Hand games that liven things up for seniors—also great brain training

Earthworm Exercises

Care Recreation Plaza.book Vol. 6 – Finger Exercises – Earthworm Exercise

Some older adults may have had the experience of finding earthworms when digging soil in a field or garden.

Let’s try mimicking the worm’s movements with your fingers.

In time with phrases like “Worm Exercise,” bend and straighten both index fingers.

It may look easy at first glance, but some people find it challenging until they get used to it.

Even if you make mistakes with the finger movements, moving your fingers while thinking about the accompanying words is said to stimulate the brain.

It’s a finger exercise you can use not only as part of a daily routine but also during breaks in conversation or recreation.

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Exercise along to ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It’

Brain-Training Exercise with Songs: “If You’re Happy and You Know It” — A Super-Easy Workout for Seniors

Let’s do some exercises to the children’s song “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” Move your hands open-and-close (clench and unclench your fists) in time with the music.

Then, following the lyrics, clap your hands and stomp your feet.

It could be fun to add your own variations beyond the actions in the lyrics, like lightly patting your thighs or doing a banzai pose with your arms raised.

It also gets more exciting if people don’t know what action is coming next.

It might be a bit more challenging, but once everyone gets used to the movements, try gradually stepping it up.

With its bright melody and lyrics, this activity is likely to warm the hearts of older adults as well.

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Join hands and let go

Hand play brain training: clasp and release your hands #short #funny #braintraining #fun #rec #handplay

Let’s exercise our hands by interlacing and separating our fingers.

We’ll move our hands to the cues “interlace” and “separate.” Try calling out phrases like “don’t interlace” or repeating “separate,” similar to the flag-raising exercise done with red and white flags.

Just that will raise the difficulty.

They say the brain is more stimulated by challenging tasks and even by failure than by things that are easy.

So you don’t need to aim for perfection.

Please do this in a fun, warm atmosphere where it’s okay to make mistakes.

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finger exercises

Brain-training exercises: finger exercises that even seniors will want to try, covering up to a somewhat difficult level.

Here are some exercises with higher difficulty levels that we recommend even for older adults who are used to finger exercises.

If you practice daily, some seniors may find they’ve become accustomed to the movements.

Others might feel bored with the same finger routines.

In that case, let’s increase the difficulty by adding hand movements.

Hand play has a brain-training effect.

Not limited to hand play, it’s said that when something feels “a little difficult,” the brain becomes more active.

So please give it a try—even if you make mistakes, that’s perfectly okay.

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finger exercises

[Brain Activation] Finger Exercises #DementiaPrevention #Dementia #Elderly

You may have heard that doing finger exercises can activate the brain and may help prevent dementia.

It’s said that many nerves are concentrated in the fingertips.

Because of this, moving the hands and fingers can stimulate the brain.

Another appeal of finger exercises is that anyone who can move their hands can do them easily, anytime and anywhere.

Try bending your fingers one by one while counting, or make a fist and an open hand with each hand and alternate pushing them forward.

Since these can be done while seated, they can also encourage interaction with those around you and help promote communication.

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Listening hand game

A perfect upbeat listening-and-hand-play activity for spring #EurhythmicsTeaching #HandPlay #Shorts #EurhythmicsRoom

There are expressive ways of describing things like flowers and insects, right? For example, for dandelion fluff you might say “fluffy,” and for butterflies you might say “fluttering.” Try using words like these, and when a prompt is given, add hand movements as you answer.

It can be a word game as well as a hand-play activity.

You could also play music and do it to the rhythm.

Like eurhythmics, it’s said to promote mental and physical well-being and even offer brain-training benefits.

If you choose seasonally themed prompts, it may help older adults sense the seasons and the passage of time.

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Paraphrase Rock-Paper-Scissors

Hand-play brain training: Paraphrase Rock-Paper-Scissors #short #funny #braintraining #fun #recreation

When you think of rock-paper-scissors, you think of rock, scissors, and paper.

But let’s try some exercises by using different expressions based on the hand shapes.

For example, you can call rock a punch or a stone.

You can also use numbers, like 5 for paper and 2 for scissors.

Rewording it can serve as brain training, and speaking the words can also help improve oral function.

It would be fun for everyone to rename the rock-paper-scissors hands and either make the same hand movements together or actually play while saying the new words.

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