[For Seniors] Lively! Entertainment Ideas for New Year’s Parties
With the New Year upon us, some staff members at senior care facilities are likely planning New Year’s parties.
Are you perhaps racking your brains over what entertainment to prepare?
What kinds of activities would delight the elderly residents?
This time, we’ll introduce nostalgic New Year’s games and simple exercises set to New Year’s songs.
Classic New Year’s pastimes can spark memories and get people sharing stories from the old days.
Let’s liven up the New Year’s gathering and make it a fitting event to kick off a fresh year with joy.
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[For Seniors] Crowd-Pleasing! New Year’s Party Performances (1–10)
Giant Menko Game
This is a game that focuses on the part of Menko where you throw cards at each other, competing by the points you earn from the cards you throw.
The throwing field is raised using cardboard, and each spot is assigned a point value.
Players take turns throwing cards toward the field, aiming to place a card of their own color on higher-scoring spots.
Even cards you throw yourself will flip and change to your opponent’s color, so the mind game of converting your opponent’s cards to your own color adds to the excitement.
Fukuwarai activity
Fukuwarai is a traditional New Year’s game, but it seems the exact reason it’s played at New Year is not clearly known.
It’s said to originate from the proverb “Good fortune comes to a laughing household.” In fukuwarai, you’re blindfolded and arrange facial parts on a face.
The way the finished face turns out funny and makes everyone laugh is said to tie into the proverb.
By being played at New Year, fukuwarai has come to be considered auspicious.
Some older adults may even recall playing fukuwarai when they were young.
It’s a lively, fun game perfectly suited to the New Year.
How much should I offer (at the shrine)?
I think many people make an offering when they visit a shrine for their first visit of the year.
This is a game themed around that offering.
First, prepare a donation box made of cardboard and some coins.
Have a variety of coins ready, such as 5-yen, 10-yen, 50-yen, and 100-yen pieces.
When the game starts, you throw the coins into the donation box.
Strings are stretched across the opening of the box, so if a coin lands on top of them, it won’t fall inside.
Pay attention to your throwing angle and speed, and try to get as much money as possible into the box within the time limit.
But remember: when you make a real offering at a shrine, you must not throw your coins.
[For Seniors] Liven Up the Party! New Year’s Party Performances (11–20)
Mochi pounding
Rice cakes enjoyed at New Year are a hallmark of the season.
In the past, it was common to see families and relatives gather at the end of the year to pound mochi.
Many older adults may also have experience wielding the mallet and pounding rice cakes.
So, why not bring back that nostalgic mochi pounding as a performance for the New Year’s party? Making mochi, considered an auspicious food, used to be reserved for special days with celebrations and festivals.
It sounds like everyone will have a great time celebrating the New Year with mochi pounding.
Older participants may reminisce about their past mochi-pounding memories and find new conversations blossoming with those around them.
New Year’s first sunrise exercise
This exercise features movements inspired by the first sunrise of the New Year, helping you stretch your body while building excitement for the holiday.
Start with a motion where you draw a large circle with both hands, imagining the rising sun and putting your wishes for the new year into the movement.
Next, bring your hands together and twist your torso to the left and right, moving as if to sweep away the bad things from the past year.
Because the movements are simple, it’s especially important to stretch thoroughly while visualizing New Year’s scenes.
Spinning tops
Koma (spinning tops) are a traditional Japanese pastime, and there are many types and ways to spin them.
In this activity, we use a large wooden top and play with straightforward, classic rules.
We start with hand-spinning so you can feel the sensation of getting the top to spin through direct touch, then move on to rules that use a string.
The string-based method tests actions like tightly winding the string around the top and throwing it, so it seems like a fun way to build concentration and physical skills through play.
Spinning a stick and paper cup
This is a game where you place paper cups on a long stick in various patterns and pass it to the next person while carefully making sure the cups don’t fall.
Because you have to hand the stick to your neighbor without dropping the cups, it also trains attention and encourages arm extension.
Start with a simple rule using one stick and one paper cup, then gradually increase the difficulty by changing the number of each.
If someone discovers an easier method, it’s great to have them share advice with others—using it as a chance to communicate is highly recommended.