[For Seniors] Easy to try. Fun, crowd-pleasing recreation
For those who use senior care facilities or day services, lively recreational activities are important, aren’t they?
In this article, we introduce activities that everyone can try together as well as ones individuals can enjoy on their own.
All of them are exciting and easy to try once you learn the simple rules.
Even games that might look difficult at first—like rock-paper-scissors relays or ball bowling—can be done while seated, so no worries.
We hope you’ll all give them a try so that recreation can help invigorate the minds and bodies of older adults.
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- [For Seniors] Enjoyable Indoor Activities! Recreations and Games That Engage the Mind and Body
- [For Seniors] Exciting Team-Based Recreational Activities
[For Seniors] Easy to Try. Fun, Lively Recreations (161–170)
Passing a ball using towels
Let’s do a lively recreation activity using towels and a ball.
First, have the older adults sit facing each other, each holding a towel with a ball placed on top.
Since the ball rolls easily, adjusting balance is important.
Coordinate your movements with your partner and smoothly pass the ball onto the towel of the person next to you.
The suspense will keep everyone on edge—in the best way—so it’s sure to be a hit.
Because it’s a cooperative game where everyone works together to keep the ball moving, it will also help deepen relationships among the older participants.
Towel ball toss
With the simple rules of “Towel Tamaire,” where you toss towels into a tub or bucket, even those who feel uneasy about recreational activities will be willing to give it a try.
Share tips as you go, such as “It flies farther if you roll it up,” or “It’s easier to throw from underneath.” Whether throwing while standing or seated, or adjusting the distance to the tub, observe the older adults’ conditions and choose methods that allow everyone present to enjoy the activity.
Tower game
Here’s an idea for a tower game that will have you on the edge of your seat.
Stack paper cups to build a tower, and once it’s complete, place a ball on top.
You can challenge yourself to see how fast you can do it, or compete against another person for extra fun.
In this kind of tower game, it’s common for the tower to collapse if you rush.
Try to proceed with a bit of tension, wondering, “Will I knock it down?” That way, when you manage to do it quickly, you’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment.
A game where you make parody versions of the song Tulips
This activity involves taking the lyrics of Tulips, a classic spring children’s song, dividing them into blocks by character count, and then changing the words in each block.
Which part each person is responsible for is determined by a game using a target marked with numbers, and from there, participants come up with words that match the specified character count.
As long as the number matches, any words are acceptable; however, if you have everyone think of words with a spring theme, it should help them focus more deeply on the language.
Once all the blocks are filled, everyone sings the new lyrics together and checks whether the sound and flow feel pleasant.
Team battles included! Let’s search for the letters together.
There’s also a word-hunting game everyone can work on together.
The idea is to search the facility for slips of paper with words on them and then rearrange them to form several new words.
That way, it’s exercise for the body as well as the mind.
It could get exciting as a solo challenge or a team competition.
In team mode, it can also be a good opportunity for participants to bond with each other.
If you have enough space, definitely give it a try.
By the way, aiming for around five words to create seems like a good balance—not too few and not too many.
Old Maid
I’d like to introduce “Baba Mekuri,” a simple yet exciting game.
You shuffle and lay out the cards at random, then flip them over in turn; the player who flips a Joker first loses.
Using oversized playing cards instead of a standard deck can make the game run more smoothly.
You can also play with three or more players using the same rules, or even try a team format for extra fun.
By the way, you can buy oversized playing cards at 100-yen shops.
Pikagororek
The “Pika-Goro Rec” game: after the cue that follows “Pika-pika ~ Goro-goro ~,” which is “Dokan!”, the player with the finger inside quickly pulls it out! Pair up in twos.
One person makes a tube with their hand, and the other inserts their index finger into the tube.
At the shout of “Dokan!”, the person making the tube tries to grab, while the person with the finger tries to pull it out before getting caught.
If you pause before the cue or slip in different words to fake people out, it gets even more exciting! Once you get used to it, try playing in a circle with three or more people: make a tube with one hand, raise your index finger with the other, and insert your finger into the neighboring person’s hand-tube.