[For Seniors] Let’s Have Fun While Training the Brain! Handmade Card Game Ideas
Would you like to play a homemade card game that can help train the brain?
It seems that many care facilities incorporate card games into their recreational activities.
So this time, we’d like to introduce ideas for card games for older adults using handmade items.
Games naturally engage the mind, so you can expect brain-training benefits.
What’s more, using your fingertips to flip and grasp cards also helps stimulate the brain.
Handmade cards can feel more personal, making the games even more memorable.
Homemade card games offer a kind of fun that’s different from store-bought products.
We hope you’ll find these ideas useful in your recreational activities.
- [For Seniors] Great for Brain Training! Enjoy Handmade Puzzles
- [For Seniors] Simple Tabletop Games: Fun and Engaging Recreational Activities
- [For Seniors] Handmade Game Ideas You Can Enjoy
- [For Seniors] Fun and Engaging Brain-Training Recreation
- [For Seniors] Great for Brain Training! Question Card Ideas
- [For Senior Care Facilities] Fun Bingo Game Ideas That Also Work as Brain Training
- Fun Brain Training! Memory Games for Seniors
- [For Seniors] A Brain-Training, Crowd-Pleasing Word Search Game
- [For Seniors] Fun Brain Training! Lively Mind Exercises
- [For Seniors] Recommended Handmade Activities! Simple Ideas
- [For Seniors] DIY Rehabilitation Aids: A Collection of Easy-to-Make Ideas
- [For Seniors] Recommended Even for People with Dementia! Simple Recreational Activities
- [For Seniors] Have Fun! A Collection of Group Game Recreation Ideas
[For Seniors] Have Fun While Training Your Brain! Handmade Card Game Ideas (11–20)
Animal Battle
Let’s make our own original cards and have some fun! First, prepare six cards.
If you’re repurposing unused cards, we recommend putting a card and a piece of white paper into a sleeve to create one.
After choosing a theme you like—such as animals or vehicles—write the card’s name, a number showing its power from 0 to 6, and draw an illustration on each card.
Two players battle with three cards each.
Both players place a card face down, reveal them at the same time, and the card with the higher power wins.
You play three battles, and the first to win two is the overall winner.
It sounds fun from the very process of making your original cards.
The rules are simple, and you can play with just a few cards, so give it a try!
Kanji Puzzle
Here’s a kanji puzzle to boost creativity.
Print out kanji characters and cut them in half.
Try combining the pieces to form the correct characters.
Once you get the hang of it, you can raise the difficulty by cutting the kanji into quarters.
If you laminate the printed and cut pieces, you can use them over and over.
It’s a fun brain workout that builds your ability to visualize kanji shapes and identify where each component belongs.
You can make it even more exciting by setting a time limit or forming teams.
Momotaro Card Game
Let me introduce a Momotaro-themed card game based on the Japanese folktale “Momotaro.” Prepare a total of 63 cards: nine each of Momotaro, Monkey, Pheasant, Dog, Red Ogre, Blue Ogre, and Green Ogre.
Place all cards face down, and each player draws three cards to start.
The rule is that the first person to complete one of the following three patterns wins: three of the same picture; the trio of Dog, Monkey, and Pheasant; or three ogres of different colors.
On your turn, return one of your cards face down to the table and draw a different card, working toward completing your chosen set.
The charm of this game is in devising strategies for which set to complete and remembering where others have returned their cards—you’ll have your brain running at full power while having fun! Give it a try!
Card flip
This is a simple card game where each card has a different color on the front and back, and players keep flipping them to a designated color.
It’s basically a competitive format: both players flip cards to their own color and compete to see which color is more prevalent when time runs out.
Consider rules like allowing flips with only one hand to help balance participants’ abilities as much as possible.
A 2-on-2 team match is also recommended, as it gets heated by emphasizing not just speed but strategy as well.
The “Haa” game
I’d like to introduce a game called “Haa Game,” where everyone acts out prompts and guesses each other’s roles.
Staff make handmade voting cards and voting chips using drawing paper, hand them out, and then everyone selects one prompt card from the set we prepared.
After distributing an Act Card to each person, act out the prompt’s line according to the situation assigned to you.
When acting, you may only use your voice and facial expressions.
The others consider which kind of “haa” you’re performing and vote.
After everyone has acted, reveal the correct answers.
Each correct guesser earns 1 point, and the performer earns points equal to the number of people who guessed correctly.
The player with the most points wins! It’s a game that encourages active communication while giving your brain a workout.
Choose the middle letter and make a three-letter word.
@husanasomana Let's have fun making handmade cards!#Indoor PlayChildcareProductionwork
♬ Original song – husanasomana – Sakafure (formerly Asomana-kan)
This is an idea for making three-letter words by choosing the middle letter.
The concept is to correctly match quiz cards with answer cards.
For example, if the quiz card says “な○ま,” you would look for “か” among the answer cards.
Depending on the quiz, there might be multiple correct answers.
Once you get used to it, you can also increase or decrease the number of letters.
The more letters there are, the more complex the quiz becomes.
First, try finding three-letter words that could work as quiz prompts.
[For Seniors] Let’s Train the Brain While Having Fun! Handmade Card Game Ideas (21–30)
Milk Carton Edition! Word-Finding Brain Training Game
This is a game where players make words that fit a theme using hiragana cards laid out on the table.
Preparation is simple—just cut up milk cartons and stick the 50-sound syllabary onto them—so people can easily join from the setup stage.
As you add more sets of the 50 sounds, the range of words you can create expands, and the process of looking for letters takes more effort, which enhances the brain-training effect.
It could also be exciting to proceed with a cooperative pattern where players create multiple words together, leading naturally to communication.