![[For Seniors] Handmade Game Ideas You Can Enjoy](https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/sGrxcWYRewQ/maxresdefault.webp)
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 (1–10)
Onigiri Game
Let us introduce the “Onigiri Game,” a fun way to rehabilitate from fingers to arms.
Connect a stick and a plate with a string, placing the stick on your near side and the plate on the opposite side.
Set the rice balls (onigiri) on the plate to start.
Participants use their hands to turn the stick and wind up the string.
The plate will gradually be pulled closer, but don’t let the onigiri fall.
Wind steadily—neither too fast nor too slow—while watching out for obstacles.
The player with more onigiri at the end wins.
You can enjoy it repeatedly by adding more obstacles on the table or making the onigiri lighter, and so on.
Okonomiyaki Game
Let me introduce an okonomiyaki game that’s guaranteed to get everyone excited.
Cut cardboard into circles, stick on printed okonomiyaki designs, and make about 20 okonomiyaki pieces.
The thickness of the cardboard is up to you, but if it’s too thin, flipping them might be a bit harder.
Once you spread the 20 okonomiyaki pieces out on a table, the game begins.
Use a spatula to flip the okonomiyaki one by one.
Time yourself, and when you’ve flipped them all, you’re done.
The challenge is how many seconds it takes to flip all 20! It’s great brain exercise too—highly recommended.
Put the ping-pong ball in
In elderly care facilities and similar settings, recreation is held every day, but preparing large-scale activities can be a lot of work.
This time, we’d like to introduce a simple and fun activity you can play with everyday items: the “Ping-Pong Ball Toss Game.” Set up walls on both sides of a table using empty tissue boxes, and place paper cups on the table.
Have participants throw ping-pong balls and try to land them in the cups.
If you write point values on the cups and make it a scoring competition, spectators can join in the excitement and everyone will have fun together.
Giant Triangular Tower
It’s a very simple game, but actually tricky! Try the newspaper tower challenge! Lay a sheet of newspaper lengthwise and fold it so it becomes a quarter of its original width.
Next, fold it into a triangular prism shape and tuck in the end.
Because it stores flat once folded, you can make it once and play again and again, which is nice.
The rules for the newspaper tower are simple: stack the triangular pieces of newspaper on top of each other and compete to see how many you can pile up.
People watching should call out instructions like, “A little to the right, left, it’s leaning!” This also helps promote communication.
Bamboo Shoot Digging Game
Here’s a sit-down bamboo shoot digging game you can enjoy.
Tear up newspaper and hide bamboo shoots made from milk cartons in it.
Use a hanger to push aside the newspaper and find the bamboo shoots.
When you peel the milk carton off the bamboo shoots you’ve found, you’ll discover a daikon radish and a bamboo shoot made by wrapping items around plastic bottles.
Each item has points: daikon is 10 points and bamboo shoot is 100 points.
Compete to see how many points you can score—the highest score wins! Setting a time limit will make it even more exciting.
Ping-pong ball catcher
Let me introduce a game called Pinball Catcher, which lets you do foot rehabilitation while having fun.
Prepare a table set at an angle, add walls on both sides, and place obstacles on the table using disposable containers or similar items.
Once the participants have nets attached to their feet, you’re ready to go.
Roll a ping-pong ball from the top of the table.
Predict the ball’s path as it bounces off obstacles, and catch it with the net attached to your foot.
Because you have to move your feet while watching where the ball will drop, it makes for great foot training.
Number Cop
Let me introduce Number Cups, a brain-training game you can do with minimal preparation.
All you need are construction paper and paper cups.
Write the numbers 1 through 9 on both the construction paper and the paper cups, and place the construction paper on the floor or table.
At the start signal, place each paper cup on the paper with the matching number.
Because it requires comprehension and decision-making—identifying which number and where to place it—along with quick reactions, it sends plenty of stimulation to the brain.
You can expect it to help prevent cognitive decline while having fun as a game.