[For Seniors] Fun! Games and Ideas to Boost Memory
Games are a form of recreation that let you move your body while having fun and stimulate the brain, helping to prevent dementia.
They’re widely used in many senior and welfare facilities.
This time, among the many types of games, we’ll introduce games and ideas that are especially effective for boosting memory.
As we age, it’s said that recalling things becomes more difficult.
Use the ideas here to strengthen the brain during your usual game activities!
Games also create opportunities for interaction—sparking conversations and helping older adults connect with one another.
By all means, make good use of memory-boosting games!
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[For Seniors] Fun! Games and Ideas to Boost Memory (41–50)
Hinamatsuri Spot-the-Difference Quiz
How about a spot-the-difference game that’s effective as brain training for seniors? Here’s a “Hinamatsuri (Girls’ Day) Spot-the-Difference” activity we recommend for March.
In spot-the-difference, you temporarily memorize the correct picture, right? By using that correct picture as a reference to find the differences, it’s said to be effective for training memory, observation, and concentration.
You can find spot-the-difference pictures online or prepare printed images—one of the nice things about this quiz is that it doesn’t require much effort.
Of course, you can also create a large spot-the-difference illustration in advance and put it up on a whiteboard or similar surface for everyone to enjoy.
[For Seniors] Fun! Memory-Boosting Games and Ideas (51–60)
Brain training with rock-paper-scissors
It’s a game where you create patterns that switch between rock, scissors, and paper hand shapes, then go through those different patterns in order.
The key is thinking about what shape comes next.
Having players say the shapes out loud while making them is also important; thinking, moving the hands, and speaking at the same time helps activate the brain.
Start at a slow tempo at first, then gradually increase the speed to make it more challenging.
It might be easier if you write the sequence on a board in words so players can refer to it while figuring out the shapes.
Gesture Game
Spring is the season when warmth returns, so I think more animals will start showing their faces outside.
This is a classic gesture game where you express various things—centered around such animals—through movement and have the people around you guess what they are.
It seems like it would be exciting to see each person’s unique way of thinking, such as what aspects of each theme they focus on and how they express them through movement.
Since it’s important to clearly imagine the theme, including the movements, the game helps develop creativity and concentration.
Ping-pong
Here’s an easy game you can enjoy with just two items.
It’s a tabletop game using paper cups and ping-pong balls.
Try bouncing the ping-pong ball into the paper cups or tossing it in without a bounce.
The cups have scores written on them in advance, so you can compete for points.
By trying several rounds and adding up the scores, you can also expect some brain-training benefits.
Since ping-pong balls are light, they don’t require much strength and pose little risk of injury if dropped, making this especially recommended for older adults.
Throwing the ping-pong ball also works as an arm exercise, so it’s a fun way to get some training while playing.
Animal sound brain training
It’s a game where you read the written name of an animal, think about which sound that animal makes, and answer.
It tests your ability to connect memories—how quickly you can imagine the sound from the animal’s name.
Start by checking which animal makes which sound, then move on to the letter chart.
Because you can reach the answer by thinking carefully, it’s also important to be mindful of speed.
The process of thinking from the written word and then saying it aloud helps activate the brain.
Treasure Hunt Game
It’s a “treasure hunt game” where you hide a beanbag under a paper cup and guess where it is.
The rules are simple, so it seems likely that many older adults would be able to join.
Preparation is easy too—just get some paper cups and a beanbag.
Remembering which cups don’t have the beanbag helps stimulate the brain.
Lifting the cups also serves as hand and arm training.
This time it’s a game to guess the hidden beanbag, but you can enjoy it with variations.
Draw pictures, such as fruits or fish, on the bottoms of the paper cups.
You can devise games where you try to find the picture that matches a given theme from among the cups.
It’s fun to play solo, and it’s also an engaging game to compete in pairs.
Brain training to create kanji related to spring
This is a game where players try to add components to kanji written on a board to transform them into different characters.
For example, you can add parts to 日 to make 春, or turn 女 into 桜.
Choosing kanji with seasonal themes is recommended.
A key tip is to leave plenty of blank space around each character so players have to think carefully about where to add the parts.
If they get stuck, you can give hints about what kind of kanji it could become or where to add the strokes to help spark ideas.