[For Seniors] Handmade Game Ideas You Can Enjoy

A puzzle game where you put caps into the empty spaces of an empty box.

[Solo Recreation Without Crowding] Supervised by a Recreation Care Worker! Easy Indoor DIY Activity Video for Seniors: “A Puzzle Game Where You Fill the Empty Spots of a Cardboard Box with Plastic Bottle Caps☆”

Fill the gaps! Here’s an idea for a puzzle game where you place caps into an empty box.

Some of you might be collecting plastic bottle caps but aren’t sure how to use them.

This time, let’s make a puzzle using plastic bottle caps and an empty box.

What you need: an empty box (from sweets or sundries) and plastic bottle caps.

How to play: the simple rule is to put the plastic bottle caps into the empty box so that there are no gaps left.

PET bottle cap grab game

Indoor Recreation for Seniors: A 'Bottle Cap Grab Game' Using Clothespins and Paper Cups

Here’s a game that uses plastic bottle caps to train fingertip skills.

Pick up the caps and drop them into paper cups.

However, you’ll use clothespins to grab the caps.

Handling clothespins requires a certain amount of strength.

Simply using them can also improve fine motor skills by encouraging dexterous finger movements.

Let’s use our fingertips not only for a brain-training effect but also to build finger and hand strength.

Turning it into a game may allow older adults to train while having fun.

Please give it a try!

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Nakajima Junko

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Let’s pay the money.

@user8492253312849

Independent Project Work Log 70. Let's Pay MoneyTranslationHandmade teaching materialsSpecial Needs Education#AutismNeurodevelopmental disorder#After-school Day ServicesTokachi# developmental support (ryōiku)

♬ A heartwarming cute song for everyday scenes(840142) – Sumochi

When you go shopping, you pay money and think about the prices of items, right? Let’s turn those actions—using your hands to take out and put away money, and calculating item prices—into a training activity.

Place the appropriate amount of money on cards that show products and their prices.

Checkout-style practice is effective for finger dexterity and brain training.

It’s also useful for older adults who want to try going shopping in real life.

Many seniors say they want to go shopping, but if someone hasn’t shopped for several years, it can be hard to do it smoothly right away.

Why not gradually get used to shopping and paying by practicing handling money?

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Nakajima Junko

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Pegboard made from an empty egg carton

@funotactivities

DIY Fine motor pegboard using egg carton with crayons! #occupationaltherapy#schoolot#activitiesforkids#crayola#rainbow#ot#kidscraft#fun#diy

♬ Dynamite – BTS

A pegboard is a wooden board with holes into which you insert pegs—wooden pins that vary in color, shape, and size.

Because it involves grasping the pegs and inserting or removing them from holes, it’s used for upper-limb training.

Commercial versions can range from around a thousand yen to several tens of thousands of yen.

Here’s a more affordable, homemade alternative: a pegboard made from an empty egg carton.

Paint the rounded egg-holder sections of a paper egg carton and make holes in them.

Use crayons as the pegs.

Insert each crayon into the hole with the matching color on the egg carton.

You’ll have an inexpensive and easy-to-make rehabilitation tool ready to use.

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Nakajima Junko

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Mix-and-match flag

@hirose_ds

TranslationElderlyRecreationRecriMix togetherFlag#Cognitive functiondeclinePrevention

♬ HandClap – Fitz & the Tantrums

The Mix-and-Match Flags activity also deepens knowledge about colors.

The method is very simple.

First, give participants origami paper in various colors.

Next, present a target color.

If the target is “pink,” for example, one person would hold up red origami and another would hold up white.

The idea is that participants cooperate to create the target color.

If you first explain which color combinations produce which colors, it can also help train memory.

Have everyone work together and enjoy the excitement.

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yamamoto

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Choose the middle letter and make a three-letter word.

@husanasomana

Let's have fun making handmade cards!#Indoor PlayChildcareProductionwork

♬ Original song – husanasomana – Sakafure (formerly Asomana-kan)

This is an idea for making three-letter words by choosing the middle letter.

The concept is to correctly match quiz cards with answer cards.

For example, if the quiz card says “な○ま,” you would look for “か” among the answer cards.

Depending on the quiz, there might be multiple correct answers.

Once you get used to it, you can also increase or decrease the number of letters.

The more letters there are, the more complex the quiz becomes.

First, try finding three-letter words that could work as quiz prompts.

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yamamoto

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A game where you make long words using the Japanese syllabary (gojūon)

[Fun Recreation] Brain Training with Japanese Syllabary Cards! Directly from Kenichi Yamaguchi!

Simple yet fun! Here’s a game where you make words using the Japanese syllabary (gojūon).

The rules are easy: Prepare cards with hiragana for all the gojūon and lay them out in order.

Participants create words using the gojūon; they get to keep the cards for the characters used in their word.

Repeat this, and when no more words can be made with the remaining characters, the game ends.

The player with the most cards at the end wins.

It’s perfect brain training because you have to come up with words using limited letters! You can also play in teams and brainstorm words together for extra excitement.

Give it a try!