[For Seniors] Brain Training with a Whiteboard! Fill-in-the-Blank Exercises & Quizzes

An association game using initials

[June Recommended Rec] Two Patterns of Association Brain Training Games [Whiteboard Brain Training]

How about some brain training with a word association game? Let’s start by brainstorming keywords for the prompt “What comes to mind in June?” Once we get words like “rainy season,” “hydrangea,” and “snail,” we’ll use the five-letter word “ajisai” (hydrangea in Japanese).

We’ll take the initial sounds a, ji, sa, i and set each to form words of any length: something like “a◯◯,” “ji◯◯◯,” “sa◯◯◯◯,” and “i◯◯.” Finally, we think of letters to fill in the ◯ to complete the words.

It’s like the kind of improv word game you see on TV variety shows.

Fill-in-the-blank Kanji Problems

[Today's Rec] “Thursday, June 2” An easy indoor recreation using a whiteboard: “Fill-in-the-blank Quiz”

Many young people these days struggle with kanji due to the widespread use of computers and smartphones.

So, drawing on the idea of ‘skills once learned,’ let’s have seniors enjoy a “kanji fill-in-the-blank” game.

You place a single kanji character in the center, then set one blank each to its top, bottom, left, and right.

This time, using the kanji 地, you create two-character compounds like 土地 (land), 湿地 (wetland), 現地 (on-site), and 地下 (underground).

It’s like a kanji version of a crossword puzzle.

Depending on whether you make the blank come before or after the central character, the variations increase, making it great brain training as well.

Common Hiragana Fill-in-the-Blank Quiz

[Today's Recreation] “Thursday, March 30: An easy indoor activity using a whiteboard — ‘Quiz’”

Let me introduce a common-hiragana fill-in-the-blank quiz that’s also effective as brain training.

In these puzzles, there are multiple blanks within a word or phrase, and you fill all the blanks with the same hiragana character.

For example, in “か○○○き,” all the blanks would be filled with “た.” One of the big attractions is that some problems can have multiple correct answers, and you can adjust the difficulty by increasing the number of letters.

Start with around four characters and gradually increase the number of blanks! It also sounds fun to line up multiple words and fill them all with the same hiragana character.

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yamamoto

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“〇〇-shii” word search

[Whiteboard Brain Training] Find words that end with “-shii” (〇〇shii)!

It’s a brain-training activity called “◯◯-shii Search” that uses a whiteboard to look for words.

The idea is to list as many words as possible that end with “-shii,” such as “oishii” (delicious) and “ureshii” (happy).

Since some words don’t come to mind easily if you just think, you can write out the 50 Japanese syllables and fill them in to come up with many more.

Thinking this way helps train your brain!

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utatane

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Word Fill-in-the-Blank Brain Training

[Whiteboard Rec] Word Fill-in Brain Training! For Activating Seniors’ Brains!

Group activities using a whiteboard don’t require much preparation and are recommended for filling short pockets of time.

It’s said that having more answer choices makes them even more enjoyable.

In this example, it’s a word fill-in, but only part of a few letters is filled in; participants think of the remaining letters to complete a word.

The more you think, the more different answers you’re likely to come up with.

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Hirakawa Masako (Bōkarisuto: Sakata Mizumako)

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Common Radical Fill-in Quiz

[Common Radical Problems] Kanji Fill-in-the-Blank Quiz! Introducing 10 Perfect Brain-Training Questions for Seniors [All 10 Questions]

If you want to tackle a slightly more complex task, I also recommend the common radical fill-in quiz.

A radical is a component that makes up a kanji.

For example, the common radical in “松” (matsu), “村” (mura), and “林” (hayashi) is the tree radical (kihen).

First, pick out many kanji that share a common radical, then remove the radical and line up what remains to create the quiz.

Alternatively, you can use YouTube videos and the like.

In that case, adjust the difficulty by pausing the video to give time to think, and so on.

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yamamoto

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Silver Senryu Fill-in-the-Blank Quiz

Hilarious! Silver Senryu Fill-in-the-Blank Quiz — Today’s Brain Training, Care Prevention, and Dementia Prevention

For older adults, vocabulary is a skill they’ve built up over many years of life—it’s a powerful tool.

A fun recreation that makes use of that tool is the “Silver Senryu Fill-in-the-Blank Quiz.” In this quiz, parts of a 5-7-5 syllable senryu are omitted, and you try to guess the missing words.

When someone gets it right or an unexpected answer pops up, it’s sure to spark laughter all around.

It’s great brain training for seniors.

Give it a try and enjoy yourself!