[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)
Picture-matching box
It’s a box you can manipulate to enjoy how the images on each face change.
First, use thick paper to make four cubes, line them up, and tape them together, adding a mechanism that lets the faces flip inside out.
If you attach photos or drawings divided into four parts onto each face, the box is complete.
Since the range of motion is limited, you don’t have to think too hard about how to move it—you can simply enjoy the straightforward transformation of the images.
By giving the artwork a theme, such as seasonal changes, you can also enjoy a sense of unity in the piece.
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.
[For Seniors] Handmade Game Ideas You Can Enjoy (121–130)
PET-bottle bingo for dementia rehabilitation
This is a game where you insert plastic bottle caps into a dedicated stand, aiming to create a row of caps of the same color.
The stand consists of a board with rods attached, and the caps are pre-punched with holes so they can be slid onto the rods.
Players take turns inserting caps of two colors, alternating by color.
While focusing on building your own row and preventing your opponent from completing theirs, the game feels like a three-dimensional version of Five in a Row.
Although it develops thinking and decision-making skills through strategy against your opponent, you can also strengthen finger dexterity by designing the cap holes and practicing sliding the caps onto the rods.
Eel Fishing Game
All you need are newspaper and tape! Roll the newspaper into thin tubes to make a fishing rod for catching eels.
Tear the remaining newspaper by hand into long, thin strips to create the eels, and you’re ready to play.
Then simply scoop up the eel-like newspaper strips with the rod and drop them into a basket.
The long strips on the floor slip away just like real eels.
By “rolling” and “tearing,” you use your fingertips, and by scooping the eels, you engage your body and mind—making it a fun activity that thoroughly stimulates the brain!
Okiagari Koboishi Race
Let’s poke the head of the okiagari-koboshi and aim for the goal! To make a handcrafted okiagari-koboshi, use a paper cup, half of a capsule from a capsule toy, modeling clay, and a marble.
Line the inside of the capsule with the marble and modeling clay, then cover it with the paper cup.
Have everyone draw faces and patterns on the cup.
After that, poke the head with a stick to keep it righting itself as you move it forward.
Combining the traditional okiagari-koboshi from the Aizu region of Fukushima with a race is such a fresh and original idea, isn’t it?
Recommended for recreation! Tong catch
It’s a game where you skillfully use tongs to move ping-pong balls from a box in front of you to a basket at hand.
If you play it as a head-to-head match facing your opponent, it encourages not only precise tong control but also speed.
It might also be good to vary the shape and size of the tongs, creating a pattern where players think about how much force to apply as they move.
Because the task of moving the balls is so simple, it’s easy to tweak the tools you use.
Try coming up with variations that focus on the body parts you want to train and the way you apply force.
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.