[Elderly Care Facilities] Let’s Have Fun Together! Exciting Sports Day Events
In senior facilities such as day-service centers, isn’t it common to hold sports days on a regular basis?
Along with everyday recreational activities, try incorporating events that feel like a traditional sports day!
In this article, we introduce familiar sports day events with ideas tailored to the physical and mental conditions of older adults.
Some ideas can even be enjoyed while seated, making them accessible to many seniors.
Use this article as a guide to create a sports day that everyone can enjoy together.
- [For Seniors] A Fun Sports Day! Recreational Activities You Can Do Safely
- [Nursing Home] Recommended for Sports Day! Lively Recreational Activities
- [For Seniors] Exciting Team-Based Recreational Activities
- [For Seniors] Simple Recreational Activities You Can Enjoy While Seated
- [For Seniors] Have Fun! A Collection of Group Game Recreation Ideas
- [For Seniors] Refresh Your Mood! Lively, Get-Moving Games
- [For Seniors] Recreational Activities Enjoyable in Large Groups
- [For Seniors] Easy and fun seated activities you can do in your room
- Recommended Events for a Sports Day at Day Service Centers for the Elderly
- [For Seniors] Add Enjoyment to Everyday Life: A Compilation of Activity Care Plans
- [For Seniors] Fun Recreational Activities Without Equipment
- [For Seniors] Fun Small-Group Recreation
- Liven up the Respect-for-the-Aged gathering: A roundup of recreational activities everyone can enjoy.
[Elderly Care Facilities] Let’s Have Fun Together! Energetic Sports Day Events (131–140)
Giant Ball Relay
The “Giant Ball Relay” is a game that always gets everyone excited at elementary and junior high school sports days! You can enjoy this activity indoors and regardless of age.
Prepare a large ball, such as a balance ball.
Arrange chairs in a single row and have participants sit; then pass the giant ball from the person in front to the person behind.
Because you have to use your hands and arms to pass it, it helps strengthen the hands, fingertips, and arm muscles.
People don’t often get to handle such a large ball in daily life, so older adults are likely to have a great time with it too.
footrace
Footraces are a staple event at sports days, but for many seniors, standing up and running can be difficult.
In that case, prepare a long towel—or tie towels together to make one—and a plastic bottle.
Place the towel on the floor in front of the seated senior, and set the plastic bottle on the far end of the towel.
At the signal “Ready, go!”, the senior uses the strength of their legs to reel in the towel, pulling the distant plastic bottle toward them.
The person who pulls the bottle in the fastest and manages to touch it wins! You can do this while seated and without using a lot of strength, so give it a try.
Newspaper Tug-of-War
This is a newspaper tug-of-war, where newspapers are used as ropes.
Start by twisting sheets of newspaper to make your tug-of-war rope! How sturdy a rope you can create is the key to this event.
Sit in chairs facing your opponent, hook your rope onto your opponent’s rope, and pull.
The person whose rope breaks loses! It fully engages the fingers and arm strength, which may provide good stimulation for the brain.
Because it’s done seated, even older adults can enjoy tug-of-war safely.
If you’re looking for ideas for a sports day event, give this a try.
rod soccer
“Stick Soccer” is a game where you control a soccer ball with a stick and aim for the goal.
It’s a sport you can fully enjoy even without any soccer experience.
Make the stick by rolling up newspaper or similar materials.
You can make it longer and decorate it with colored tape, too! Divide into teams, sit facing each other on chairs, and start the game! Set a goal, and the team that first uses their sticks to move the ball to that point wins.
Since it’s a team sport, communicating with your teammates is also important!
Wheelchair users can enjoy soccer and hockey too
Soccer and hockey that wheelchair users can enjoy are gaining attention as fun recreational activities in facilities.
The idea of using a ball made from milk cartons and a loop of string as the goal is wonderful.
Because you can kick the ball with your feet, it also helps strengthen lower-body muscles.
Splitting into teams creates an atmosphere where everyone can cooperate.
It’s appealing that both wheelchair users and those who can walk can enjoy the activity together, deepening interaction within the facility.
The eco-friendly aspect of using recycled materials is a big plus.
It’s a great idea that allows older adults to move their bodies enjoyably, tailored to their physical and mental conditions.
obstacle course
We adapted the popular sports day event, the obstacle race, for seniors.
Instead of the seniors competing themselves, daruma dolls made from cardboard race each other! Attach casters to the cardboard daruma so they glide easily on the floor, and add a string so seniors can control them with ease.
For obstacles that block the daruma’s path, slightly raised pieces of cardboard work well.
Avoid making the steps too high, or the daruma won’t be able to get over them.
Balancing the daruma is tricky, which also makes this great for helping prevent cognitive decline in seniors!
A bingo game that uses both the head and the body to have fun
This is a game where you toss beanbags into targets arranged in a grid, aiming to line up a row.
By adjusting the number and size of the squares and the distance to the targets, you can tailor the rules to the participants and make it exciting.
The key is how you throw the beanbags so they reach the targets; it helps build concentration for gauging distances to far objects and for adjusting throwing strength.
Assess your own abilities carefully and decide which targets you’re more likely to reach.
