For seniors: Recommended for day services. Hands-on activities that help prevent dementia.
As we age, our muscle strength declines, making fine, hands-on tasks more difficult.
Because the nerves in our hands are connected to the brain, it’s said that moving our hands can help prevent dementia.
In this article, we introduce hands-on recreational activities for day service programs that train both the fingers and the brain.
With a focus on craft-based activities and finger-use games, they also help improve concentration.
Craft activities let participants enjoy the fun of creating, too.
There are many ideas to choose from, so try starting with the hands-on activities you’re most interested in.
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- For Seniors: Simple and Lovely Crafts – A Collection of Take-Home Project Ideas for Day Service
- [For Seniors] Ideal for Finger Rehabilitation: A Collection of Simple Ideas Made with Yarn
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- Hand games that liven things up for seniors—also great brain training
- [For Seniors] Small craft ideas: for yourself and as gifts!
- [Evolving Daycare Services] A summary of engaging recreational initiatives that excite older adults
- [For Seniors] Get Started Easily: Simple Handicraft Kit Ideas
[For Seniors] Recommended for Day Service: Hands-on Activities (91–100) That Help Prevent Dementia
A pouch that can manage medication for four doses a day
Some older adults need to take medication as many as four times a day—morning, noon, evening, and before bed.
Here’s a handy item for them.
Attach a laundry bag or a soft plastic sheet to a fabric in your favorite pattern or color, and create divided pockets for about four doses × one month.
Adding decorations like lace or appliqués not only makes it cute, but also helps distinguish it from others—highly recommended.
Add a button and make it like a notebook for easy carrying.
If you use a lovely pattern, you’ll want to pick it up and open it, which helps prevent forgetting to take your medicine.
a small hat
These miniature knit caps are easy to incorporate into winter decorations.
The simplicity of using a toilet paper roll core is a key point, too.
Cut the toilet paper core into rings, thread yarn through each ring and tie it, then repeat the process many times so there are no gaps.
Once the entire ring is covered, pass the yarn ends through to the inside of the core, pull them out, gather them to the desired length, and trim the tips with scissors to finish.
Paying close attention to the number of strands—such as “alternating three red and three gray”—is the key to creating a beautiful hat.
Think about your own design not only by choosing colors, but also by deciding how many strands of each color to use.
Finger Dexterity and Coordination Training Goods
Isn’t the precise, delicate movement of chopsticks an important action in everyday life? This is a rehabilitation tool that trains fine finger movements through such chopstick motions.
First, prepare a wooden board and mark a border 1 centimeter inside the outer edge.
Insert pins with handles along the markings.
Once you’ve inserted a total of 16 pins, you’re ready to go.
Use disposable chopsticks to hook rubber bands onto the pins.
Freely loop colorful rubber bands around the pins to create various designs.
It also seems fun to use a sample as a reference and think about how to hook the bands to recreate it.
Finger training with clothespins
This activity uses clothespins to build fingertip strength and pinching motions.
You stick a large illustration onto cardboard and then attach clothespins to the illustration as if they were hair.
It’s fun because children can move their fingers while thinking about what kind of hairstyle to create.
When connecting clothespins to each other rather than just attaching them to the illustration, they need to carefully consider where to clip them, which also engages the brain.
While clothespins are commonly operated with the thumb and index finger, intentionally trying different fingers can help train finger strength more evenly.
Also great for brain training! Clothing dressing/undressing training
This is a rehabilitation tool that focuses on the everyday action of fastening and unfastening clothing buttons, as well as the small finger movements involved in handling buttons.
It’s easy to make with just a few square felt pieces with a slit cut in the middle and a string with buttons attached at both ends.
You repeatedly insert the buttons through the felt and then remove them.
By adjusting the size of the buttons and the slit in the felt, fastening and unfastening can become more challenging, so it’s recommended to gradually increase the difficulty.
Let’s strengthen fingertip dexterity while also linking it to training for dressing and undressing in daily life.
Floral-pattern bracelet
A floral-patterned bracelet crocheted with a hook—using yarn with a built-in gradient will give it a striking, vibrant finish.
Because the project involves repeating small, detailed steps, it can also help train fingertip focus and fine motor skills.
Choosing the right yarn is important, and experimenting with different colors to see how they change the overall impression sounds fun, too.
If you layer and crochet the yarn firmly, you’ll end up with a sturdy bracelet suitable for everyday fashion.
Making a mini basket
This is about making a small storage basket using a milk carton.
You open the carton, attach wrapping paper to it, and then assemble it into the shape of a basket.
The way you crease the folds changes depending on the basket shape you want, so having a clear image of the finished product and working accurately are important.
It’s also fun that you can freely customize elements like the wrapping paper design and adding lace.
Aim for your ideal basket and assemble it carefully.