[For Seniors] Easy and fun seated activities you can do in your room
Introducing fun seated recreational activities for older adults!
Even when you want to do exercises in nursing homes or day service centers, activities that are too intense or put strain on the legs and back can increase the risk of falls.
The activities we’re introducing this time are recommended because everyone can enjoy them while staying seated.
From exercises that move only the hands to games that engage the entire upper body, choose whatever looks fun from the many options available.
They’re even more exciting if you make them team competitions!
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- [For Seniors] Enjoyable Indoor Activities! Recreations and Games That Engage the Mind and Body
- [For Seniors] Recreational Activities Enjoyable in Large Groups
- [Elderly Day Service] Let’s all have fun! Games and recreational activities
- Hand games that liven things up for seniors—also great brain training
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- [For Seniors] Enjoy the Cold Winter! Seated Activities You Can Do
- [For Seniors] Guaranteed to Be a Hit! Popular Day Service Recreational Activities
- [For Seniors] Exciting Team-Based Recreational Activities
[For Seniors] Easy and fun seated activities you can do in your room (231–240)
Parody Exercise to the Tune of “Yagiri no Watashi”Naomi Chiaki
This is an exercise where you slowly stretch your body to the melody of Naomi Chiaki’s “Yagiri no Watashi.” The lyrics describe how to move your body, and by keeping the original song’s expansive phrasing in mind, you can add impact to the movement instructions.
Since the piece is characterized by a relaxed rhythm, it’s important to take time with each motion and apply steady, deliberate force.
Be sure to coordinate words and movements at the same time, aiming to smoothly link your entire body in unison.
ball toss (traditional Japanese beanbag/ball-throwing game)
Tamaire, the ball-toss game often seen at school sports festivals.
Some older adults may have taken part in sports days and played tamaire in the past.
Here’s a perfect tamaire activity for a warm April day to get the body moving.
Because it’s a familiar game, it can help older adults refresh their mood and relieve stress.
Have participants sit in chairs and place a basket in the center.
Prepare red, white, and other colored balls, and have the participants throw them into the basket.
The person who gets the most balls in the basket wins.
Throwing with the arms and shoulders also provides upper-body exercise.
Baseball card game
This is a card game where, just like real baseball, players alternate between offense and defense to try to score points.
For defense, you prepare ball cards that show different pitch types, and for offense, you prepare bat cards that show pitch types.
At a signal, both players reveal their cards while trying to predict the opponent’s choice.
If the pitch type on the cards matches, the offensive player scores points, so the key is the mind game of anticipating your opponent’s card.
It’s a game that gives your brain a workout through prediction while also naturally sparking conversations about baseball.
Kick Darts
This is a game where you sit in a chair and kick a beanbag into the air, aiming to land it on a high-scoring area of the dartboard in front of you.
It helps develop the leg strength needed to send the beanbag to a distant dartboard and the ability to control force to reach the target spot.
The farther the dartboard is, the more power is required, so have participants try at distances suited to their stamina and muscle strength.
If you run it as a face-to-face match, players will likely focus even more as they try to beat their opponent.
Kick Bowling
When we think of bowling, we usually imagine knocking down pins by rolling a ball held in the hand.
However, for older adults who have difficulty using their hands or standing up to throw the ball, kick bowling is highly recommended! Make pins that are significantly larger than usual using cardboard or thick paper, and prepare a large, colorful ball that’s easy to kick.
To make it easy to knock down the pins even without a strong kick, try to keep the kicking spot and the pins fairly close together.
Consider incorporating this into recreational activities at care facilities.
Big Kendama
It’s a game where you skillfully use a thick stick with a paper cup attached to the tip, aiming to catch a ball connected by a string in the cup.
Compared to a regular kendama, the key difference is that the stick is thicker and longer, so you use your whole body to control it well.
It’s a game that engages focused attention on the cup and the ball, full-body strength, and quick reflexes in a balanced way.
The difficulty changes depending on the size of the paper cup, so for those who find it hard, it might be good to switch to a cup that’s larger than the standard one.
Prevent falls with rehabilitation!
A simple item that’s just a large cardboard sheet with numbers on it; you move your feet based on those numbers.
While counting the numbers from 1 to 8 written on the cardboard, move your feet to each numbered position.
By doing this step, you’ll become more aware of how you open your stance and step forward and back, which can help promote smoother walking in daily life and prevent falls.
First, get used to the step positions while seated, and once you feel it’s safe, it’s recommended to do it standing.