[For Seniors] Brain Training Recommended for Dementia Prevention
In this article, we introduce brain-training activities that can help prevent dementia in older adults.
As we age, memory is something everyone worries about.
For those concerned, we recommend simple, easy-to-do brain training designed for seniors.
Doing brain training activates the brain and can contribute to overall mental and physical well-being.
There are quiz formats, riddles, four-character idioms, and even brain-training activities you can do while moving your body.
Find the brain training that suits you, and enjoy doing it.
If you’re a caregiving professional looking for brain-training ideas, be sure to check these out.
- [For Seniors] Brain Training! Recall Quiz Collection!
- [For Seniors] Challenging but Exciting! Kanji Quiz
- [For Seniors] Find daily brain training. Today’s recommended brain workout.
- [For Seniors] Lively Wordplay Game: Fun Recreation for Elderly Care
- [For Seniors] Fun Brain Training! Prefecture Quiz
- Recommended for seniors. Brain training with an odd-one-out quiz.
- [For Seniors] Popular Brain Training and Recreational Quizzes
- [For Seniors] Fun and Lively! Recommended Quiz Questions
- [For Seniors] Fun Riddles That Stimulate the Brain
- [For Seniors] Enjoyable Brain Training! Finger Exercises That Help Prevent Dementia
- [For Seniors] A Brain-Training, Crowd-Pleasing Word Search Game
- [Brain Training] Lively Word Quiz for Seniors
- [For Seniors] Recreational activities and games that let you have fun while strengthening your legs
[For Seniors] Brain Training That Helps Prevent Dementia! Recommended Exercises (71–80)
Shiritori
Shiritori, a word game many of us have played since childhood, is also a recommended recreation for people with dementia.
One of its strengths is how easy it is—no materials or preparation required.
It’s handy for filling small pockets of time, like on the bus when going out to the suburbs.
Another plus is that you can adjust the difficulty to match the person’s cognitive level.
You can customize freely with rules like “three-letter words only” or “food items only.” You could also set a goal, such as “finish after connecting 50 words.”
Hinamatsuri Spot-the-Difference Quiz
How about a spot-the-difference game that’s effective as brain training for seniors? Here’s a “Hinamatsuri (Girls’ Day) Spot-the-Difference” activity we recommend for March.
In spot-the-difference, you temporarily memorize the correct picture, right? By using that correct picture as a reference to find the differences, it’s said to be effective for training memory, observation, and concentration.
You can find spot-the-difference pictures online or prepare printed images—one of the nice things about this quiz is that it doesn’t require much effort.
Of course, you can also create a large spot-the-difference illustration in advance and put it up on a whiteboard or similar surface for everyone to enjoy.
Hiragana cards
This is a game where you use a set of kana cards laid out in the playing area to make as many words as possible within a time limit.
You can play with various patterns, such as specifying the number of characters—like “two-character words”—or setting themes, such as “names of vegetables.” If someone gets stuck playing alone because they can’t think of words, it’s recommended to play in teams and cooperate.
You can make it challenging by limiting the available characters, or ramp up the excitement by adding more full sets of the 50-sound kana to broaden the range of words.
[For Seniors] Brain Training That Helps Prevent Dementia! Recommended Exercises (81–90)
Othello
Move the Othello discs with your hands and keep those fingers active.
Othello has simple rules, so many older adults are probably familiar with it.
Through the game, you’ll pick up the discs with your fingers and move them around.
Just moving your fingertips alone can help stimulate the brain.
But Othello isn’t only about finger movement, is it? You also think things like, “What will happen if I place it there?” or “How can I prevent them from taking the corner?” You take on the game while thinking.
Advancing the game while considering your opponent is said to be good brain training as well.
With seated Othello, many seniors can engage in it and have fun at the same time.
Card flip
This is a simple card game where each card has a different color on the front and back, and players keep flipping them to a designated color.
It’s basically a competitive format: both players flip cards to their own color and compete to see which color is more prevalent when time runs out.
Consider rules like allowing flips with only one hand to help balance participants’ abilities as much as possible.
A 2-on-2 team match is also recommended, as it gets heated by emphasizing not just speed but strategy as well.
Wobbly Cap Game
As we age, the dexterity of our fingertips declines.
In fact, it’s said that more than half of the brain’s regions are involved in moving the hands and processing sensation.
As a result, with aging, the commands from the brain to the hands and fingers can become sluggish and don’t transmit as smoothly.
Finger exercises can help your hands and fingers move more smoothly.
So let’s train our fingertips with a game that uses an empty plastic bottle.
Cut the bottle so that about the top half from the mouth remains.
Cover the cut edge with vinyl tape to finish.
Place the bottle upright with the capped mouth facing down, and put a bottle cap inside.
A game where you try to drop the cap into a wobbling, swaying bottle seems like something everyone can enjoy together with lots of laughs.
Word search with hiragana cubes
Prepare eight cubes with hiragana written on them and roll the cubes.
Combine the hiragana that appear to form as many table-friendly words as you can.
If the word changes, it’s okay to use the same hiragana more than once.
Since the hiragana change each time, you’ll get a different kind of stimulation every time you play.
There are many ways to enjoy it, such as changing the number of cubes or trying to form as many words as possible within a time limit.
Finding words and assembling them from characters activates the brain, so you can enjoy yourself while getting brain-training benefits.
