[For Seniors] Fun Autumn Activities: Recreation Games
We’d like to introduce autumn-themed activities and recreation games for seniors.
Autumn brings pleasant weather that makes you want to go out.
It’s great if you can just decide, “Alright, let’s go!” and head out, but some people find it difficult to go out as they’d like.
So in this article, we’ll introduce enjoyable recreation games you can play indoors.
There are plenty of crafts and team-competition games that are useful in settings like day service centers, so please make good use of them.
Let’s play and feel the autumn season!
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- [For Seniors] Enjoy September’s Autumn Fun! A Collection of Craft, Game, and Exercise Ideas
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- [For Seniors] Recreational Activities Enjoyable in Large Groups
- September Health Topic: Introducing Recreational Activities That Capture the Feeling of Autumn’s Arrival
- [For Seniors] Simple crafts that feel like autumn: a fun creative activity
- [For Seniors] Fun Small-Group Recreation
- [October Health Topic] Introducing Recreational Activities for Seniors!
- [For Seniors] Liven Up Your Day Service! Fun Beanbag Toss Activity
- [For Seniors] Enjoyment at Day Care: A Roundup of Games and Recreational Activities
[For Seniors] Fun Autumn Activities: Recreation Games (131–140)
Halloween Dracula
A classic Halloween costume: Dracula! Dracula outfits are popular with everyone from kids to adults, and there are many different types sold in stores.
The must-have items for a Dracula costume are a black cape with a red lining and a white shirt.
A shirt with decoration around the collar looks even more Dracula-like.
If possible, prepare fangs as well.
You’ll need to make or buy the cape, but a shirt you already own is fine.
For a makeup touch, make your face pale to add an extra eerie effect!
4 Halloween games
How about trying some Halloween games as indoor activities that let everyone feel the autumn spirit in places like day-service centers? Here are some recommendations:
1) Ghost-Busting: Place plastic bottle caps decorated with pumpkin and ghost faces inside a marked area and compete to flick as many out as possible.
2) Spider Jump: Roll colorful origami paper into rings and attach folded pipe cleaners to make little spiders.
Draw a spiderweb on a white plate or sheet of paper, add dart-like point values, and launch the spiders to score.
3) Spinning Mummy: Wrap yarn around stuffed animals or toys found in the room and race to see who can turn theirs into a “mummy” the fastest.
4) Halloween Memory: Trace the rim and base of a paper cup to make two circles.
Draw a Halloween-themed picture on the smaller circle and stick it onto the larger one.
Make two copies of each picture, turn them face down, mix them up, and take turns flipping two at a time.
If you find a matching pair, you keep it.
Give these activities a try to bring a fun Halloween atmosphere to your recreation time!
bread-eating contest
Speaking of autumn, sports festivals are held all over Japan, aren’t they? There are all kinds of events like relays and scavenger races, and the classic bread-eating race has always been a crowd-pleaser.
With a little creativity, you can even enjoy it at home! Here, the bread is hung from a clothes-drying pole using string and clothespins.
If you don’t have a drying pole, you could pin the string to the ceiling with thumbtacks.
That sense of accomplishment when you manage to pull the bread off with your mouth—it’s such a great feeling!
Making pressed flowers with autumn wildflowers
Try making easy pressed flowers using autumn plants! First, place a sheet of kitchen paper on top of a piece of cardboard, then arrange as many flowers as you’d like to press on the paper.
Lay another sheet of kitchen paper and a piece of cardboard on top, and secure the stack with rubber bands.
Put it in a 600W microwave and heat for 1 minute.
That’s all it takes to make pressed flowers! Next, use tweezers and glue to attach them to paper.
Depending on the paper size, you can turn them into cards, bookmarks, or even calendar illustrations.
Enjoy autumn plants in lots of different ways!
fashion show
October 1 is “Change of Wardrobe Day.” How about holding a fashion show to mark the occasion? Everyone might feel excited and thrilled by slipping into outfits they don’t normally wear.
For the women, let’s have makeup artists on hand to give them a full makeover, transforming them into versions of themselves they don’t usually see.
Let’s also prepare music and venue decorations with a fashion show in mind.
It’s a great idea to capture everything on video and in photos so you can enjoy it later.
Eyeball-carrying relay
Let me introduce the Eyeball Relay—a game that’s not only fun but a little spooky.
Do you know the ping-pong ball relay? It’s very similar.
First, several players line up side by side, each holding a spoon.
The person at one end places a ping-pong ball designed to look like an eyeball onto their spoon.
They then pass it to the next person’s spoon, and the receiver passes it on to the next, and so on down the line.
It’s great for building teamwork when everyone cooperates, and it would also be exciting to split into two teams and compete.
Balloon basket
This activity has participants gently hit a balloon and try to land it in the basket in front of them.
Encourage them to pay close attention to the direction they hit the balloon and how much force they use.
In addition to aiming to get it into the basket in a single hit, it’s also recommended to add a variation where they bounce it upward a few times before aiming for the basket to develop their sense of balance.
By thinking about the direction to bounce the balloon and moving to retrieve it, they can train not only their bodies but also their reflexes and decision-making skills.
It would also be exciting to turn it into a cooperative game where everyone stands in a large circle and targets a basket placed in the center.
