[November Health Topic] Indoor Recreation Ideas for Older Adults

Fallen leaf art

Savor the autumn of the arts! Fallen-leaf art

How about a recreation activity that uses autumn leaves, a hallmark of the season? The beautifully colored leaves gradually become fallen leaves, but you can collect them and turn them into art by gluing them onto construction paper! You can simply arrange and glue them to form shapes like animals or flowers, or draw pictures around the glued leaves.

If you use scissors to cut the leaves into your favorite shapes before attaching them, you can create even more polished pieces.

It’s an activity that lets both dexterous and not-so-dexterous people enjoy themselves while savoring the seasonal atmosphere.

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Hane Keisuke

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Let’s grill some pacific saury!

Let's grill Pacific saury! Recreation event ★ Refresh Life Shitoro, a fee-based nursing home

This is a game that tests balance and fine motor skills, themed around sanma (Pacific saury), a classic autumn delicacy.

Inspired by the scene of grilling sanma on a mesh grate, players place paper sanma mascots onto a mesh set on top of paper cups.

Using chopsticks to place the fish on the mesh requires precise hand movements, and balancing where each fish goes is crucial.

To add excitement, you might also have players attempt it within a time limit to deliberately make them feel rushed.

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kappamaki

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Making ornaments with origami

[Craft Idea] Autumn Fruits & Foliage Decorations Made with Origami (September Wall Decorations, Autumn Harvest) (Elderly Recreation, Day Service, Occupational Therapy, 3D Crafts, Fig, Chestnut, Persimmon, Apple, Pear, Grape, Origami, DIY)

This is a craft activity where you attach various autumn-themed items made from origami onto a board to create an autumnal scene.

Rather than only making the specified items, it’s recommended to think about what fruits and plants are associated with autumn and incorporate those into your designs.

When making each motif, techniques like adding slits and layering are key—by giving the pieces a three-dimensional feel, the fun really stands out.

Your sense of style will also be put to the test in choosing which motifs to include and where to place them.

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kappamaki

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Guess the Dish Name Quiz

[Guess the Dish Quiz: 10 Questions] Easy and Senior-Friendly! Think of the Dish Name from 5 Ingredients [Brain Training Game]

There’s that quiz where you have to guess a prefecture or a historical figure from three hints, right? The countdown makes your heart race, and the mind games between contestants make it really exciting.

There’s a similar type of quiz for guessing dish names, too.

It’s like, “What dish is made from rice, chicken, eggs, onions, and mitsuba?” The answer is oyakodon.

It would be fun to give the quiz an autumn feel by using ingredients like sweet potatoes, grapes, and matsutake mushrooms.

It also sounds like a great idea to cook the dishes that come up in the quiz together with everyone.

Moon-viewing game

Team up to play the “Moon-Viewing Game”

Many people probably think that otsukimi is about enjoying the full moon in autumn.

However, strictly speaking, the fifteenth night isn’t always a full moon.

That’s because it’s based on the night of the 15th day of the 8th month in the old lunar calendar.

Just a little tidbit about moon viewing.

Enjoying a game themed around otsukimi also feels wonderfully autumnal.

You could play a game where you roll dumplings into perfect spheres, hold a contest for stylishly arranging pampas grass, or have everyone fold rabbit origami—there are plenty of fun ideas.

Pet bottle bowling could be a hit too, with the bowling ball as the moon and the pins standing in for pampas grass!

Autumn Flavors Guessing Game

An “Autumn Delicacies Collecting Game” with brain-training elements

There are lots of ways to enjoy autumn—sports, reading, and more—but the best part is definitely the season’s delicious foods.

With that in mind, here are some game ideas featuring autumn flavors like sweet potatoes, grapes, matsutake mushrooms, and chestnuts.

Try a “Guess the Flavor” contest where you eat candy and identify the taste, a “Guess the Ingredient” quiz where you sample a dish and name what’s in it, make autumn food cards for a memory game, or collect cards of the seasonal foods you’ve eaten—the ideas are endless! All of these are recreational activities that seem fun for wheelchair users too, so they’re perfect for facilities with many people who use wheelchairs.

Autumn Picture Postcard

“Autumn Etegami Special”: Painting memorable autumn scenery and harvests [Feeling the seasons with gansai art]

This is about drawing autumn scenery on postcard-sized paper to enjoy a little taste of fall.

The materials you use will change the mood of the finished piece, so be intentional about that choice.

It’s also important to decide which scene to choose and what part of it to crop; using photos as references to plan your composition is recommended.

Another fun point is that there are many aspects you can fuss over—whether to stick to just the illustration or add text to enhance the atmosphere, for example.

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kappamaki

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