[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 (171–180)
Korokoro Push Game
It’s a game where you use a stick to keep balls from falling as they roll toward you.
Since the field where the balls roll is far away, your ability to control a long stick that can effectively transfer force to the balls is put to the test.
The rules increase the number of balls gradually over time, which adds a decision-making element about which ball to tap.
It’s a game that can train various skills—judgment, speed, control, and how you apply force—by keeping all these factors in mind.
Rock-Paper-Scissors Ball Passing Game
Here’s a team-vs-team, high-energy Rock-Paper-Scissors Ball Relay game.
First, divide into teams.
Arrange chairs in a single row for each team, facing each other, and have everyone sit.
Next, the two players at the front each hold a ball and play rock-paper-scissors.
The winner passes their ball to the next teammate, and this repeats down the line.
The team that gets their ball back to the front first wins.
It’s exciting because you can clearly see which side is in the lead, and it’s great for engaging both the mind and body at the same time.
Rock-Paper-Scissors Relay
This is a game where teams aim to pass a ring they’re holding by hand all the way to the last person, using rock-paper-scissors.
The rule is that you can pass the ring only when the next person wins at rock-paper-scissors, so both speed and luck are put to the test.
As you become more conscious of speed, you need sharper judgment to track who wins or loses each round and whether the ring can be passed.
Having teams compete against each other is key to making everyone focus on the game’s sense of speed.
Quick and easy! Whiteboard Bingo
How about trying Whiteboard Bingo, a game you can enjoy if you have a whiteboard? Preparation is simple: draw lines on the whiteboard to create a grid.
Draw lines so that it becomes 5 squares by 5 squares.
The rules are that players are split into O and X and take turns marking the grid.
The first person to place four of the same mark in a row—vertically, horizontally, or diagonally—wins.
It’s a game that gives your brain a real workout, as you aim to block your opponent from lining up their marks while also creating your own line of four, making it perfect for mental exercise.
Bamboo Shoot Digging Game
It’s a game where you use a stick with a paper cup attached to the end to stack and pick up paper cups with bamboo shoots drawn on them, and compete for speed.
The key to successfully picking up the bamboo shoots is to fit the cup on the stick perfectly over the target cup, so your stick control is put to the test.
If you do it well, you can stack multiple cups, so strategy matters—do you carefully stack and grab a bunch at once, or focus on speed and collect them one by one? The longer the stick, the harder it is to control, so adjusting the stick length is also a recommended way to set the difficulty.