[For Seniors] Recreational activities and games that let you have fun while strengthening your legs
Here are some fun recreational activities that help build leg strength.
We’ve gathered options older adults can really enjoy, like soccer, bowling, and golf using balls or balloons.
These friendly group games—where you practice controlling force and direction—strengthen the legs while creating opportunities to communicate with others.
Moving your legs gently and without strain can also make everyday movements smoother.
Find your favorite activity and put it to use for daily health and wellness!
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- [For Seniors] A Fun Sports Day! Recreational Activities You Can Do Safely
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Games and Gymnastics Using Balls and Balloons (11–20)
Gum-Gum Kick Bowling
It’s a game where a newspaper ball is connected to your foot with a rubber band, and you try to kick it to knock down milk-carton pins in front of you.
It tests fine control of your foot—like whether you can bring the ball into a good kicking position and transfer your kicking power effectively.
You can also see individual styles: will you focus on a single, concentrated kick to topple as many pins as possible, or prioritize speed by kicking repeatedly? You can adjust the difficulty by changing the length of the rubber band or the size of the ball, so let’s have people try it in various configurations.
Balloon basket
This is a game where you control a balloon using your foot movements and aim to put it into a basket, like basketball.
Because a light balloon floats with even a small amount of force, your delicate control of how hard you kick it will be tested.
If you place the basket along a wall, you can think about ways to use the wall’s rebound to your advantage, which is also recommended.
Since you’ll be moving your feet while focusing on the balloon, be mindful of supporting your body—such as holding onto a chair with your hands—so you don’t lose balance and fall.
Balloon kick
This is a balloon kick game where you kick balloons into a target frame! Attach the cut-off bottom of a milk carton to the balloon’s knot as a weight so the balloon doesn’t drift around.
Then just kick the balloon so it fits neatly into a frame made from twisted newspapers or similar! Because balloons are light, they travel far even with a small amount of force, so older adults can kick them while seated and still send them flying nicely.
You can also prepare multiple frames and set rules to score the total points of the frames the balloon lands in, or try other variations to enjoy the game in different ways.
Don’t knock it over, okay?
All you need for this “Don’t Knock It Over” game is a plastic bottle filled with water, a towel, and a small ball.
Regardless of athletic ability, it’s a recreation where you place the bottle on the towel without knocking it over.
Kick golf seemed hard to set up, but this one might be easier to try! Since the ball is small, your grandchild might be able to play too.
Bomb GO
This is a game where players kick crumpled newspaper balls in two colors, aiming to get their team’s balls into the opponent’s side.
Sit in two facing rows, and mark a white line in the middle with tape to divide the territory.
Through the game, encourage plenty of leg movement, such as moving the feet back and forth to kick and stretching the legs to reach distant balls.
If you draw the white line at a distance that the feet can’t reach and place some balls there as well, players will also focus on finely controlling their foot movements by bumping nearby balls to move others—this setup is highly recommended too.
Plastic bottle bowling with your feet
It’s a bowling-like game where you kick a ball to knock down as many plastic bottles lined up in front of you as possible.
You sit in a chair and launch the ball using the strength of your legs, so it tests both how to move to generate power and how well you can control direction.
As the distance to the pins increases, the leg strength required and the difficulty of control change, so gradually make it harder and build up your leg muscles.
Playing by real bowling rules—seeing how many you can knock down within a limited number of turns—makes it even more fun and competitive, so that approach is also recommended.
Games and Exercises Using Balls and Balloons (21–30)
Balloon volleyball holding hands
Balloon volleyball played while holding hands is an activity where cooperation becomes the key point.
Forming groups of four and playing while holding hands may be more challenging than regular balloon volleyball.
I believe that calling out to one another is the secret to keeping the rally going.
When rallies that initially failed start to continue as everyone coordinates their efforts, older adults may also feel a sense of accomplishment.
With balloon volleyball played while holding hands, the laughter and encouraging shouts will fill the room with energy, making it a fun and lively time.
