[For Seniors] Extremely Effective Brain Training! A Fun Collection of Hand Games
As a form of recreation for older adults, many facilities incorporate hand games that involve moving the fingers and arms.
It’s said that making fine movements with the fingertips or performing different motions with the right and left arms helps activate the brain.
In this article, we’ll introduce a variety of hand games that also serve as brain training.
These hand games range widely—from activities that only move the fingertips to ones that use the arms, and even the upper body and legs.
Please choose activities that match participants’ physical condition.
- [For Seniors] Hand and finger play roundup: Finger exercises that lead to brain training
- [For Seniors] Simple Recreational Activities You Can Enjoy While Seated
- [For Seniors] Enjoyable Brain Training! Finger Exercises That Help Prevent Dementia
- Hand games that liven things up for seniors—also great brain training
- [For Seniors] Fun and Engaging Brain-Training Recreation
- [Brain Training for Seniors] Recommended Hand-Play Recreation for Dementia Prevention
- [For Seniors] Fun Recreational Activities Without Equipment
- [For Seniors] Today’s Recommended Activity: Fun and Engaging
- [For Seniors] Popular Hand-Play Songs: Fun Brain-Training Ideas
- [For Seniors] Recommended Easy Strength Training
- [For Seniors] Easy and fun seated activities you can do in your room
- [For Seniors] Fun! Games and Ideas to Boost Memory
- Recreation Activities Effective for Long-Term Care Prevention for Seniors
[For Seniors] Highly Effective Brain Training! A Fun Collection of Hand-Play Activities (11–20)
scratch art
Highly recommended for those who enjoy steady, hands-on work! Let me introduce scratch art sold at 100-yen shops.
You can create authentic artwork by using the included stick to scratch sheets that have designs applied with a special finish.
There’s a wide variety of designs—constellations, animals, flowers, landscapes, and famous characters—so just choosing one is fun.
It’s enjoyable to complete the design as-is for a vibrant result, but you can also freely customize it, allowing for many different ways to enjoy it depending on the person.
Because it involves fine work with your fingertips, it can also be expected to help with hand dexterity training and brain exercises.
Give it a try!
Sticky
Have you heard of a game called “Sticky”? You place three colors of sticks with different thicknesses inside a ring, roll a special die, and pull out a stick of the color that comes up.
The person who eventually knocks it over loses, and the others are ranked based on the points from the colors of the sticks they have pulled up to that point.
As turns progress, the number of sticks decreases, gradually upsetting the balance and making the latter half thrilling.
Beyond being a fun game, choosing which stick to pull and carefully extracting it can also serve as brain training.
Give it a try!
Rubik’s Cube
This is a classic puzzle where you twist and turn the blocks to align all six faces.
It tests your ability to visualize how each square will move and where it will end up.
Relying on intuition alone makes completing all six faces difficult, so learning specific algorithms is important—starting by solving just one face is recommended.
As you get better at moving the blocks to the positions you intend, you’ll also start to feel yourself getting closer to completing all six faces.
Ojami Wobble Game
Many older adults have probably played otedama (beanbag juggling) before, right? Some may have even skillfully used their hands and fingers to juggle two or three beanbags in the air.
Let’s play a fun game that uses familiar otedama to work the fingertips.
Place a paper plate on top of a short piece of a cut plastic wrap or foil core.
Then, place the beanbags on the paper plate one by one.
Since the paper plate is unstable, it wobbles each time you add a beanbag, creating a thrilling, heart-pounding effect.
It seems like older adults can enjoy a bit of tension while engaging in the game.
By the way, “ojami” is what otedama is called in the Kansai region.
Ehomaki Game
Let’s turn the ehomaki we eat on Setsubun into a game.
Ehomaki are filled with lots of ingredients, right? On top of paper “nori” and “rice,” place ingredients made from long, thin strips of construction paper or fabric.
The key is to prepare colors that look like real ehomaki fillings, such as red and green.
Then, using both hands, roll it up as if you were making a real sushi roll.
When it’s finished, face the lucky direction for that year and take a big bite.
This idea of making ehomaki from paper or fabric seems like something older adults would also enjoy.
It’s a perfect game to do in February.
clothespin chain
Do you know where muscle strength in older adults starts to decline? The answer is that it begins with the fingertips.
When fingertip strength decreases, it can affect daily life—for example, making it difficult to get dressed or causing more food to be dropped while eating.
Try using clothespins to train the fingertips.
Set up a string slightly higher than the head height of a seated older adult.
Then attach clothespins to the string.
It’s a simple activity, but it provides fingertip movement training with minimal strain on the body.
It can also be done as a game while chatting with people around you.
For Seniors: Highly Effective Brain Training! A Fun Collection of Hand Games (21–30)
Clap-Clap Game
This is a game where everyone tries to clap right in time with the designated person’s movements.
The designated person turns to the side, extends one hand, and then brings the other hand over to overlap it.
Everyone claps at the exact moment the hands meet.
If the hands come together too slowly, it’s hard to sync the sound, so keep a certain pace.
While you might expect a steady rhythm, the key to making the game exciting is throwing in twists—like not letting the hands meet on the final beat.