[For Seniors] Play Long and Have Fun! A Whiteboard Activity with Brain-Training Elements

A quiz where you guess what the initials stand for

[One-Character Quiz Brain Training] What do these initials stand for? Let's have fun with a whiteboard!

It might have been the most popular variety show of the 1990s.

Even if you don’t know the show itself, you’ve probably heard the phrase “Magical Banana.” Yes, this brain-training game was a big hit on “Magical Zunō Power!” It uses only hiragana to depict illustrations—a quiz where intuition and flashes of insight are key.

You express faces or animals using only initial letters, targeting that sweet spot of “almost obvious but not quite,” making it a truly addictive brain workout.

No drawing skills required, so even people who aren’t good at drawing are totally fine!

A Quiz on Difficult Kanji Related to Food

[Difficult Kanji] Food Edition! Introducing 20 tricky kanji reading questions that are hard to read when written in kanji

When you go into a Chinese restaurant, of course there’s a menu, but many items like ramen and gyoza are written in katakana, right? It’s the same with sushi toppings—things like aji or sanma aren’t written in kanji.

Even for foods we eat often and see all the time, when they’re suddenly written in kanji, we often can’t read them.

So how about everyone trying their hand at difficult-to-read kanji? Even graduates of famous universities or former teachers might struggle quite a bit! There are lots of quizzes uploaded on video sites, so be sure to make good use of them.

Quick and easy! Whiteboard Bingo

Quick Rec! Whiteboard Rec! Brain training for seniors and kids! O/X Bingo

How about trying Whiteboard Bingo, a game you can enjoy if you have a whiteboard? Preparation is simple: draw lines on the whiteboard to create a grid.

Draw lines so that it becomes 5 squares by 5 squares.

The rules are that players are split into O and X and take turns marking the grid.

The first person to place four of the same mark in a row—vertically, horizontally, or diagonally—wins.

It’s a game that gives your brain a real workout, as you aim to block your opponent from lining up their marks while also creating your own line of four, making it perfect for mental exercise.

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utatane

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Witty Letter Quiz

Brain Teaser: Tonchi Letter Quiz 65 – Senior Brain Training Recreation!

It’s a game where you look at letters arranged in unusual shapes or patterns and think about what they represent.

You search for what feels off about the displayed word and unravel it, which leads you to the answer.

If you can’t come up with the answer from the puzzle alone, you can gradually reveal hints and enjoy the feeling of getting closer.

Asking players to find alternative expressions in their heads or expand images from the letters helps stimulate the brain.

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kappamaki

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Animal sound brain training

[Whiteboard Brain Training] See and react! Answer with the animal sounds. Difficulty ★★★ Senior Recreation

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.

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kappamaki

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Let’s find words within a word.

Recreation for seniors: super easy and fun brain training even during the COVID-19 pandemic! Word-search game

I’d like to introduce a game where everyone can play at the same time and get excited: a “find words inside a word” game.

In this game, you rearrange or extract letters from a given target word and see how many other words you can make.

For example, if the target is “とうもろこし” (corn), you can make words like “うし” (cow) or “しも” (frost).

Decide on a target word and a time limit, and you can compete to see who can find the most words.

You can also share with each other, saying, “Here are the words I found.”

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yamamoto

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Brain training to create kanji related to spring

Summer brain-training game ideas for seniors that avoid crowding. Using a whiteboard, turn “insect” into “firefly.”

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.

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kappamaki

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