[For Seniors] Liven Up Your Day Service! Fun Beanbag Toss Activity
One of the items often used in day-service recreation is the beanbag (otedama).
Beanbags filled with adzuki beans or rice are soft balls that don’t hurt even if they hit you, making them a safe tool for everyone from children to older adults.
While many people picture juggling with two or three beanbags, it can be hard to come up with other ways to play.
In this article, we’ll introduce a variety of recommended beanbag games for day-service recreation!
Many of them are easy to play while seated, so older adults can enjoy them with confidence.
Give some new beanbag games a try!
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[For Seniors] Liven Up Day Service! Fun Beanbag Activities (1–10)
Exercise using beanbags
This is an exercise that uses beanbags to enjoy moving your hands and arms.
By consciously focusing on the sensation of grasping objects, it can also lead to smoother everyday movements.
Start by rolling a beanbag with both hands to check the sensations in your palms, then move on to passing the beanbag from one hand to the other—simple steps.
A key point is where on your body you pass and receive the beanbag; pay close attention to which parts of your body are moving.
Throwing involves gentle, full-body motion, so by gradually increasing the difficulty, you’ll develop smoother movements and effectively strengthen your muscles.
Beanbag Catch
Let’s have fun with a beanbag-catching game.
Toss beanbags to older adults seated in chairs, and have them catch the beanbags using a container.
Everyday items like a colander, bowl, or sushi tub work just fine.
It’s enjoyable with both large and small groups.
A team competition to see who can catch the most beanbags is also recommended.
The lively atmosphere will likely encourage interaction among participants, and it’s a refreshing activity for everyone.
Stacking an otedama box
This game involves tossing beanbags and stacking them on top of boxes.
Instead of simply throwing onto a flat box, you aim for the empty spaces among stacked boxes.
Place the largest box on the bottom, then stack more boxes on top.
Each box has a different point value written on it, and you earn that many points for each beanbag you place on it.
If you’re playing in teams, it’s helpful to use different colors of beanbags for each team.
Can you land one on the small, high-scoring space at the very top?
[For Seniors] Let's Have Fun at Day Service! Enjoyable Beanbag Toss Activities (11–20)
Beanbag toss at the whiteboard
Prepare a whiteboard and adjust it so that the board is level.
Have everyone participating in the activity gather around the whiteboard, with each person holding 3 to 5 beanbags.
At the starting signal, throw one beanbag at a time in a clockwise order and place them onto the whiteboard.
If, once all the beanbags are on the board, it doesn’t tip and the beanbags don’t fall off, you’ve succeeded.
Work together as a team to keep the whiteboard balanced until the end.
It’s an exciting activity that requires concentration, control, and teamwork.
Tossing beanbags toward the swaying basket
Here’s a fun game using beanbags.
You throw beanbags into a hanging basket—much like the ball-toss game often played at school sports days.
Many older adults are familiar with this type of game, so it should be easy to get into.
Like the traditional ball toss, the rules are simple, but this version gets progressively more difficult.
The more beanbags you throw, the more the hanging basket swings, making it harder to land your throws.
You’ll also need to watch the basket and time your throws, so it engages the brain as well.
When the basket fills up with beanbags, older participants are likely to feel a real sense of accomplishment.
Foot Beanbag Bingo
One activity option for events and parties is a bingo game.
Many older adults are already familiar with bingo, aren’t they? While bingo is usually played on paper, this time we’ll introduce a version that uses the feet and beanbags.
Prepare nine paper plates or cups, and have the older adults use their feet to toss beanbags into them.
Use colored tape to group the plates or cups by color, and change the score based on where the beanbag lands.
For example, award 20 points if the beanbag lands in a plate or cup of the same color, and 10 points if it’s a different color.
Because they lift their legs to toss the beanbags, older adults can enjoy the game while also training their legs.
Beanbag balance stick
A balance stick game using toilet paper cores and beanbags.
The rules are very simple: place beanbags on the toilet paper cores lined up on the table, carefully so they don’t fall over.
The difficulty changes depending on the spacing and placement of the cores.
Even store-bought beanbags vary slightly in size and weight, and handmade ones even more so.
Those size differences are important for this balance game.
Focusing your attention and using your fingertips also helps stimulate the brain.