[For Seniors] Recommended Rhythm Play and Exercises
In this article, we introduce recommended rhythm games and exercises for older adults!
When people hear “exercise,” they might imagine something intense and feel it’s not for them.
Rhythm exercises involve moving your body to music, so you can use your whole body to keep the beat, or simply clap along while seated—both are great options!
Start by getting into the rhythm.
It’s important to do exercises without overexerting yourself, so prioritize what feels “fun” and try them casually at your own pace.
- [For Seniors] Simple Rhythm Exercises: Recommended Songs and Routines
- [For Seniors] Fun Exercises You Can Do While Seated
- For Seniors: Fun and Lively Exercise Recreation
- [For Seniors] Enjoyable Brain Training! Finger Exercises That Help Prevent Dementia
- [For Seniors] Hand and finger play roundup: Finger exercises that lead to brain training
- Hand games that liven things up for seniors—also great brain training
- Energetic and Lively! Sing-and-Exercise Program for Seniors
- [For Seniors] Easy and fun seated activities you can do in your room
- [Today's Recommendation] Gentle Health Exercises for Seniors
- [For Seniors] Simple Recreational Activities You Can Enjoy While Seated
- For seniors: Enjoyable stick exercises. Easy workouts.
- [For Seniors] Let's Enjoy Exercising with a Towel!
- [For Seniors] Let's try customizing the usual Pa-Ta-Ka-Ra exercises!
[For Seniors] Recommended Rhythm Games and Exercises (91–100)
Hand exercises that also help prevent falls
Extend one arm forward with the hand open, and place the other hand on your chest and make a fist.
While singing, switch this shape from one side to the other.
If you do this exercise standing, a key point is that it also draws your attention to posture.
It’s important to keep singing as you go; handling two tasks at once helps activate the brain.
If you switch the arm position and hand shape to the opposite in the middle, your attention instantly shifts to your hand shape, which also trains your decision-making.
By staying mindful of your posture and moving your body firmly, you can expect not only brain-training benefits but also muscle-strengthening effects such as fall prevention.
Let’s change the lyrics to associated words and sing!
This is a recreational activity where participants come up with words that fit a theme and then see how those words fit the melody as a parody song.
For example, they list words that match a theme like “favorite hot pot ingredients” and sing them to the melody of ‘Tetsudō Shōka’ (Railway Song).
Depending on the words suggested, they may not fit the melody well, so participants also consider how to extend and pronounce the words.
It’s an activity that stimulates the brain through word association while training the mouth in a fun way by focusing on pronunciation.
[For Seniors] Recommended Rhythm Activities and Exercises (101–110)
Rock-Paper-Scissors Rhythm Exercise
This is a brain-training rhythm exercise where you mimic your partner’s rock-paper-scissors.
Sit facing each other and, on the cue “Copy rock-paper-scissors—shoot!”, one person shows either rock, paper, or scissors first with the left hand, then with the right.
The partner mirrors this by copying with their right hand, then their left.
Once you’ve got that, level up: try showing both hands at the same time and have your partner mimic that.
A copycat rock-paper-scissors is easy with one hand, but using both hands at once makes the difficulty jump, making it perfect for activating the brain! Give it a try.
Beanbags with a traditional children’s song
Using beanbags for traditional children’s games—called “warabe-uta de otedama”—is a fun, rhythm-based activity we recommend.
By combining familiar nursery rhymes, people can enjoy the play while reminiscing about the past.
You can casually try everything from simple to slightly more challenging games, such as Otebushi Tebushi, where you hide the beanbag and guess which hand it’s in; Kometsuitara, which features fun rice-pounding motions; and Antagata Dokosa, where you bounce the beanbag on your palm or the back of your hand.
Brain-training exercises with nursery rhymes
This exercise uses nostalgic children’s songs to get your body moving, so it can be done with a lot of fun.
Moving your hands while humming along also helps stimulate the brain.
There are no difficult movements, so it’s easy to keep up without overexertion—that’s the nice part.
If everyone does it together, the conversation will flow and it will turn into an enjoyable time.
As you move your body while recalling the familiar lyrics, you’ll naturally find yourself smiling.
You might even end up reminiscing about the old days as you exercise.
By combining songs with exercise, it seems you can refresh both mind and body.
Greengrocer’s shop
Imagine the vegetables lined up at a greengrocer.
This is a game where you clap your hands and quickly list the names of vegetables in rhythm.
Even names of everyday vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplants—ones you surely know—can be surprisingly hard to recall when you have to answer in sequence.
It might help to prompt some memories before starting the game by asking questions like, “What did you have for dinner yesterday?” or “What vegetables are used in your favorite dishes?”
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands
We’d like to introduce a super-simple and fun brain-training exercise to do with the children’s song “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” Basically, while singing, you tap parts of your body according to the lyrics.
Exaggerating the movements can make it more effective as an exercise.
It’s also fine to deviate from the lyrics and tap your stomach, wink, or otherwise customize which body parts you use! Depending on the seniors’ abilities, you can change or add more moves so they can enjoy it.
This is recommended both for facility activities and for doing at home.