[For Seniors] Fun and Engaging Brain-Training Recreation
We’ve put together a collection of brain-training puzzles and simple exercises that you’ll want to actively incorporate into recreational activities.
It’s easy to get bored with the same types of puzzles and games, right?
Let’s liven up your recreation time with puzzles you haven’t tried before, or some quirky and fun challenges and exercises!
If it’s difficult, try allowing more time to think or offering hints so everyone can enjoy it as they go.
We’re also introducing plenty of activities that can make people laugh and lighten the mood, even if they don’t know the answer.
Feel free to use these as a reference and put them to good use!
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- [For Seniors] Hand and finger play roundup: Finger exercises that lead to brain training
- [For Seniors] Easy and fun seated activities you can do in your room
- [For Seniors] Fun Brain Training! A Collection of Tricky Quizzes You’ll Definitely Get Stumped By
- Hand games that liven things up for seniors—also great brain training
- [For Seniors] Fun Recreational Activities Without Equipment
- [For Seniors] Find daily brain training. Today’s recommended brain workout.
- [For Seniors] A Brain-Training, Crowd-Pleasing Word Search Game
- Fun Brain Training! Memory Games for Seniors
- [For Seniors] Lively Wordplay Game: Fun Recreation for Elderly Care
- [For Seniors] Today’s Recommended Activity: Fun and Engaging
- [Brain Training for Seniors] Recommended Hand-Play Recreation for Dementia Prevention
[For Seniors] Fun and Engaging Brain-Training Recreational Activities (1–10)
Tourist Attraction Quiz
This is a quiz where you answer which prefecture various tourist attractions across Japan are located in.
Let’s create questions featuring popular sightseeing spots, starting with temples and shrines.
Older participants can answer from a wide range of perspectives, such as places related to their hometowns or destinations they’ve visited on trips.
It could also be engaging to share not only the names of the attractions but also their origins and history.
For more difficult questions, we recommend giving hints related to the prefecture of the answer.
How about trying a brain-training activity themed around traditional architecture?
Paper Cup Shooting Game
Here’s an introduction to a target-shooting game where you launch ping-pong balls using a tool made from a paper cup.
To make the launcher, cut out the bottom of a paper cup and attach a balloon—done! Put a ping-pong ball inside the cup, pull back the balloon, and release; the ball shoots out.
In this shooting game, the targets are also paper cups.
You can play one-on-one matches, or everyone can take turns and compete to see who can knock down the most cups—either way it’s sure to be exciting.
Because the game involves several actions—picking up a ping-pong ball and placing it in the cup, pulling the balloon, aiming at the targets—it’s perfect for dexterity practice and brain training.
Who am I?
Who am I? From limited clues, guess the name of the person or animal presented in the question.
Let’s feature famous figures active in the Showa era and have participants think it through.
If you’re hosting this at a nursing home or day service, it’s also nice to use staff members or residents as themes.
You can come up with original hints like “If it’s sweets, I prefer chocolate” or “I’m more of a rice person than bread.” While thinking about the correct answer, this quiz can serve as brain training and help deepen interaction among older adults.
[For Seniors] Fun and Engaging Brain-Training Recreational Activities (11–20)
Ready, set! Game
This is a full-body game that uses both arms and legs—if you think of it like the finger-counting game “Yubisuma,” it might be easier for younger people to understand.
The rules are: in time with the cue “Ready, go!” one participant calls out a number.
At the same time, the other participants raise any combination of arms and legs as they like.
If the called number matches the total number of raised arms and legs, the caller wins; if it doesn’t match, the turn passes to the next person to call a number, and the process repeats.
Because you have to think strategically to keep your opponent from winning while moving your body at the same time, it’s a good workout for both your mind and body.
inverted character
It’s a game where characters are presented in reverse—as if reflected in a mirror—and you read them.
The rules are simple, but when you try it, it’s surprisingly difficult and makes for a lively activity everyone can enjoy together.
The prompts can be created by facility staff or family members, and if you search for “mirror text” on YouTube, you can find all sorts of challenges! There are not only ones you can solve at a glance, but also some that make you go “hmm…” and really think, so take your time and enjoy.
poetry karuta
It’s a game that uses popular songs, a little different from an “intro quiz.” It’s a recommended recreation that lets you train your brain while having fun, engaging your sight, hearing, and memory.
First, make about 50 pairs of cards with the song title and the opening lyrics written on them.
These will serve as the caller cards and the taker cards, so think of it like karuta—that should make it easy to understand.
The rules are simple: lay out the cards with the song titles, and the host sings the song written on the caller card.
Even if you’re not very confident in your singing, it’s fine—it will definitely get lively.
It’s a truly enjoyable quiz that sparks conversations like, “When this song was popular…” and leads to fun reminiscing.
Older participants are likely to know lots of popular songs.
Rock-Paper-Scissors Brain Training
Rock-paper-scissors is something we’ve been familiar with since childhood.
In some regions, people make “scissors” by forming a gun-like shape with the index finger and thumb.
Let’s try some brain training using rock-paper-scissors.
A classic is doing delayed rock-paper-scissors to the rhythm of “Jan-ken, pon, pon,” and consistently losing to the host.
It’s easy to think of the “winning move,” but coming up with the “losing move” doesn’t come as quickly.
There’s plenty of room for customization, like making one hand show a winning move while the other shows a losing move, or speeding up the tempo and winning ten times in a row.
Although the finger shapes differ, there are rock-paper-scissors-like games around the world, so imitating those can also make for good brain training.