[For Seniors] Recommended Even for People with Dementia! Simple Recreational Activities
Recreation activities conducted at nursing and care facilities aim to improve brain and physical functions.
They are said to help activate the brain and can be expected to prevent dementia or slow its progression.
However, it is also important to maintain emotional well-being through feelings like “this is fun, I feel happy” and communication with others.
If people push themselves too hard for functional improvement and the things they “can’t do” become a source of stress, they won’t be able to enjoy the activities.
So this time, we’re introducing “simple recreation” ideas!
These are easy, accessible activities designed for older adults to enjoy.
Please feel free to make use of them.
- [For Seniors] Easy and fun seated activities you can do in your room
- Simple games for preventing and improving dementia
- [For Seniors] Fun Recreational Activities Without Equipment
- Recommended recreational activities for older adults with dementia
- [Brain Training for Seniors] Recommended Hand-Play Recreation for Dementia Prevention
- [For Seniors] Fun and Engaging Brain-Training Recreation
- [Elderly Day Service] Let’s all have fun! Games and recreational activities
- [For Seniors] A Collection of Fun Classic Caregiving Activities
- [For Seniors] Today’s Recommended Activity: Fun and Engaging
- Hand games that liven things up for seniors—also great brain training
- [For Seniors] Easy to try. Fun, crowd-pleasing recreation
- [For Seniors] Simple Recreational Activities You Can Enjoy While Seated
- For Seniors: Effective Recreation for Preventing Care Needs—Have Fun While Staying Healthy
[For Seniors] Recommended for people with dementia too! Easy Recreational Activities (51–60)
Living with My Mother
The film “Mother and Son” (Haha to Kuraseba) is set in Nagasaki in 1948 and portrays a mother and the ghost of her son who died in the atomic bombing.
Directed by Yoji Yamada, it stars Sayuri Yoshinaga as the mother and Kazunari Ninomiya as the son.
While it depicts the joy of a reunion that should have been impossible, it also conveys the sorrow of knowing he no longer belongs to this world.
It’s a poignant work that leaves an impression of warmth amid grief, likely prompting viewers to reflect anew on their bonds with loved ones who have passed away.
wet mop
It’s a collection of soft, thin strands, and it’s wet.
If you were to touch it without seeing it, some of you might imagine it’s something alive.
If it’s a well-used mop, when you touch it and smell it, you might wonder, “What’s that smell?” and feel even more unsure about what it is.
If you happen to move the mop while gingerly touching it, you might let out a scream and run away.
Since it’s a cleaning tool that’s widely used, it’s also recommended because it’s easy to prepare.
2-beat 3-beat game
This exercise involves moving your arms in large motions with different rhythms for each hand to thoroughly engage your arm muscles and brain.
Use a 3-beat rhythm for one hand and a 2-beat rhythm for the other, and focus on keeping each movement from slipping out of sync.
Because concentrating on the motions can disrupt your focus on rhythm, it’s also recommended to perform the exercise along with a children’s song or similar music.
Once you get used to it, try switching which arm does which rhythm or adding leg movements—these variations can further stimulate your brain.
Beanbag Bingo
This is a game where players alternately place beanbags on a grid, and the first to make a line of four wins.
It’s important to aim to complete a line with your own color, but you should also be mindful of blocking your opponent’s line.
Using beanbags is another key feature—the action of carrying and placing them on the grid helps develop grip strength and provides arm exercise.
The game strongly emphasizes strategic thinking, as play style varies by player, so you’ll need to adapt your strategy depending on your opponent.
By playing repeatedly, you may even discover your own surefire winning methods.
[For Seniors] Recommended for people with dementia too! Simple Recreational Activities (61–70)
Recipe card
This is a card game where you pick two words from the lined-up cards and combine them to complete the name of a dish.
The key is how many dish names you can recall from memory based on the letters in front of you.
It’s also recommended to shuffle in a dummy card that forms a complete dish name on its own—it can mislead players, spark ideas, or serve as a hint for a similar dish.
It should be fun not only to come up with correct dish names, but also to invent plausible-sounding ones that don’t actually exist.
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.
Cognicise with ‘Moshi Moshi Kame yo’
Here’s an exercise that gets even more exciting when done with several people.
It’s a cognicise routine set to the children’s song “The Rabbit and the Turtle,” which sings about the race between the rabbit and the turtle.
As the song plays, add marching, arm stretches, and hand claps.
Once you get the hang of the moves, try exercising while singing along.
Even if you make mistakes, the bright melody turns them into laughs.
In fact, striving to master the moves, rather than already being able to do them, helps activate the brain.
Don’t worry about mistakes—give it a try! You can also have fun by adding various other movements.
