For Seniors: December Health Topics — Winter Recreational Activities to Warm the Body and the Heart

Crossword puzzle

[Easy! Crossword Puzzle] Brain Training for Seniors! Fill the blanks with hiragana [Fill-in-the-blank Quiz] #2

Crossword puzzles can help you enjoy the cold winter season.

December 21 is said to be Crossword Puzzle Day.

How about trying them together with older adults? Solving the clues is said to stimulate the brain.

It’s also fun to use a tablet and try new puzzles online.

On Crossword Puzzle Day, why not work on a puzzle while sharing the story behind the anniversary? Since it uses reasoning and memory, it seems like a great way to train the brain while having fun.

It sounds like a wonderful activity where you can spend time leisurely in a warm room.

Passing items with a towel

Today's recreation at Day Service Asumiru 🎵

This is a towel-based recreation activity called “object passing,” which is easy to prepare and can be done in any facility or home.

Two older adults face each other and hold the ends of a towel.

Using the towel, they pass an object resting on it to the next pair.

Large balls are easier to pass, but you can make it more challenging by using smaller balls or objects that aren’t round.

Because passing the object requires fine adjustments of the hands and arms, it can also be useful for rehabilitation.

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Hirakawa Masako (Bōkarisuto: Sakata Mizumako)

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Towel relay

[Senior Recreation] 5 Recreation Activities Using Towels

How about this recreation activity using towels you have at your facility or at home? It’s a towel relay, where you use towels to run a relay race.

First, divide into two teams and pass a towel to the next person using a stick.

The team that places the towel at the goal first wins.

If the towel falls along the way, please pick it up with your hand.

Passing the towel with a stick requires fine motor control and is trickier than you might expect.

The video also introduces other towel-based activities, so please use those as references as well.

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Hirakawa Masako (Bōkarisuto: Sakata Mizumako)

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Local hot pot guessing game

[Brain Training] Local Hotpot Quiz 🍲 “Which prefecture is this hotpot from?? • 10 questions”

Winter is the season when we crave hot pots.

Since each region has its own unique hot pot dishes, how about some brain training with a “Which prefecture is this local hot pot from?” quiz? Akita’s Kiritanpo-nabe, Hokkaido’s Ishikari-nabe, Hiroshima’s oyster Dote-nabe, and Fukuoka’s Motsu-nabe are well-known, so many of you might answer those right away.

There are ten questions in total, including Ankō-nabe (anglerfish), Imoni-nabe (taro and meat stew), Hōtō-nabe, Fugu-chiri-nabe (pufferfish), Yudōfu-nabe (simmered tofu), and Chanko-nabe.

We hope this quiz gives you a chance to think fondly of your own hometown.

Christmas cap tree

[Christmas Activity] Cap Tree Challenge! Use chopsticks to stack bottle caps within the time limit! Recreation for elder care and for children.

A popular variety show, “Tuesday is All-Out! Hanadai and Chidori-kun!” features a super fun game that always gets everyone hyped.

On the show, the base rotates to increase the difficulty, but it’s just as exciting to play on a stationary surface.

If Daruma Otoshi is about knocking pieces off one by one to reduce the stack, the Cap Tree Challenge is like doing the opposite—building the stack up.

Make palm-sized caps in lots of Christmas colors to boost the December vibes.

Try adjusting the difficulty by stacking with your non-dominant hand or using chopsticks.

You might get so into it you’ll work up a sweat!