[For Seniors] Enjoyment at Day Care: A Roundup of Games and Recreational Activities
We’ve put together a collection of games and recreational activities that can be enjoyed at day care.
We introduce plenty of options, including simple games you can play while seated, brain-training games, and activities that help with hand and finger rehabilitation—so please use them as a reference.
Some activities require props, but they’re simple to make using recycled materials or items from 100-yen shops, making them easy for older adults to recreate.
Give them a try with everyone during recreation time or in small breaks.
- [For Seniors] Simple Recreational Activities You Can Enjoy While Seated
- For Seniors: Effective Recreation for Preventing Care Needs—Have Fun While Staying Healthy
- [For Seniors] Simple Tabletop Games: Fun and Engaging Recreational Activities
- [For Seniors] Easy and fun seated activities you can do in your room
- [For Seniors] Today’s Recommended Activity: Fun and Engaging
- [Elderly Day Service] Let’s all have fun! Games and recreational activities
- [For Seniors] Fun! Games and Ideas to Boost Memory
- [For Seniors] Have Fun! A Collection of Group Game Recreation Ideas
- Hand games that liven things up for seniors—also great brain training
- [For Seniors] Easy to try. Fun, crowd-pleasing recreation
- [For Seniors] Fun Small-Group Recreation
- [For Seniors] Recreational Activities Enjoyable in Large Groups
- [For Seniors] Enjoyable Indoor Activities! Recreations and Games That Engage the Mind and Body
[For Seniors] Enjoying Daycare: A Collection of Games and Recreational Activities (111–120)
3 Fun Rubber Band Games
Rubber is characterized by its springy motion, and controlling your strength is necessary to make it move the way you want.
Let’s take on games that use rubber’s movement to help improve strength control and concentration.
In Rubber Rubber Shooter, you’ll feel the force used to launch; in Rubber Rubber Kick Bowling, the force of the rebound; and in Rubber Rubber Curling, the nuances of delicate movement.
By paying attention to how the way you apply force affects how it springs back and by adjusting that force, you’ll likely find your movements become smoother in everyday life as well.
[For Seniors] Enjoying Daycare: A Collection of Games and Recreational Activities (121–130)
Golf game
Here’s an introduction to a simple and fun paper-cup “golf” game.
Lay paper cups labeled with point values on their sides on the floor, and roll ping-pong balls to try to get them into the cups.
The winner is decided by how many ping-pong balls land in the cups.
Calculating the points for the ping-pong balls also provides a brain workout.
Since this golf game can be played while seated, it’s suitable for older adults who have difficulty standing.
Adjusting the force to roll the balls also helps with arm rehabilitation.
Some older adults may have enjoyed golf in the past, and this paper-cup golf can evoke those memories, too.
Get it with dice
Here’s a dice game you can enjoy using items from a 100-yen shop.
All you need are a die, some balls, and three baskets.
Put the balls into one of the baskets, then place one basket for yourself and one for your opponent—now you’re ready! Take turns rolling the die and move the number of balls shown into your own basket.
Continue until there are no balls left.
The player with the most balls at the end wins.
Because luck plays a big role, differences in ability are minimized, so anyone can enjoy it.
Rolling the die and picking up the balls also serve as upper-limb functional training, and counting the numbers can provide cognitive training benefits.
Give it a try!
Gesture Game
Spring is the season when warmth returns, so I think more animals will start showing their faces outside.
This is a classic gesture game where you express various things—centered around such animals—through movement and have the people around you guess what they are.
It seems like it would be exciting to see each person’s unique way of thinking, such as what aspects of each theme they focus on and how they express them through movement.
Since it’s important to clearly imagine the theme, including the movements, the game helps develop creativity and concentration.
Preventing dementia with rock-paper-scissors uchiwa (fan)
This is a large uchiwa fan illustrated with the hand shapes used in rock-paper-scissors—rock, scissors, and paper.
The person standing at the front uses the fan to show a hand, and everyone else thinks of the corresponding hand to play.
After seeing the hand that’s shown, participants decide and then show their own hands.
Have them consider not only winning responses but also losing ones.
On the back of the fan, numbers are written; by inserting a step where they determine which hand each number represents, the activity further trains their reasoning skills.
Strikeout
Strikeout is a game where you throw a ball at targets labeled with numbers.
In addition to being expected to help with arm exercise, strikeout is also said to strengthen the core.
By training your core, your body’s balance becomes more stable, which can help prevent falls.
It’s a game where you knock down numbered targets, so you can have fun while getting a workout.
Since it’s a lively game that many people can enjoy together, it would be great to include it in an April cherry-blossom viewing recreation.
How about making the targets not with numbers, but with illustrations or photos related to cherry-blossom viewing?
Enjoy Sports! Pictogram Cards
These are cards that use pictograms, familiar from labels of Olympic events.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell which event it is from the pictogram alone.
Let’s have players infer the event by looking at the pictogram’s silhouette.
On the back of each pictogram, include the event name and a clear illustration so players can check the correct answer.
You could also arrange the pictograms in the order of a program listing the event names, among other rules—there are many ways to enjoy these cards.