[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 (31–40)
Rehabilitation Sugoroku
Let’s enjoy a game while exercising with a handmade sugoroku packed with rehab elements! On each square, write movement prompts like “10 high knee lifts” or “20 marching steps.” Make the die easy to see and throw by wrapping paper or fabric around a lightweight material like Styrofoam.
Even those who find it bothersome to do exercises on their own may be more willing to follow sugoroku instructions.
With these kinds of tweaks, even table games can be transformed into activities that combine both brain training and physical exercise!
Urashima Tarō Game
Watch out for the tamatebako! Let me introduce a Urashima Taro card game.
First, prepare 18 Urashima Taro cards, 9 Princess Otohime cards, 9 Tamatebako (mystery box) cards, and 18 Turtle cards.
Stack them all face down.
Take turns flipping one card at a time.
If you reveal Urashima Taro and a Turtle, you get 1 point.
If you reveal a Tamatebako, you get 0 points and all the cards you’re holding are confiscated.
If you reveal Princess Otohime, you get 1 point, plus you reclaim any confiscated cards and may draw 2 additional cards.
The player with the most points from the cards they’re holding at the end wins.
Since which card appears is entirely up to luck, even people who aren’t confident at card games can enjoy it casually.
Give it a try!
A game where you flip over plastic bottle caps placed in an egg carton
Place a plastic bottle cap inside an egg carton and flip it using just one chopstick.
If you’re skillful, it can look like you’re cooking takoyaki.
The key is where you insert the chopstick and how you move it.
By rubbing the chopstick against the cap, the pressure makes the cap spin around.
Because you’re using a tool and making fine, precise movements, the stimulation from your hand reaches your brain, so it can also serve as brain training.
If you time it, it becomes competitive, making it enjoyable both individually and in small groups.
Olympic Games with a cap puzzle
It’s a puzzle game where you combine letters written on plastic bottle caps to complete words that match a given theme.
Write several theme-related words on paper, cut out each character, and attach one character to each bottle cap to create the pieces.
Even with a set theme, the more letters there are, the harder it becomes to arrange them correctly.
As a hint, it’s a good idea to use different cap colors so players can roughly sort them.
Mixing in katakana along with hiragana can also serve as helpful clues.
Milk Carton Craft: Rock-Paper-Scissors Bingo
In this game, whoever wins rock-paper-scissors places their own marker—made from a milk carton—on a grid, and the first to complete three lines wins.
Because placement depends on the outcome of rock-paper-scissors, you get a different kind of mind game than the usual take-turns format.
Not only is placement strategy important, but figuring out how to win at rock-paper-scissors also becomes a key factor.
If there’s a big skill gap in rock-paper-scissors, it’s a good idea to add handicaps, such as changing the number of lines needed to win.
[For Seniors] Handmade Game Ideas You Can Enjoy (41–50)
A game where you make long words using the Japanese syllabary (gojūon)
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!
Kanji Combination Puzzle
Let’s make it with origami! Here’s an idea for a kanji combination puzzle.
Cut origami paper into long, thin strips to create kanji—a unique and fun approach.
All you need are origami paper, scissors, and kanji cards.
Try forming the specified kanji using only the origami parts! It’s best to start with characters that have fewer strokes.
Once you get used to it, you can increase the stroke count or set a time limit to make it even more exciting! The key is to prepare origami parts in different sizes.