[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?
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- 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
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Brain-training effects with brain teasers and quizzes (1–10)
Hiragana Rearrangement Quiz
It’s a word rearrangement game where you create words from randomly ordered letters.
At first glance, doesn’t it feel like your brain goes into a brief panic? The more you rush, the harder it feels, so take your time and look at the letters calmly.
Three to four letters might be just right.
Once you get used to it, try increasing the number of letters—the difficulty goes up, making it even more fun.
small change calculation
Let me introduce a brain-training exercise that uses counting coins: the Coin Calculation game.
Coins will appear on the screen—memorize them within the time limit and calculate the total amount.
The double task of taking a quick look, memorizing, and then calculating greatly activates your brain.
Calculating and paying money are essential activities for living in society.
In fact, it has been reported that in the early stages of dementia, counting coins becomes difficult, leading people to rely more on bills.
If you’ve had fewer chances to shop in your daily life, please give this a try.
Bomb Game
It’s a game where players take turns answering with words that fit the given theme, while passing a ball that contains a timer to the next person.
It tests both your creativity to quickly come up with words from the theme and your reflexes to swiftly pass the ball.
Although the time limit is announced, the timer is inside the ball and can’t be seen, so you don’t know exactly when it will go off, which adds a sense of tension to the game.
The act of retrieving words from memory while moving your body also helps stimulate the brain.
Quick brain training, “Ready, set!” game
Here’s a simple brain-training game you can do while seated, with no prior preparation.
Pair up in twos.
When one person calls out a number—like “Ready, five!”—both of you raise your hands or feet.
If the total number of raised hands and feet matches the number that was called, you’re correct.
You can make it more game-like by intentionally raising more hands or feet to throw off your partner’s guess, and enjoy training your brain as you play.
It also helps to create a cheerful atmosphere where mistakes lead to laughter.
Since raising hands and feet doubles as light exercise, try it together with older adults.
Matching game
This is a game where you look at the pictures drawn on the bottoms of arranged paper cups and find and match the ones with the same picture.
By searching for matching pictures, you can train concentration, and by quickly stacking the paper cups, you can also encourage awareness of hand movements.
It’s also important to decide what kind of pictures to draw; for example, limiting them to a spring theme lets players enjoy the game visually as well.
Adding trick elements, such as pictures that look similar but are slightly different, is recommended, as it helps players focus even more on their hands.
Brain training effects with mind-challenging games and quizzes (11–20)
Whiteboard Game
Many of you are probably considering recreational activities that use a whiteboard.
Here are some unusual games you can play with one.
The first is a word-finding game: from a grid of Japanese syllables (gojūon) written on the whiteboard, players identify the missing ones.
For smooth play, the presenter should decide in advance which characters to omit.
Another recommendation is a variation where players look for missing numbers instead.
Be sure to write the letters and numbers large so they’re easy to see.
Same Letter Fill-in-the-Blank Quiz
Effective brain training! Here are ideas for a same-letter fill-in-the-blank quiz.
On the screen, words are shown in hiragana, but they have holes marked with circles.
No matter how many circles there are, complete the word by using the same hiragana for all the circles! For example, the characters “○か○ま” appear, and you’re told, “Fill the circles with the same character.” There are 20 such questions.
Each one has a 20-second time limit, but there are hints, so take your time and think it through.
You’ll feel refreshed when you find the answer!