Recommended recreational activities for older adults with dementia

Have fun catching the ball with your body

[Senior Recreation] No touching others! Ball-based recreation [Preventive Care]

A recommended recreation activity for seniors using a rubber ball.

Rubber balls don’t slip easily, so they’re easier to catch.

This time, work in pairs and toss the ball back and forth, catching it by clamping it between your hands.

It seems like it will train your reaction speed more than catching with your palms.

Switching to one-handed catches or knee catches also adds excitement, so they’re recommended.

Receiving the ball in various ways can help stimulate both mind and body.

A key point is not to overinflate the ball so it’s easier to grip.

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Nanaka

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Animal sound brain training

[Whiteboard Brain Training] See and react! Answer with the animal sounds. Difficulty ★★★ Senior Recreation

It’s a game where you read the written name of an animal, think about which sound that animal makes, and answer.

It tests your ability to connect memories—how quickly you can imagine the sound from the animal’s name.

Start by checking which animal makes which sound, then move on to the letter chart.

Because you can reach the answer by thinking carefully, it’s also important to be mindful of speed.

The process of thinking from the written word and then saying it aloud helps activate the brain.

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kappamaki

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Let’s find words within a word.

Recreation for seniors: super easy and fun brain training even during the COVID-19 pandemic! Word-search game

I’d like to introduce a game where everyone can play at the same time and get excited: a “find words inside a word” game.

In this game, you rearrange or extract letters from a given target word and see how many other words you can make.

For example, if the target is “とうもろこし” (corn), you can make words like “うし” (cow) or “しも” (frost).

Decide on a target word and a time limit, and you can compete to see who can find the most words.

You can also share with each other, saying, “Here are the words I found.”

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yamamoto

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Text Color Card Game

[Senior Recreation] Rec Craftsman Series Part 132: “Colored Letter Card Game [Brain Training/Card/Game]”

This is a karuta-style card game where players focus on the reading of the characters and the colors on the cards to find the one that matches what is read aloud.

It tests your ability to decide whether the cue refers to the character or the color, and your judgment in locating it among the cards in front of you—so your thinking speed is key.

Clear phrasing by the reader is also important; be mindful to use concise expressions like “the character is red and the color is green.” The more cards with the same character in different colors are mixed in, the harder it becomes to judge the correct answer, so it’s recommended to gradually increase the number of cards as players get used to the game.

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kappamaki

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Showa Quiz

[Showa Quiz: 10 Questions] Let’s Look Back on the Nostalgic Showa Era! Introducing Fun Multiple-Choice Questions [Brain Training for Seniors]

Showa Quiz is an effective way to stimulate the brains of older adults who lived through the Showa era.

By revisiting the quiz, they can reaffirm the events and trends of the years they experienced.

It enriches emotional reminiscence, strengthens memory, and creates opportunities for interaction with other visitors.

The feeling of nostalgia is said to bring various benefits to the brain, such as reducing stress, increasing happiness and helping maintain brain health, and fostering a more positive outlook toward one’s future self.

Sing and pass it around! Ball relay

All you need is a ball! This is fun♪ Sing and pass-the-ball activity!!

Here’s an idea for a rhythm-based ball-passing game.

First, participants sit in a circle.

One person starts with the ball and passes it to the next person in time with the music; that person then passes it to the next, and so on.

When the music stops, the person holding the ball gets to drop out of the game.

You can also adjust the game by adding more balls depending on the number of participants.

Singing along while playing provides brain training benefits, and listening to favorite songs can boost motivation, which adds to the appeal.

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yamamoto

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Milk Carton Edition! Word-Finding Brain Training Game

Word Search Brain Training with Kana Cards: Easy Senior Recreation Using Milk Cartons

This is a game where players make words that fit a theme using hiragana cards laid out on the table.

Preparation is simple—just cut up milk cartons and stick the 50-sound syllabary onto them—so people can easily join from the setup stage.

As you add more sets of the 50 sounds, the range of words you can create expands, and the process of looking for letters takes more effort, which enhances the brain-training effect.

It could also be exciting to proceed with a cooperative pattern where players create multiple words together, leading naturally to communication.

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kappamaki

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