[For Older Adults] Games to Enhance Oral Function: Enjoyable and Easy to Do
Oral functions play an important role in daily life, such as eating and speaking.
We all want to keep enjoying meals and conversations as we get older.
In this article, we’ll introduce fun and easy activities that help improve oral function.
For example, are you familiar with vowel articulation practice like “a-i-u-e-o”?
It’s a simple and enjoyable articulation exercise, and in fact, it not only enhances oral function but also helps strengthen your abdominal muscles.
We also introduce exercises that are essential for health management, so please try to find some that you feel you can do!
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- [For Seniors] Hand and finger play roundup: Finger exercises that lead to brain training
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- [Recommended for Seniors] Simple and Fun Gesture Game Prompts
[For Older Adults] Games to Improve Oral Function: Enjoyable Activities (1–10)
Pa-Ta-Ka-Ra alternating counting exercise
Let me introduce a very simple exercise that also trains your brain: the alternating Pa-Ta-Ka counting exercise.
What you do is very simple! Say “pa” while raising the index finger of your left hand and keeping your right hand in a fist.
Next, say “ta,” raise two fingers on your right hand, and make a fist with your left hand.
Then, say “ka,” raise three fingers on your left hand, and make a fist with your right hand.
In this way, you alternate between your left and right hands while counting.
By having your brain process speaking and finger counting at the same time, multiple stimuli are sent to the brain, which is expected to help prevent cognitive decline.
Give it a try!
Patakara Oral Exercises – Blue Mountains
We’d like to introduce the Pataka-ra exercises performed to the familiar song “Blue Mountains,” well known among older adults.
Pataka-ra exercises are one of the standard training methods to prevent aspiration; by strengthening the mouth and tongue, they aim to maintain and improve oral functions such as eating and swallowing.
They’re easy to do—simply pronounce “pa,” “ta,” “ka,” and “ra” in time with the music.
Doing them before meals, in sync with the music, helps you enjoy your food and supports healthy living.
They’re also recommended as oral exercises in senior care facilities.
If Kamepatakara Song Exercise
@rizumicalgass If Turtles 'Patakara♪ Singing Exercise'Preventive Care ExercisesSmile ActivityDementia preventionBrain training exercises#SeniorActivities#RhythmicalGas#NijiiroVideoGrowing Together as Parent and Child
♪ Original Song – Rhythmic Gas – Rhythmic Gas
Why not try some mouth-area exercises to the tune of the children’s song “Usagi to Kame” (The Hare and the Tortoise), which every Japanese person has heard? It’s simple: change the lyrics “Moshi moshi kame yo” to the syllables pa-ta-ka-ra and vocalize them.
Once you get used to it and feel more comfortable, add hand claps or foot stomps.
Doing multiple movements at the same time turns it into a dual task, which can also help train your brain.
You can do it anywhere, and doing it before meals is especially effective for preventing aspiration.
[For Older Adults] Games to Enhance Oral Function: Enjoyable Activities (11–20)
Patakara Towel Catch Exercise
@rizumicalgass The ultimate technique for a long, healthy life: the “Patakara Towel Catch” exercisePreventive Care ExercisesSmile ActivityDementia preventionBrain training exercises#SeniorActivities#RhythmicalGas#NijiiroVideoGrowing Together as Parent and Child
♪ Original Song – Rhythmic Gas – Rhythmic Gas
Here is an idea for doing the Patakara exercise using a towel.
The Patakara exercise involves pronouncing the four syllables “pa,” “ta,” “ka,” and “ra” to engage the muscles of the mouth and tongue, helping to train the functions used for eating and swallowing.
In this version, you step in place while gripping and releasing a towel in time with the Patakara sounds.
This exercise is expected to benefit not only oral functions but also the maintenance and improvement of lower-limb strength and the prevention of falls.
The action of grasping and releasing helps build the quick, reflexive gripping power needed to catch yourself if you start to fall, which in turn supports a healthy daily life.
It’s easy to do and highly recommended.
Pa-ta-ka-ra pistol exercise
The “Pa-Ta-Ka-Ra” exercises are said to be effective for maintaining and improving oral function, but even if they work, some people might feel bored after a while.
For those people, we recommend the “Pa-Ta-Ka-Ra Pistol Exercise.” Shape your hand like a gun and, as if shooting bullets, say “Pa! Ta! Ka! Ra!” loudly while adding the corresponding movements.
You can also try other variations, such as saying “Pa-Ta-Ka-Ra!” in a short burst like firing a bullet, or continuing with “Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa!” like a machine gun.
Whatever you do, it’s more effective when you enjoy it rather than doing it on autopilot, so this is a great option if you want to change things up from your usual routine.
Pata-Kara exercises: tongue twisters
Here’s a method that adds the sounds “pa-ta-ka-ra” to tongue twisters so you can practice while having fun.
Start slowly, and as you get used to it, speed up—this way, people of various abilities can enjoy participating.
This exercise can help with digestion of food, prevent aspiration pneumonia, promote sterilization and disinfection through saliva secretion, and help prevent infections.
In addition, since a decline in oral function is said to increase the risk of developing dementia, it is also effective for dementia prevention.
In settings such as senior care facilities, explaining these benefits before the exercise can encourage more motivated participation.
Patakara exercise: Theme from Shoten
For older generations, the TV show “Shōten” is a familiar favorite.
Here’s an idea for enjoying Patakara exercises using the Shōten theme song.
It’s very simple! Just make the four sounds “pa,” “ta,” “ka,” and “ra” in time with the music.
That’s all it takes, yet it can help maintain and improve your ability to eat and swallow, and the act of inhaling and exhaling can also benefit the respiratory system.
If you can, try opening and closing your hands repeatedly at the same time.
Doing multiple activities simultaneously creates a “dual-task,” which may help prevent cognitive decline.
It’s fun, easy to do, and highly recommended.