[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] Handmade Game Ideas You Can Enjoy (121–130)
Newspaper Stick Holder
The newspaper-stick drop is a fun game.
You make sticks out of newspaper and simply put them into a milk carton.
It sounds easy but can be surprisingly tricky—and that’s what makes it interesting.
Because it uses hand movements, it’s great for rehabilitation, too.
People with hemiparesis can also take it on at their own pace.
If everyone plays together in a friendly atmosphere, smiles are guaranteed.
The sense of accomplishment when you get one in just right is exceptional.
It also trains the brain and encourages communication—a win-win game.
Give it a try with everyone and have fun!
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.
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.
[For Seniors] DIY Game Ideas You Can Enjoy (131–140)
Möbius tie
We want seniors to enjoy doing rehabilitation, right? So here’s a fun finger-movement training using chenille stems (pipe cleaners).
Thread the pipe cleaners through a pegboard with evenly spaced holes in advance.
Then have the seniors twist the pipe cleaners using their fingertips.
Twist each pair of pipe cleaners five times.
People tend to feel the effort level when twisting between 5 and 20 pairs.
It’s effective for training finger dexterity and wrist movement.
Pipe cleaners and pegboards are sold at 100-yen shops’ craft sections, so preparation should be easy.
Please use this as a reference and give it a try!
Recipe card
This is a card game where you pick two words from the lined-up cards and combine them to complete the name of a dish.
The key is how many dish names you can recall from memory based on the letters in front of you.
It’s also recommended to shuffle in a dummy card that forms a complete dish name on its own—it can mislead players, spark ideas, or serve as a hint for a similar dish.
It should be fun not only to come up with correct dish names, but also to invent plausible-sounding ones that don’t actually exist.