[For Seniors] Brain Training Recommended for Dementia Prevention

Rock, paper, scissors

Tips for Big Laughs: 5 Patterns to Create Humor Using Only Rock, Paper, Scissors

Movements of the hands and fingers are closely connected to the brain’s nerves, so they have a deep relationship.

It’s said that moving the hands and fingers can help prevent dementia and reduce the risk of falls.

Many senior care facilities likely incorporate activities that move the fingers, such as the rock–paper–scissors exercise.

So, let’s add a little twist to your usual finger exercises.

Try doing rock–paper–scissors gradually faster, or go in reverse—paper, scissors, rock—while speeding up.

It’s also great to add handclaps in between, or make a fox shape with your hand.

It’s okay to make mistakes with this exercise, and not doing it perfectly will probably bring some laughs.

It’s a finger workout you can enjoy while having fun.

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Pikagoro

Senior recreation—guaranteed big laughs! Pikagoro lets you enjoy fun brain training. #RecreationForSeniors #BrainTraining #Easy #Fun #Entertaining

As we age, it’s said that handling multiple tasks at the same time becomes more difficult.

Using both the mind and body has brain-training benefits, and if you move your body while thinking, you can expect even greater brain activation.

This time, I’ll introduce the Pika-Goro game.

Have the older adults sit facing each other, each holding two sticks.

The caller says “pika-pika” or “goro-goro.” On the cue “dokan,” the older adults should both grip the sticks and raise them.

Once everyone gets used to it, calling out “pika-pika” or “goro-goro” several times and then feinting can make it even more exciting.

Flying Fukuwarai

[New Year Activity] Guaranteed Laughter for Everyone! Flying Fukuwarai!

Some older adults may have played fukuwarai during the New Year holidays.

Fukuwarai is the game where you’re blindfolded and place facial features onto a face, right? Part of the fun is not being able to place the features correctly.

But with “Flying Fukuwarai,” there’s no blindfold.

Instead, you toss large facial feature pieces onto a sheet of paper with a large face drawn on it.

Of course, it still often results in hilariously misplaced features, which makes it exciting.

And because you throw the pieces while looking at the face, it’s said to help train spatial awareness.

Spatial awareness is the ability to perceive positions and shapes within space.

When it declines, people may get lost on familiar routes or bump into things more easily.

Give Flying Fukuwarai a try for a fun brain workout!

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This kid had a hard time writing katakana, didn’t they? I wonder if they didn’t cry?

“Kono ko nakanaka katakana kakenakatta na, nakakanakatta kana?” is quite a long tongue twister.

Are they worried that the child who couldn’t write katakana didn’t end up crying? Words with similar sounds like nakanaka and katakana run together almost like a reverse reading.

Plus, the repeated ka sounds create a string of identical syllables, which adds to the difficulty of reading.

Tongue twisters can make you rush, but the key is to stay calm and read through without hurrying.

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Both the Japanese plum and the peach are kinds of peaches; the peach and the Japanese plum are both kinds of peaches.

Plums come into season around mid-June.

Plums are a size smaller than peaches and are known for their sweet-and-tart flavor.

Although they’re said to be smaller than peaches, their shapes are similar, which is why there’s a tongue twister: “Sumomo mo momo mo momo no uchi; momo mo sumomo mo momo no uchi,” roughly meaning “Both plums and peaches are kinds of ‘momo.’” Because of this tongue twister, some older adults may have the impression that plums and peaches are the same variety.

However, plums belong to the genus Prunus in the rose family, while peaches belong to the genus Amygdalus (also within the rose family), so they are different.

Indeed, while their shapes are similar, plums have smooth skin, whereas peaches have a fine fuzz.

In fact, plums are said to be more closely related to apricots than to peaches.

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Make vine, hang dayflower

One tongue twister used as a brain-training recreation.

You train your brain by reading awkward sentences that rarely appear in everyday life.

“Tsukuru tsurukusa tsurusu tsuyukusa” is also one of the tongue twisters for older adults.

Various images come to mind from the tongue twister.

You might imagine weaving baskets with climbing vines, and hanging spiderwort as decoration.

In hiragana, it’s “tsukuru,” “tsurukusa,” “tsurusu,” and “tsuyukusa.” They all start with “tsu.” In fact, it’s said that many people—not just older adults—find the ta-row sounds that include “tsu” difficult to pronounce.

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Hard-to-pull nails, nails that are difficult to remove, nails pulled out with a nail puller

“A nail that’s hard to pull out, a nail that’s difficult to draw out, a nail pulled with a nail puller”—this tongue-twister also brings to mind scenes of carpenters or families doing DIY at home.

You can really picture someone struggling to pull out a stubborn nail.

Because of that, it repeats the same or similar words quite a lot.

It might be easier to say if you consciously break it into words like: hard-to-pull, nail; hard-to-draw-out, nail.

It’s a tongue-twister that may even help older adults recall their own DIY experiences.

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