Recreation Activities for Use in Day Services
This article introduces recreation activities for day service centers.
There are plenty of activities where everyone can get their brains working, team up and compete, and share the thrill and excitement with all participants!
If you’re wondering, “What should we do today?” take a look.
These activities are actually used in care settings, so older adults can enjoy them with peace of mind.
Most of them are simple and require little preparation time.
Have fun and get lively together!
- [For Seniors] Simple Recreational Activities You Can Enjoy While Seated
- [For Seniors] Enjoy safely even during the COVID-19 pandemic: Seated activities
- Games and recreational activities enjoyable in a wheelchair
- [For Seniors] Have Fun! A Collection of Group Game Recreation Ideas
- [For Seniors] Recommended Handmade Activities! Simple Ideas
- Recreation Activities Effective for Long-Term Care Prevention for Seniors
- [For Seniors] Guaranteed to Be a Hit! Popular Day Service Recreational Activities
- [For Seniors] Enjoyment at Day Care: A Roundup of Games and Recreational Activities
- Enjoyable at day care! Tabletop games and recreation
- For Seniors: Effective Recreation for Preventing Care Needs—Have Fun While Staying Healthy
- [Evolving Daycare Services] A summary of engaging recreational initiatives that excite older adults
- [For Seniors] Today’s Recommended Activity: Fun and Engaging
- [For Seniors] Enjoyable Day Service: A Collection of Fun Event Ideas
Recreation Activities for Use at Day Service Centers (61–70)
Newspaper Tug-of-War
This is “Newspaper Sumo,” a game you can play with just a sheet of newspaper.
It’s really easy and simple: open a newspaper, cut it in half, then fold it lengthwise twice.
That’s all the prep.
Next, make each strip into a loop, link the two loops together, and pull from both ends.
Whoever’s loop tears loses.
There’s also a variation where two people pull on the ends of a single strip, and the one left with the larger piece wins.
Set up a tournament and aim for the championship!
Finger rehabilitation with clothespins
This game is easy to play using familiar items—clothespins and an empty plastic bottle—and it also helps with finger rehabilitation.
Clip a clothespin onto the bottle’s mouth, then keep clipping more clothespins so they link together.
You can also clip them onto any open spot.
Continue linking them all so none of the clothespins fall off.
It gets even more exciting as a time trial or head-to-head competition.
Toss it into the neighbor’s yard!
“Toss It Into the Neighbor’s Yard!” is a tabletop ball-toss game you can easily play using newspaper and cardboard.
Crumple up sheets of newspaper into balls and throw them into the opposing team’s box.
Anything the opponents toss into your yard that misses your box can be thrown back and counted toward your own score.
The team that gets the most balls into the other team’s yard-box wins.
Long Life Ondo
Shall we all try dancing the “Chōju Oondo” (Long Life Dance)? It’s sung by Yonesuke—famous for that rice paddle—and features cute girls’ chorus call-and-response.
In the video, the girl doing hula is adorable, too.
The ukulele gives it a light, pleasant Hawaiian sound.
The lyrics are easy to remember, and it’s a song that gives you the energy to feel young no matter how old you are! Let’s all dance together!
Ohajiki activity
Ohajiki (marble flicking) is easy to play and great for fine motor skills, isn’t it? How about adding a little twist to the classic game? Make a base out of cardboard and tape a small box to its end.
It will act like a soccer goal.
Flick the pieces toward it and try to get them in—but that might be too easy as is, right? So, cut a hole in the base to create a trapdoor.
With just a small tweak, the game becomes much more fun.