For Seniors: Fun and Lively Exercise Recreation
Doesn’t a natural smile come to your face when you move along to nostalgic children’s songs and traditional tunes? A popular choice for recreation in senior care facilities is fun exercises that incorporate these familiar songs.
With easy movements you can enjoy while seated and simple choreography you can do while singing, these activities gently support both the mind and body of older adults.
Today, we’ll introduce joyful singing exercises that help stimulate the brain and maintain physical fitness.
Enjoy a smile-filled exercise time with seasonal songs and tunes full of memories.
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Laughter and Communication Exercises (11–20)
Bon Odori exercises done while seated
When you go to summer festivals, you often see people enjoying bon odori, the traditional festival dance.
Many older adults have probably danced it at least once, too.
So this time, we’re introducing a bon odori exercise you can use for summer festival activities at care facilities.
It can be done seated, making it a great option for those who find standing difficult.
For the upper body, raise both hands above your head and clap along; for the lower body, extend your heels forward and march your feet in place.
The moves are all simple, so try dancing along to your favorite bon odori song.
Hotto Atto Nanto Taisō
“Hotto Atto Nanto” is the catchphrase of Nanto City in Toyama Prefecture.
It conveys a sense of security and comfort, giving you a feel for the atmosphere of Nanto.
“From the Green Village” is a song created to commemorate the 5th anniversary of Nanto City’s merger, and let’s move our bodies along with this song.
Despite its slow tempo, the uplifting lyrics of “From the Green Village” bring a calm, peaceful feeling.
It’s a song that resonates with older adults as well.
The rhythm is just right for seniors to move their bodies to, so please give it a try.
Step out, open your legs
This is an exercise where two people sit in chairs facing each other and move their legs into specified positions.
Because the two are close together, it looks as if their leg movements are synchronized, which adds to the fun.
For example, when one person extends a leg forward, the other can open their legs to avoid it—watch your partner’s movements while moving your legs firmly.
Adding variations like increasing the speed or proceeding while singing can create an even more enjoyable atmosphere, so those are recommended as well.
Funny Gesture Exercises
A gesture game where you don’t speak, but watch movements and guess the answer.
Because it’s often played on TV shows and at parties, many older adults may already be familiar with it.
In gesture games, you watch the movements, imagine what they mean, and answer.
Imagining is said to help activate the brain.
What’s more, having older adults perform the prompted actions themselves boosts the brain-training effect.
Since you’re getting older adults to move, it’s like gesture exercise.
Expanding prompts from “eating a mandarin” to “peeling and eating a mandarin” also stimulates the imagination.
Adjust the difficulty to suit the older adults.
The more movements you add, the more smiles you’re likely to see.
Dog and Cat Exercises
When it comes to recreation, some older adults may not feel confident about trying something challenging.
For those people, we recommend this “Dog-and-Cat Exercise.” It’s a simplified version of the “Animal Sounds Quiz” introduced in this article.
Based on the premise that dogs go “wan” and cats go “nyaa,” the quizmaster either says the name of an animal or its sound, and the participant responds with the matching counterpart.
The rules are simple.
Adding light, lively banter like in the video can spark laughter, so please give it a try for inspiration.
Fox Dance
The Fox Dance, which became a huge boom in 2022 as part of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters’ performances.
Danced to “The Fox,” it also significantly boosted the popularity of the team’s fox mascot.
How about trying the Fox Dance as an activity? Staff can wear fox ears and tails and dance like the Fighters Girls, or everyone participating can enjoy the dance together.
There are also dance videos you can enjoy while seated, so be sure to use those as a reference.
Goo Choki Paa Laugh-Out-Loud Exercise
Simply doing rock-paper-scissors in the usual way doesn’t really make people laugh, does it? What we’re introducing here is a rock-paper-scissors exercise that’s essential for recreation and guaranteed to spark laughter.
There are methods like doing rock-paper-scissors quickly, or changing the order—such as scissors-paper-rock.
By adding variations, you can give your brain good stimulation and make the exercise more fun.
Another recommendation for older adults is a rock-paper-scissors exercise where you form animals with your fingers as you go.
More important than doing it perfectly is communicating and having fun together.
