[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 Older Adults] Games to Enhance Oral Function: Enjoyable Activities (11–20)
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.
An exercise that can prevent aspiration and choking just by reading aloud: the Pa-Ta-Ka-Ra exercise
Patakara exercises are exercises that stimulate oral functions through pronunciation.
This time, we’ll introduce a method that uses reading aloud.
All you need to do is read the sentences written on a whiteboard out loud, so you can proceed at your own pace.
Another advantage is that if you jot the sentences down, you can do the exercises anywhere, including at home.
Benefits include improving chewing strength to aid digestion, enhancing swallowing ability to prevent accidental aspiration and the pneumonia it can cause, and increasing saliva production, which helps sterilize and disinfect the mouth.
Doing the exercises before meals can make them even more effective.
Patakara exercises with butterflies
We’d like to share an idea for training oral functions—such as chewing strength and swallowing ability—set to the well-known children’s song “Butterfly” (Chōchō).
The method is very simple: just replace the lyrics with the sounds pa-ta-ka-ra and sing along.
Because it’s a short song, you can do it anytime, anywhere, without worrying about the setting.
Doing it before meals serves as a warm-up for the mouth and helps prevent aspiration, so timing it before eating makes it even more effective.
Consistency is important, so please try to do it once a day.
Patakara Song: Spring Has Come
Why not try training your chewing and swallowing abilities to the familiar children’s song “Haru ga Kita” (Spring Has Come)? It’s simple: just replace the lyrics of the well-known song with the syllables pa-ta-ka-ra and sing them out loud.
You can do it anywhere, without worrying about the location.
In senior care facilities, it’s helpful for staff to demonstrate the method so no one is unsure how to do it.
Doing the exercise before meals can better prevent aspiration, so if you explain the purpose and benefits in advance, participants are likely to join more actively.
Throat training with a rubber ball and a plastic bottle
Aspiration pneumonia, which is common among older adults.
Aspiration pneumonia is an inflammation that occurs when saliva or food accidentally enters the windpipe, allowing bacteria to invade the lungs.
The movement of the Adam’s apple, which is important for preventing aspiration, is said to decline from the 60s to 70s.
Here, we introduce training exercises that are expected to help prevent aspiration.
For example, you can hold a rubber ball under your chin or grip the mouth of an empty plastic bottle (with the cap removed).
It’s great that you can train using familiar items without any special equipment.
Let’s work on daily exercises to help prevent aspiration.
Hand and mouth Pa-Ta-Ka-Ra exercises
We would like to introduce ideas for the Patakara exercises, which allow you to care for your mouth and get some exercise while seated in a chair.
By pronouncing “pa,” “ta,” “ka,” and “ra” while performing full-body movements, these exercises are highly efficient, benefiting not only your physical function but also helping to maintain and improve oral function.
In addition, because you perform two actions simultaneously—movement and pronunciation—the increased positive stimulation to the brain is expected to help prevent cognitive decline.
It may feel complicated at first, but please try it slowly at your own pace.
[For Older Adults] Games to Enhance Oral Functions: Enjoyable Activities (21–30)
Patakara Exercises – Oyome Samba (Bride Samba)
Let us introduce you to the fun Patakara exercises performed to the tune of Hiromi Go’s classic hit “Oyome Samba.” Strengthening the mouth muscles improves your ability to swallow food and helps prevent aspiration.
First, sing the song normally to check the music and rhythm.
From the second verse, replace the lyrics with the syllables “pa-ta-ka-ra.” If you can manage it, move your hands in rock–paper–scissors (fist, scissors, open hand) at the same time; doing multiple actions simultaneously can also provide brain-training benefits.
Aim to do this at least once a day.
It’s especially recommended before meals.