[For Seniors] Great for Brain Training! Enjoy Handmade Puzzles
Puzzles used in recreational activities at senior care facilities.
Thinking about where pieces fit based on their shapes and colors, and using your fingertips to place the pieces, helps stimulate the brain.
Puzzles that can be done while sitting and concentrating alone are an easy type of recreation for older adults.
Here are some handmade puzzle ideas recommended for brain training.
Because they’re handmade, you can also enjoy making them together with seniors as a craft activity.
We’ve gathered uniquely creative ideas that only handmade projects can offer, such as using plastic bottle caps and milk cartons! With a bit of ingenuity, you can create a wide variety of puzzles.
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[For Seniors] Recommended Brain Training! Enjoy with Handmade Puzzles (1–10)
Origami Tangram
Seven pieces in total! Here are some origami tangram ideas.
Let’s make and play with colorful, pop-looking tangrams.
A tangram is a puzzle where you use seven pieces that divide a square to create various shapes.
This time, let’s make one with origami.
You’ll need seven 15 cm square sheets of origami paper and four 7.5 cm square sheets.
We provide clear, careful instructions for folding each part, so follow along and give it a try.
A jigsaw puzzle on a cup noodle lid
Exciting! Here’s an idea for a jigsaw puzzle using instant cup noodle lids.
The designs on cup noodles vary a lot from product to product, right? This is a DIY puzzle that lets you enjoy those differences.
You’ll need seven cup noodle lids, scissors, a ruler, a pen, and so on.
To make it, simply divide each lid into four pieces.
It’s simple, but when you try playing, it’s surprisingly challenging and can take time to complete.
Laminating the pieces is also a nice touch.
Hexagonal Seven-Piece Origami Puzzle
It’s a puzzle game where hexagons are decorated with six colored triangles and arranged so that adjacent sides end up being the same color.
First, prepare seven hexagons folded from black origami and seven sets of triangles in six colors.
Then, carefully attach the triangles to the hexagons without repeating a color on the same hexagon, and the puzzle pieces are ready.
By figuring out how to arrange them so neighboring sides match in color and moving the pieces accordingly, it offers a solid brain workout.
[For Seniors] Recommended for Brain Training! Enjoy with Handmade Puzzles (11–20)
Cardboard Tetris
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Guaranteed to get your heart racing with excitement! Here’s an idea for cardboard Tetris.
Many of you have probably played Tetris in a video game, right? This time, let’s try making a Tetris set out of cardboard.
You’ll need cardboard, colored paper, a permanent marker, double-sided tape or glue, and scissors or a utility knife.
Once you’ve finished making the Tetris minos, hosting a Tetris showdown is sure to be a hit.
Give it a try!
Handmade puzzle made of cardboard
Turn your own drawing into a puzzle! Here are some ideas for making a handmade puzzle out of cardboard.
It sounds fun to create a puzzle that’s uniquely yours, doesn’t it? This is a great, enjoyable idea for people who are good at drawing or simply love to draw! What you’ll need: cardboard, drawing paper, glue, paste, a ruler, a pen, a craft knife, clothespins, and more.
Cut up your drawing and it transforms into a puzzle! Adding a frame can also serve as a hint when fitting the pieces together.
Give it a try!
Picture-matching puzzle from a 100-yen shop
It’s a puzzle game where you match picture tiles you have on hand to the same pictures shown in a grid.
Making it is simple: attach pictures to the compartments of a sectioned case, and attach the same pictures to plastic bottle caps.
A key point is that the bottle caps are just slightly larger than the grid squares—pressing them into the squares also helps train finger dexterity.
Because the activity develops decision-making by having players find matches based on the grid’s pictures, it’s also recommended to mix in some dummy pictures that don’t appear in the grid.
Picture-matching box
It’s a box you can manipulate to enjoy how the images on each face change.
First, use thick paper to make four cubes, line them up, and tape them together, adding a mechanism that lets the faces flip inside out.
If you attach photos or drawings divided into four parts onto each face, the box is complete.
Since the range of motion is limited, you don’t have to think too hard about how to move it—you can simply enjoy the straightforward transformation of the images.
By giving the artwork a theme, such as seasonal changes, you can also enjoy a sense of unity in the piece.