appropriate questions and making it a knockout tournament would likely be exciting too.