[For Seniors] Exciting Team-Based Recreational Activities
In this article, we introduce super exciting team-based recreational activities for older adults!
They might bring back nostalgic memories of your school sports days.
As the games progress, things can really heat up and turn into a thrilling competition!
Some activities can be done while seated or started with simple tools, so feel free to use these as a reference.
Making it a team competition might also be a chance to get friendly with people you don’t usually talk to.
We hope everyone has a great time together!
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[For Seniors] Exciting Team Competition Recreation Activities (51–60)
A game where you take balloons out of a basket
Let’s work together as a team! Here’s a game idea where you take balloons out of a basket.
Summer often brings to mind uchiwa fans, right? This time, let’s try a unique game that uses uchiwa to lift balloons out of a basket.
You’ll need a stand or table, a deep basket, balloons, and one uchiwa per participant.
Place the basket filled with balloons on the table, and have participants sit around it.
When the signal is given, everyone chants together, “Wasshoi, wasshoi,” while fanning with their uchiwa to get the balloons out of the basket.
It could be even more fun to split into two teams and compete against each other!
Dropping Colored Balls
We would like to introduce a color ball drop activity for pairs.
Have two older adults sit facing each other, each holding two sticks by their tips.
Place baskets labeled with colors between them.
Roll balls along the sticks and drop each ball into the basket with the matching color label.
This game emphasizes cooperation between the two participants.
Encourage them to communicate and synchronize their movements.
It’s a fun activity that can spark conversation and help expand social connections.
Flappy butterfly
Here’s a tabletop game called “Flappy Butterflies.” Place a ring in the middle of the table and put lots of lightweight paper butterflies around it.
At the start signal, flap a fan to try to blow the butterflies into the ring.
You can split into teams, use different colored rings, and compete to see which team can get more butterflies inside.
Be careful: if you fan too hard, the butterflies might fly away!
Paper airplane throwing
Paper airplanes are a classic pastime, and many older adults likely played with them in their childhood.
This is a simple game where you fly paper airplanes and compete for points.
First, prepare plenty of paper airplanes.
It’s fun to make them from various materials and in different sizes, such as newspaper flyers or colored paper.
Decide how many throws each person gets, and draw lines on the floor to mark distances with point values—for example, reaching this line earns X points.
It’s a lively game whether you play individually or in teams.
[For Seniors] Exciting Team Competition Recreations (61–70)
baseball game
You might become a power hitter while staying seated!? Instead of hitting pitched balls, you’ll strike a stationary ball using a plastic bat or similar.
Divide the field into several zones and label them as Hit, Home Run, etc.
Your score depends on which zone the ball lands in.
If you were a Little League player back in the day, relive those memories and swing away! Of course, even those who’ve never played baseball can join in easily and have fun with this game.
Tossing balls into a small hole
Let’s try a ball-toss game using a cardboard box and colored balls! Here’s an idea where you aim and throw into small holes.
Normally, in a ball-toss game, you throw small balls into a tall basket and compete on how many you can get in.
This time, we’ll use a flat cardboard box and challenge ourselves to throw balls into small holes instead.
It’s a great way to build concentration and control.
If you don’t have colored balls, you can substitute with beanbags or balls made by crumpling up newspaper.
Passing balloons with handheld fans
Team competitions are exciting precisely because everyone participates, win or lose.
So this time, we’re introducing “Balloon Pass,” a game perfect for large groups.
All you need is a single balloon—just that.
Have each team sit in a single horizontal row of chairs.
At the starting signal, the person on the end passes the balloon to the next person, and the first team to get it to the last person wins.
There are many variations: pass with a fan instead of by hand, increase the number of balloons and compete on how many you can pass, or have the last person pop the balloon.
It’s a game anyone can enjoy in a variety of ways.
