A big hit at after-school childcare! A special feature on group games and activities you can play without any equipment
Many of you may be looking for games that captivate children and are indispensable for the exciting activity time in after-school care.
Group play unique to after-school programs includes plenty of activities—both outdoors and indoors—that get everyone lively and engaged, while naturally nurturing motor skills and communication.
Here, we introduce fun game ideas that spark smiles, such as group shiritori, the telephone game, and DIY archery.
These activities are enjoyable for both small and large groups, so be sure to try them out in your after-school care setting!
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A hit at after-school care! A featured collection of group play and game ideas you can do without any equipment (71–80)
indoor hockey game
Kids are guaranteed to be hooked! Here’s an indoor hockey game idea.
Hockey, which was a big hit at the Olympics, is played with sticks and a hockey ball.
This time, let’s try an indoor version you can enjoy at home.
All you need are marker cones.
Set up two red and two blue marker cones facing each other as goals, then use another color of marker cone as the “ball.” Slide it along the floor and aim for the goal—game on!
Speaking of ___?
It’s a “What comes to mind when you hear ___?” game where the more people there are, the harder it is to match answers.
If everyone gives the same answer to a prompt, it’s a big success; if even one person answers differently, you’re out.
For example, with a prompt like “What’s a typical rice ball filling?” there are lots of options—okaka (bonito flakes), kombu (kelp), umeboshi (pickled plum), tuna mayo, and so on.
You have to choose the one you think is the most common.
You can all answer out loud at the same time, or prepare paper and pens and reveal your answers to each other.
Rock-Paper-Scissors Train
Let’s play “Rock-Paper-Scissors Train,” a game where we make a long train! At first, everyone moves around freely while the music is playing.
When the music stops, you play rock-paper-scissors with the person in front of you.
If you lose, you connect by standing behind the winner.
The winner becomes (or stays) the train’s front and moves around with everyone attached behind.
Repeat this until there’s no one left without a partner.
The person who remains at the front until the very end wins.
Since the line will keep getting longer, play in as large a space as possible.
A huge hit in after-school care! A special collection of group play and game ideas you can do without any equipment (81–90)
Gesture Game
A gesture game that kids of different grades can all enjoy together.
They often see it on TV shows, so they’re familiar with it.
It’s fun to have everyone guess the gestures, but making it a team competition makes it even more exciting.
Take turns being the person who gestures and see how many prompts your team can guess within the time limit.
The team with the most correct answers wins.
If a gesture is too hard to figure out, you can pass—but decide in advance how many passes are allowed!
Poly bag race
This is a two-person game called the “Plastic Bag Carpet Race.” One person stands on a plastic bag placed on the floor, while the other crouches in front and holds both ends of the bag.
At the starting signal, the pair synchronizes their movements with the call, “Ready, go!” The person on top jumps, the person below pulls the bag forward, the jumper lands on the pulled-forward bag, and they repeat this to head for the finish line.
Stepping off the plastic bag is a disqualification.
It’s also fun to make it a team competition and race against others.
Weird relay
By adding rule variations to a relay where team members run in turn, you can enjoy it as a more complex event.
When it’s a person’s turn, they carry out specified actions while thinking them through, cooperate as a team to meet the conditions, and aim for victory—that’s the general flow.
Introducing thinking elements—such as a game inspired by bingo where teams align rows by their team color—creates more opportunities for people who aren’t confident in athletics to shine.
By combining various victory conditions, you can also build excitement through different strategic approaches.
True or False Quiz
When you have a large group with a wide range of ages, try playing a True-or-False quiz! With questions that can be answered with either true (O) or false (X), people can still join in even if they don’t know the answer—they can just guess (lol).
Split the play area into two sides: those who think the answer is O go to this side, and those who think it’s X go to that side.
If you’re wrong, you’re out; if you’re right, you move on to the next round.
Turning it into a last-person-standing style game should make it even more exciting.
You can come up with quiz questions about familiar topics, or look for them online or in videos.