[For Seniors] Recommended for older adults: enjoyable recreational activities
In this article, we introduce enjoyable recreation activities recommended for seniors.
You may want to freely enjoy using both body and mind.
Even so, many people end up thinking it’s impossible and give up.
Even for recreational activities that you might picture doing outdoors, with a bit of tweaking you can do them indoors.
We’ve also gathered activities that stimulate the brain and ones everyone can enjoy together.
Have fun while supporting functional recovery—use this as a reference!
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- [For Seniors] Simple Recreational Activities You Can Enjoy While Seated
- [For Seniors] Enjoyable Indoor Activities! Recreations and Games That Engage the Mind and Body
- [For Seniors] Fun Small-Group Recreation
- Recreation Activities Effective for Long-Term Care Prevention for Seniors
- [For Seniors] Easy to try. Fun, crowd-pleasing recreation
- [For Seniors] Recreational Activities Enjoyable in Large Groups
- Hand games that liven things up for seniors—also great brain training
[For Seniors] Recommended for the elderly: Enjoyable Recreational Activities (161–170)
radio calisthenics
Many older adults do radio calisthenics to maintain their health every day.
If you’re not doing them yet, try using this video as a guide.
It introduces exercises you can do while sitting in a chair, so you should be able to continue at your own pace without overexertion, according to how you feel physically and mentally.
They’re effective not only for seniors but for people of all ages, from children to adults, so give them a try together.
Listening to requested songs
Listening to requested songs is a recreational activity where you can enjoy nostalgic tunes performed live on the piano.
The melodies woven by the piano’s tones can stir deep emotions in listeners.
Hearing classics by Hibari Misora or Hiroshi Itsuki may bring back old memories.
Since the performer fulfills requests for specific pieces, you can express feelings through music.
Immersing yourself in music in a calm atmosphere also helps you relax both body and mind.
Let’s spend an enjoyable time together, supporting older adults along the way.
Recommended for recreation! Tong catch
It’s a game where you skillfully use tongs to move ping-pong balls from a box in front of you to a basket at hand.
If you play it as a head-to-head match facing your opponent, it encourages not only precise tong control but also speed.
It might also be good to vary the shape and size of the tongs, creating a pattern where players think about how much force to apply as they move.
Because the task of moving the balls is so simple, it’s easy to tweak the tools you use.
Try coming up with variations that focus on the body parts you want to train and the way you apply force.
Coloring book
This video introduces a way to enjoy coloring with older adults using a service that turns photos into coloring pages.
They even hand over a coloring page made from the person’s own photo, and at first the person doesn’t notice.
As they color, they realize it’s themselves, and the conversation livens up.
Since it uses fine motor skills and encourages natural focus, it also seems beneficial as brain training.
playing rock-paper-scissors after seeing the opponent’s move (i.e., acting with hindsight/cheating)
If you’re looking for recreational activities that train the brain, such as for dementia prevention, how about “After-the-fact Rock-Paper-Scissors”? Everyone knows rock-paper-scissors, so older adults can start right away.
In this game, the leader shows their hand first, and then participants show theirs, trying to either win or lose according to the instruction.
It’s especially easy to make mistakes when the instruction is to lose, so it’s perfect as a mental workout.
origami
When it comes to traditional Japanese pastimes, origami is indispensable.
This video introduces several craft ideas that use origami.
Many of them are fairly elaborate, so they’re great as a leisurely recreational activity.
When you make something with your own hands, you grow attached to even small decorations, and the process of making them naturally sparks communication.
finger play
For recreation activities at care facilities, we recommend using this finger-play game at the beginning.
It’s very simple: participants just imitate the leader’s rock, paper, or scissors.
If you do it skillfully like in the video, you can get laughs with that alone.
It naturally brings out smiles, so give it a try when you want to warm up the atmosphere.