[For Seniors] Handmade Game Ideas You Can Enjoy
Games and recreational activities are essential in senior facilities like day-care centers.
In this article, we introduce handmade games you can enjoy.
Some are made using recycled materials like milk cartons and newspapers, while others use items you can get at 100-yen shops, such as paper cups and disposable chopsticks.
All of them involve thinking, competing, and playing, so they serve as brain training—and best of all, they foster communication.
In team competitions, everyone might get fired up, focus on the game, and end up in a frenzy!
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[For Seniors] DIY Game Ideas You Can Enjoy (111–120)
Let’s Make Shapes! An Origami and Cardboard Puzzle
This is a puzzle game where you combine colorful cardboard pieces to form a square.
First, stick origami paper onto a square piece of cardboard and draw straight-line patterns on it.
Cut along those lines to create pieces, and if you make pieces with the same pattern in other colors, the puzzle is complete.
Since many pieces look similar, it’s recommended to provide only the number of pieces needed to complete a square and let players take on the challenge.
Besides aiming for a square, it might also be fun to experiment with the pieces to see what other shapes you can create.
Bridge Dropping Game
Throw beanbags or balls to collapse the towel bridge! Connect two chairs with a towel and place weights like plastic bottles on both ends.
At the start signal, aim for the center of the towel and throw beanbags to push the towel down; the first person to drop a weight wins! You can play seated, but since you’ll be throwing repeatedly, it should still be quite a workout.
Adjust the distance to the towel and how much slack it has to suit older participants.
[For Seniors] Handmade Game Ideas You Can Enjoy (121–130)
Word Search Game
A word-hunting game using kana cards is perfect for brain training! Make several sets of cards for the 50 sounds, scatter them on a table, and arrange cards to match prompts like “a three-letter word that starts with ‘a’.” You can also make it a team competition, such as having the team that assembles the word fastest win.
You might think there are endless words, but once it’s a game, it’s surprisingly hard to come up with them.
By both recalling words and using your fingertips to grab the cards, you can expect to stimulate your brain!
Baseball card game
This is a card game where, just like real baseball, players alternate between offense and defense to try to score points.
For defense, you prepare ball cards that show different pitch types, and for offense, you prepare bat cards that show pitch types.
At a signal, both players reveal their cards while trying to predict the opponent’s choice.
If the pitch type on the cards matches, the offensive player scores points, so the key is the mind game of anticipating your opponent’s card.
It’s a game that gives your brain a workout through prediction while also naturally sparking conversations about baseball.
A bingo game that uses both the head and the body to have fun
This is a game where you toss beanbags into targets arranged in a grid, aiming to line up a row.
By adjusting the number and size of the squares and the distance to the targets, you can tailor the rules to the participants and make it exciting.
The key is how you throw the beanbags so they reach the targets; it helps build concentration for gauging distances to far objects and for adjusting throwing strength.
Assess your own abilities carefully and decide which targets you’re more likely to reach.
Hishimochi Tower Game
Here’s a perfect game for Hinamatsuri (Girls’ Day): the Hishi Mochi Tower Game.
It’s an easy, sit-at-the-table activity, so it’s recommended for seniors.
Cut thick paper in “pink,” “white,” and “green” into strips and form rectangles.
You can also repurpose empty milk cartons.
Once they’re ready, stack them like a tower, alternating colors.
If your hishi-mochi tower falls, you lose.
By the way, the colors of hishi mochi are said to symbolize: pink for peach blossoms, white for snow, and green for fresh greenery.
It might be nice to stack them in that order, too.
Since preparation is simple, give it a try for Hinamatsuri!
Cup-in game
A simple game you can play with just paper cups and ping-pong balls: the Cup-In Game.
Line up paper cups on a table and secure them with tape.
Then toss ping-pong balls into the cups—it’s a very simple game, but that’s exactly why it gets exciting! You can compete to see how many you can get in within a set time, or make it a team match and tally the totals.
Clear cups make it obvious and easy to see, which I think makes it more fun.
You can throw any way you like, so try experimenting to find the most effective technique!
