September Health Topic: Introducing Recreational Activities That Capture the Feeling of Autumn’s Arrival
As September arrives, there may be regions where the heat gradually eases.
It also becomes a time when older adults find it easier to be active.
With that in mind, here are some recommended recreational activities for this season.
September offers many ways to feel the arrival of autumn, such as the moon-viewing festival (Otsukimi) and seasonal foods like pacific saury and chestnuts.
Try incorporating September-related events and seasonal flavors into exercises, games, and craft activities.
This will also help older adults experience the seasons through recreation.
We hope you enjoy a wonderful time with September’s recreational activities.
[September Health Topic] Introducing Recreational Activities That Let You Feel the Arrival of Autumn (1–10)
Autumn Sports Exercises in a Chair
Sports Day is a holiday inspired by the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics and a day to promote interest in sports.
For Sports Day, here is a workout that draws on the Olympics and incorporates movements from various sports.
While seated in a chair, try reproducing actions from sports like judo and swimming, engaging your core while moving your hands and arms.
Rather than simply copying a demonstration, it’s also recommended to think about the kinds of movements each sport involves and incorporate those into the exercises.
Grill the Pacific Saury Game
This is a game themed around saury, a quintessential autumn delicacy, that tests the delicate finger movements needed to use chopsticks skillfully.
All you need to prepare are strips of newspaper rolled into saury shapes and a mesh placed on top of a paper cup.
Using disposable chopsticks, you place the newspaper “saury” onto the unstable mesh.
The challenge is to see how many saury you can stack without knocking over the paper-cup base.
Let’s train fingertip control with chopsticks, concentration when placing items on the mesh, and the sense of balance needed to set the saury down neatly.
If the location of the saury and the mesh are far apart, you’ll also engage grip strength and arm power to maintain hold with the chopsticks—making this variation highly recommended as well.
Gymnastics under the big chestnut tree
This is an exercise routine set to the nursery rhyme “Under the Big Chestnut Tree,” focusing on movements using both hands and swaying the body left and right, and it can be done while seated.
The main actions include gestures that express the size of the chestnut tree and movements that touch the body.
By not only repeating the same motions but also slightly changing the choreography within the routine, it encourages thinking about what each movement was.
With variations in the choreography, you can train different parts of the body while gradually increasing the tempo of the song to boost concentration.
Moon-viewing game
One of the events that comes to mind in September is the moon-viewing festival on the night of the full moon.
Let’s get excited with a game inspired by this moon-viewing! Place a sanpō (the three-sided wooden stand for moon-viewing dumplings) in the center, and see how many round objects, representing dumplings, you can stack on top.
The team that stacks the most wins.
Lay the newspaper sheets flat, pick them up, scrunch them tightly into balls, and stack them.
In addition to newspaper balls, try combining various round items like rubber balls or beanbags.
It works perfectly as a team competition where everyone cooperates, but it’s also fun as an individual contest.
Making a cosmos flower wreath
Speaking of cosmos flowers, September is the best time to see them.
It would be wonderful to visit a real cosmos field, but if you can’t, try making a cosmos wreath! Use green construction paper for the base of the wreath, and colorful origami paper for the cosmos flowers.
You can make the flowers by folding the origami into the specified shape, then cutting with scissors and adding small slits.
Choose your favorite colors and create a cosmos wreath that’s uniquely yours.
When you display it in your room, it will brighten the space and make it feel lively and festive!
Making a wreath with celebratory crane and longevity turtle
Crafts are one of those activities you can enjoy in tune with the seasons and events—and they really liven things up.
Since September includes Respect for the Aged Day, how about making a celebratory wreath featuring a crane and a tortoise to honor everyone’s and their families’ health and longevity? Using origami with gold or silver accents adds an extra festive, elegant touch.
Origami also makes a great brain exercise since it uses fine finger movements.
With the celebratory crane and tortoise, the wreath has a three-dimensional feel and looks very luxurious when finished.
It’s a bright, eye-catching decoration for your home or room.
Singing activity with September songs
Let’s use a recreation activity with songs that evoke autumn to help people feel the change of seasons in a joyful way.
Singing not only improves cardiopulmonary function, but recalling songs also helps activate the brain.
It’s recommended to start with children’s songs that everyone knows, then connect that to a memory-recalling activity using songs that were popular with each generation.
While activating the brain and improving cardiopulmonary function are important, it’s also essential to have people enjoy raising their voices so they feel brighter and more refreshed.