[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 Activities and Exercises (21–30)
Arranged in a reggae style! Patakara exercises
This is an arrangement of a classic articulation exercise—spoken quickly and clearly—that incorporates a reggae rhythm.
It blends the fun of musical rhythm while keeping strong focus on how to pronounce each character.
By proceeding step by step through the repeated pronunciation of the same character, it clearly conveys how each character helps shape mouth movements.
If participants sway their bodies to catch the rhythm, it can also become a full-body warm-up, not just an exercise for the mouth.
Brain training with Rock-Paper-Scissors on Mito Komon
Many older adults have probably watched the drama Mito Kōmon at least once, don’t you think? It’s about Mito Kōmon traveling around Japan, and the show’s theme song is famous too.
Using the theme song “Aa Jinsei ni Namida Ari,” let’s do a finger-play activity with the rock-paper-scissors motions.
Clap your hands, make a fist (rock) with one hand and pull it toward yourself, while making a hand (paper) with the other and extend it forward.
Another pattern is: clap your hands, make a fist (rock) with one hand and extend it forward, then use scissors to pull it back.
It might be easier for older adults to participate if it’s a song they already know.
Singing Pa-Ta-Ka-Ra Exercises
If you just keep repeating “pa-ta-ka-ra” in a simple way, you’ll eventually get bored and lose awareness of your mouth movements.
When that happens, a great option is to adapt it by pronouncing “pa-ta-ka-ra” in time with a song.
By articulating each syllable to the rhythm, you’ll naturally pay attention to the cadence of language, which helps not only with mouth exercises but also with smoother conversation.
You can choose any song, but children’s songs are often easiest because of their clear rhythm and suitable number of beats and words.
Donpan-bushi
Let’s try moving our bodies broadly to the Akita folk song “Donpan-bushi.” You can enjoy it in various ways: keep rhythm with sound-making instruments in both hands, beat a drum, or move your hands up and down to make it feel like dance choreography.
Even while seated, moving one leg at a time—forward, to the side, then back together—makes for good exercise.
Japan has many folk songs that have been passed down in regions across the country since long ago.
If you incorporate the folk songs from participants’ home regions into recreation, they may join in more eagerly while enjoying fond memories.
Rhythmic exercises to a children’s song
Rhythmic exercises to children’s songs are wonderful, aren’t they? Moving your body to nostalgic tunes lifts your spirits and is a lot of fun.
How about raising your hands and moving your feet to the lyrics of “Antagata Dokosa”? The key is to lift your foot on the “sa.” If you enjoy exercising to the rhythm, your body will naturally warm up.
It’s perfect for morning exercise.
They say it can even help prevent dementia.
Even just clapping along while recalling the lyrics can stimulate your brain.
Would you like to join in and have fun too?
tea picking
Let me introduce the singing activity “Chatsumi” (Tea Picking).
It’s super simple—you can learn it in about 3 minutes—so it’s perfect for recreational activities at care facilities! We’ll do easy movements to the well-known children’s song Chatsumi.
While singing, repeat two steps in place followed by one hand clap.
Only in the final measure, clap three times instead of once, so be careful there! This kind of rhythmic exercise with consistent movements promotes blood circulation and helps boost immunity, so give it a try.
Donpan Exercises
Do you know the song where the word “Donpan” is repeated? It’s one of those tunes where, as soon as you hear the melody, you think, “Oh, that song!” It’s fairly well-known, but the composer and original source are unclear; some say it might be based on the “Donpan-bushi.” Using that Donpan melody to enjoy the “Donpan Taiso” could make for a fun performance.
Clap your hands, slap your thighs—make active use of any parts you can stamp or tap.
It’s an easy song to create your own choreography for, and highly recommended.