[For Seniors] Fun Brain Training! Lively Mind Exercises
Activities like games and brain training exercises conducted in senior facilities—often called “mental workouts”—are said to help prevent dementia or slow its progression.
So this time, we’re introducing “mental workouts for seniors”!
Mental workouts not only provide a sense of accomplishment when a problem is solved and activate brain functions, but they also play an important role in creating opportunities for communication with other seniors.
They are also recommended as a way to relieve stress for seniors who may fall into repetitive daily routines.
By adjusting the difficulty level to suit each senior’s condition and adding creative touches to make the activities easier to engage with, you can further increase their sense of satisfaction.
Try incorporating them into your recreation time or daily routine.
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[For Seniors] Fun Brain Training! Exciting Mental Exercises (31–40)
Guess the Creature Quiz
This quiz asks you to look at a part of an animal photo and guess what animal it is.
Even with familiar animals, it can be hard to tell from just one part if you’re not used to seeing them, so it’s a good test of imagination and memory.
If you’re stuck, try checking the hints.
It’s also a good idea to provide multiple hints for the trickier animals.
And even if there are some you can’t figure out at all, don’t worry—at the very least you’ll learn something new.
Move on to the next question and give it a try.
It’s fun even if you get it wrong.
Letter rearrangement game
I’m sure there are many facilities that want to actively incorporate brain training.
However, we want to avoid brain training that older adults feel reluctant to do.
So how about trying a “letter rearrangement game”? Rearrange scattered hiragana to form words that have proper meaning.
Start simple with fewer characters, and gradually increase the number of characters.
Even if someone makes a small mistake while rearranging, the unexpected answer can be funny and spark laughter.
New Year’s holiday quiz
When it comes to the year-end and New Year period, there’s the year-end wrap-up at work, a big cleanup, and then right away the New Year—Oshogatsu—arrives.
This quiz gathers questions related to that festive season.
The formats vary—multiple-choice, true-or-false, and more—but since you can simply choose answers, people of all ages can enjoy it.
It also teaches the meanings and origins of things like the zodiac, New Year’s decorations, and osechi cuisine, making it educational and a great opportunity to rediscover Japanese traditions.
Shadow Play Story: Silhouette Quiz
It’s a silhouette quiz where you look at shadow pictures and guess what they are.
Many of the questions can be identified at a glance, making it easy for children and seniors to enjoy.
Is the theme sports? It looks like it features equipment used in sports that everyone knows well.
Since we usually recognize things in color, we can get thrown off when they’re in black and white, but if you stay calm and think it through, the answer should come into view.
Pay close attention to the finer details of the silhouettes and try to figure out the answers.
Change calculation
This is a simple problem where you calculate how much change you’ll get after shopping with the money you have.
Using the theme of shopping makes the problem feel familiar, and it may be easier for many people to answer.
It combines basic addition and subtraction, emphasizing speed from question to answer to keep the mind engaged.
The smaller and more detailed the amounts, the higher the difficulty, so it’s recommended to adjust the challenge while checking the participant’s calculation skills.
[For Seniors] Fun Brain Training! Lively Mind Exercises (41–50)
Place Name Brain Training
Geography Brain Training is a game where you can have a lively time together while giving your brain a workout.
Players take turns naming place names that match a given theme, and anyone who can’t answer drops out.
Be careful not to make the theme too difficult, or it can kill the motivation.
If participants are from different regions, it’s best to choose place names that everyone is likely to know, such as the 23 wards of Tokyo.
Alternatively, you can have players name prefectures.
Grid-fill calculation
While brain-training activities recommended for seniors include word chain games (shiritori), riddles, and delayed rock-paper-scissors, this one involves doing arithmetic problems mentally.
Hearing “arithmetic problems” might make you think they’re difficult, but to activate the brain, it’s better to start with simple addition and subtraction rather than hard problems.
Even simple calculations can give you a sense of achievement when you solve them using your head.
As the exercises progress, the numbers get larger, so try gradually challenging yourself to speed up your calculations as well.