[For Seniors] Enjoy Your Alone Time: Perfect Ideas for Passing the Time
Among elderly people, there are likely some who have more alone time than they know what to do with.
Some live by themselves, and others spend much of the day alone because their family members are at work.
There may also be those who are thinking about how to spend their alone time while they’re in the hospital.
In this article, we introduce recreational activities that are perfect for passing the time and enjoying solo moments.
We’ve gathered easy options that you can start as hobbies without much effort.
If you find something here that seems suitable for an older adult you know, please share it with them.
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[For Seniors] Enjoy Your Solo Time: Perfect Ideas to Pass the Time (21–30)
Paper Cup Whack-a-Mole
Paper cup whack-a-mole is a perfect recreation activity for older adults.
Make a hammer out of a paper cup and play a game where you cover and capture placed paper cups.
It can be enjoyed with one hand, so everyone can get excited together.
Since you move your hands, it also seems to help with flexibility.
Competing to see how many you can get within a set time is also recommended—it really sparks a sense of challenge.
The charm of this game is that you can have fun moving your body while improving your concentration.
The thrill of the moment you capture a cup is irresistible.
You can enjoy it solo, too, so give it a try!
PET bottle cap puzzle
Let’s have fun with a puzzle game you can make using plastic bottle caps! Prepare a sheet of paper divided into a 3×3 grid and nine plastic bottle caps, then draw the same letters or shapes on both the paper and the caps.
Once you’re done, place each cap according to the numbers or designs in the squares.
Can you place them all without making a mistake? Mixing in similar-looking designs or letters can also help train cognitive skills.
Since it’s a handmade game rather than a store-bought one, feel free to enjoy it with your own tweaks, like increasing the number of pieces.
Papa Panda, Mama Panda, Grandpa Panda, Grandma Panda
One of the classic tongue twisters, this one features animals as its motif.
The cute scene of animals lined up comes to mind through the words.
The sounds “pa” and “ma” are hard to pronounce without first closing your lips, so when they occur in succession, the key is that it really gets your mouth moving.
Because closing your lips takes an extra step, being mindful of your mouth movements is important to both enunciate clearly and increase speed.
Aim for clear pronunciation first, then gradually speed up to train the muscles of your mouth.
home vegetable garden
If you give home vegetable gardening a try, you’re sure to find it enjoyable.
Some people may not be quite sure about the difference between gardening and home vegetable gardening.
Broadly speaking, gardening refers to growing ornamental plants.
Home vegetable gardening, on the other hand, means growing and harvesting edible plants like fruits and vegetables.
The clear goal of eating what you grow can be a strong motivator and help you keep it up over the long term.
It’s also nice that you can share your harvest and use it as a way to connect with others.
Family photo
These days, high-quality cameras are more affordable than they used to be, and smartphone camera quality has also improved, making it easy to take lots of beautiful photos.
With that in mind, how about asking your son’s family and your daughter’s family to share photos of your grandchildren with you? If you’re comfortable using a smartphone or computer, having them share photos through an app would be great.
If smartphones or computers are difficult, you could ask them to create a custom photo album, or have them set up a digital photo frame that can be updated remotely.
Time spent looking at cherished family photos will become precious moments that nothing else can replace.
Transcription
Transcription, which helps build concentration and writing skills, is a great pastime for older adults who enjoy reading newspapers and books.
By quietly copying a newspaper column, a passage from a favorite novel, or the lyrics of a favorite song, you can deepen your understanding of the text and language even more than by simply reading.
If you don’t have a particular piece you want to copy, it’s also a good idea to use workbooks that come with preset passages.
Handwriting is also excellent for stimulating the brain, so consider recommending it to those who often spend time doing nothing.
A game where you flip over plastic bottle caps placed in an egg carton
Using just a single disposable chopstick, flip the plastic bottle caps inside an egg carton.
If you’re deft, it can even look like you’re cooking takoyaki.
The trick is actually all about where you insert the chopstick and how you move it.
By rubbing the chopstick against the cap, the pressure makes the bottle cap spin around.
Because you’re using a tool and performing fine, precise movements, the stimulation travels from the hand to the brain, so you can also expect brain-training benefits.
If you time it, it becomes competitive, making it fun both solo and in small groups.
