[For Seniors] Handmade Game Ideas You Can Enjoy

Rolling Curling Game

Indoor Solo Recreation for Seniors: 'Rolling Curling Game' Using Toilet Paper Cores and a Fan

Curling is a sport where you slide round stones with handles, called “stones,” across the ice.

A few years ago, curling even became a boom in Japan.

Here’s an idea for a casual game that’s like real curling.

Use a paper fan to roll toilet paper tubes and compete for points.

If you paint the toilet paper tubes or decorate them with origami paper to make them colorful, you can create a game that looks great, too.

It’s easy to make, so it seems like something you could enjoy together with older adults from the crafting stage.

Since it can be played while seated at a table, many seniors are likely to be able to participate.

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Nakajima Junko

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balance bar

[Indoor Solo Recreation for Seniors] Balance Bar using toilet paper rolls and a uchiwa (Japanese fan)

Have you ever played by balancing a broom on your palm when you were a student? You probably tried to keep it from falling by maintaining its balance.

In fact, balancing something on your palm is said to be effective brain training.

It helps develop your ability to predict the movement of the object and respond appropriately by moving to maintain balance.

Here’s a safer and easier method using a toilet paper roll and a uchiwa (hand fan).

The steps are simple: stand the toilet paper roll upright on the fan and carry it to a target location without letting it fall.

It can be turned into a tabletop game, and since the rules aren’t complicated, many older adults might be willing to 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

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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

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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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Proverb Match

[Senior Recreation] Card Game: Proverb Matching!

Let me introduce a proverb matching game that stimulates your vocabulary while having fun.

First, prepare 20–30 proverbs and write the first half and second half on separate cards.

Lay the cards out randomly on a table and look for pairs that form complete proverbs by matching the first halves with the second halves.

Because it uses familiar Japanese proverbs, it encourages you to revisit your memory, rediscover culture and general knowledge, and activate cognitive functions.

The sense of achievement when you find the correct pair can also boost self-esteem! It will be even more exciting if you split into teams or pairs and work together.

Please give it a try.