[For Seniors] Enjoyable Indoor Activities! Recreations and Games That Engage the Mind and Body
Have fun moving your body together while giving your brain a workout, too! If you’re looking for games that train balance, indoor recreation is highly recommended.
We’ll introduce ideas you can fully enjoy even while seated, such as the Chopstick Pick-Up Game, the Balance UFO Game, and Ping-Pong Ball Transfer.
In particular, the actions of carefully pulling out chopsticks and placing items on a disc naturally build concentration and a sense of balance.
These ideas are perfect for seniors to enjoy together, so why not give them a try?
- [For Seniors] Simple Recreational Activities You Can Enjoy While Seated
- [For Seniors] Simple Tabletop Games: Fun and Engaging Recreational Activities
- [For Seniors] Recreational activities and games that let you have fun while strengthening your legs
- [For Seniors] Easy and fun seated activities you can do in your room
- [For Seniors] Fun Recreational Activities Without Equipment
- [For Seniors] Exciting Team-Based Recreational Activities
- [For Seniors] Enjoy the Cold Winter! Seated Activities You Can Do
- [For Seniors] Recommended Rhythm Play and Exercises
- [For Seniors] Enjoy safely even during the COVID-19 pandemic: Seated activities
- Hand games that liven things up for seniors—also great brain training
- [November Health Topic] Indoor Recreation Ideas for Older Adults
- [For Seniors] Recreational Activities Enjoyable in Large Groups
- [For Seniors] Fun Small-Group Recreation
Brain training effects with mind-challenging games and quizzes (11–20)
Proverb Quiz
A proverb that every Japanese person has probably heard.
This time, we’re introducing a “proverb quiz” where you think of the sentence that fits inside the parentheses to complete the proverb.
You might be thinking, “It’s just filling in one sentence, right?” but once you try it, you’ll be surprised at how tricky it can be.
You may even come across proverbs you’ve never seen before.
If you can, try not only filling in the sentence but also thinking about its meaning.
The characters and their content are called semantic memory, an important kind of memory that makes up our knowledge.
We recommend using it regularly while enjoying a bit of brain training.
What’s inside the box? Fruit.
Because fruit is sometimes sold as cut pieces and people tend to focus on flavor, we may not pay much attention to appearance or how it feels to the touch.
But can we tell what fruit it is just from the sensation of touching it? Since the texture varies greatly by type of fruit, the choice of which ones to use will likely affect both the accuracy rate and the reactions.
Most fruits basically feel smooth, so to introduce contrast, adding something like pineapple is recommended.
Brain Training for Everyone (After-the-Fact Rock-Paper-Scissors)
Atsu-janken (after-the-fact rock-paper-scissors) is such a fun game that also helps activate the brain, because you predict the opponent’s move and respond quickly.
This version of the after-the-fact janken game comes in several variations: a win type, a lose type, and a two‑hand type.
Try joining the game while thinking about what to throw to win or to lose.
It also sounds like it would be exciting to split into teams to play, or to create a large panel theater and turn it into a game.
Since it helps maintain reflexes as well, please enjoy taking part!
Color Card Matching Game
This is a game where you collect the specified colors from among cards painted on cardboard or construction paper and stack them in front of you.
The key point is that only the backs of the cards are colored, so encourage players to focus on the finger movements used to check colors and on remembering the placement of the cards.
The more color types and cards there are, the higher the difficulty, so once everyone gets used to it, gradually increasing the number should make it even more exciting.
It sounds fun not only with rules where individuals compete on speed, but also with cooperative rules where two people facing each other complete two sets together.
Word association game
It’s believed that even just thinking—without knowing the correct answer—can be effective for activating the brain and doing brain training.
So why not try an association game that’s perfect for that kind of training? Starting from a single prompt, you let your mind explore and chain together different ideas—this kind of play cultivates creativity and flashes of insight.
And the great thing about association games is that there can be many answers, with lots of room to branch out.
From there, you can enjoy small talk and even spark new conversations.
Having a whiteboard makes it even more fun.
Have fun with balloons to get rid of lack of exercise (1–10)
Balloon Passing Game
This is a game that tests arm movements and handoff communication: you grasp a balloon with both hands and, with a large arm motion, pass it to the person behind you.
Since you’ll be seated and swinging your arms far back, keep your balance and maintain control as you proceed.
It’s also recommended to sing a nursery rhyme or similar song while playing; having a rhythm helps you pass the balloon smoothly and makes the handoff feel more seamless.
Encourage participants to focus on passing it to the next person, aim for careful, deliberate movements, and make sure to communicate clearly.
Balloon Fight
Raising and lowering your arms isn’t something we do very often in daily life, but it’s essential for activities like getting dressed and cleaning.
This time, we’re introducing Balloon Fight, a game that lets you train your arms while having fun.
Hang a net from the ceiling and line up balloons of various sizes.
Form teams of three, and within a 30-second time limit, compete to see how many balloons you can knock down using fans.
You can make the game more engaging by changing the points based on the size of the balloons that are knocked down.
Give it a try!