Lovely senior life

[For Seniors] DIY Rehabilitation Aids: A Collection of Easy-to-Make Ideas

Social worker / Care workermoko
My name is Moko, a mother of three who admired my mother and worked in the care industry as a care worker and as a medical social worker (MSW) in a hospital. I will be drawing on my previous experience to write mainly about caregiving. Thank you in advance.
Care Worker Initial Training Certification ObtainedNakajima Junko
Leveraging my experience working as a care worker at a day service, I am currently active as a writer in the caregiving and welfare fields. Beyond writing, I hope to expand my work into web design and illustration. I am a mother of three who has begun studying to become a certified social worker.

The main goal of rehabilitation for older adults is to restore motor functions that have declined due to illness or injury, so they can live independently in their daily lives.

Some people train using store-bought items that have rehabilitative effects.

However, commercial products can be expensive and not easy to purchase.

That’s why this time we’re introducing ideas for handmade rehabilitation tools that you can make with relatively easy-to-find materials, such as those from 100-yen shops.

We’ve collected ideas that are effective for brain training and allow for easy rehabilitation.

It can also be great to start from the process of making them together with older adults.

Please use these ideas as a reference and give them a try.

[For Seniors] DIY Rehabilitation Aids: A Collection of Easy-to-Make Ideas (11–20)

Finger Dexterity and Coordination Training Goods

[Super Easy] A hand and coordination training tool you can make with pins and rubber bands #dayservice #daycare #outpatientrehab #nursingcare #elderly #training #dollarstore

Finger Dexterity and Coordination Training Goods

Isn’t the precise, delicate movement of chopsticks an important action in everyday life? This is a rehabilitation tool that trains fine finger movements through such chopstick motions.

First, prepare a wooden board and mark a border 1 centimeter inside the outer edge.

Insert pins with handles along the markings.

Once you’ve inserted a total of 16 pins, you’re ready to go.

Use disposable chopsticks to hook rubber bands onto the pins.

Freely loop colorful rubber bands around the pins to create various designs.

It also seems fun to use a sample as a reference and think about how to hook the bands to recreate it.

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Insert the back closure into the hole.

[Non-Crowded Solo Rec] Supervised by a Recreation Care Worker! Easy indoor DIY activity video for seniors: 'A game where you put those colored bread bag clips into a cup noodle container with cutter-made holes☆'

Insert the back closure into the hole.

If your training tools are simple and portable, it’s easy to do the exercises anytime.

Also, the key to training is to keep at it every day.

Being able to do it casually makes it easier to keep going.

This time, I’ll introduce tools that use a bag closure clip and an empty instant noodle cup.

A bag closure clip is the light blue or white plastic piece that comes on a loaf of bread.

Make a hole in the bottom of the instant noodle cup and put the bag closure clips inside.

Pinching the small, thin clips can be expected to help train the fingertips.

Competing for time or turning it into a team match could make it enjoyable for older adults as well.

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Restore the Shape! Brain Training Puzzle

Brain Activation with 100-Yen Brain-Training Puzzles: Today’s Brain Training for Fall Prevention, Care Prevention, and Dementia Prevention

Restore the Shape! Brain Training Puzzle

Color stickers are attached to wooden sticks, and the task is to find the stick whose pattern matches from among the others.

It’s simple to make: line up two wooden sticks, place color stickers across both, then cut between the sticks with a craft knife to separate them.

Prepare various sticks with different color-sticker patterns and enjoy a puzzle where you search for matching pairs.

You can adjust the difficulty by changing the number of stickers on the sticks or the complexity of the patterns, so try adding variations as you get used to it.

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Anti-contracture/anti-spasticity aid made from gloves

Hand and fingers stiffen and won’t open due to post-stroke aftereffects; alleviated by modifying gloves

Anti-contracture/anti-spasticity aid made from gloves

After a stroke, some people develop a condition called spasticity, which can leave the fingers clenched.

If left unaddressed, it can progress to contracture, where the fingers become even less movable.

When the hand stays clenched, the nails can dig into the palm and cause wounds, and the hand can get sweaty and lose cleanliness.

Here’s a helpful item to prevent that! Take three layers of gloves and sew the openings together.

Sew the pinky and thumb together to form a loop—and it’s done! During training, place the hand inside the loop, thread the finger portions between your own fingers, and position the hand as if you were holding hands.

The palm area becomes cushioned, preventing the fingers and palm from sticking together.

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Finger training using magnets

[Recommended for Day Service] Finger dexterity training using magnets — all with 100-yen store items

Finger training using magnets

A pegboard is designed to improve fine motor skills by having you pinch several cylindrical blocks—such as red, green, and yellow ones—and move them into a box.

It’s often used for training the upper limbs and fingers after a stroke.

While the price can be fairly high, it turns out you can substitute it using only items from a 100-yen shop.

Prepare a whiteboard, four colors of magnets, a permanent marker, and a ruler.

On the whiteboard, use the permanent marker to plan and adjust a magnet layout in a 2-centimeter grid both vertically and horizontally; this process helps activate the brain.

Pinching the magnets is also said to be effective as finger exercise.

It’s nice that you can do the training while seated, too.

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Finger exercises attaching clothespins

https://www.tiktok.com/@kiju0401/video/7277108790330232082

Let’s use clothespins to train finger dexterity.

Write the names of colors on thick paper or cardboard.

Then clip a clothespin of the same color onto the written color.

Opening a clothespin requires a bit of finger strength, so it helps train the fingers.

Using your fingers to open clothespins is also said to stimulate brain activity.

This was even mentioned in the story of a mother—famous some time ago—who helped her son get into the University of Tokyo.

She reportedly used clothespin clipping as a kind of brain training for her children.

You could also time how long it takes to clip them and turn it into a game to make it more exciting.

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[For Seniors] DIY Rehabilitation Aids: A Collection of Easy-to-Make Ideas (21–30)

Felt and buttons

[Rehabilitation Goods] Handmade—Wait, using scrap materials? You can train your fingers and your brain! Premium-level

Felt and buttons

It’s a simple activity where you thread a button with a string through a piece of felt that has a slit in the middle.

Because threading a button is a movement used in daily life, it can help improve everyday activities like getting dressed.

Start by threading the button using both hands, and when it feels easy or you’ve gotten used to it, try challenging yourself to do it using only one hand.

Since the movement is simple, it’s important to add fun elements—like choosing felt in colors you love—to keep motivation high.

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