[For Seniors] Enjoy the Cold Winter! Seated Activities You Can Do
Winter’s cold makes it easy to feel reluctant to go outside, doesn’t it?
In snowy regions, some older adults may find going out difficult in the first place.
These “Seated Activities for Winter” are perfect for such seniors!
We’ve gathered exercises and games you can enjoy safely and comfortably in a warm indoor setting.
From activities that move the legs and hands while seated to those with brain-training elements, they help keep the body active and support dementia prevention.
We hope these ideas help you enjoyably get through the rest of this bitterly cold winter!
- [For Seniors] Fun Winter Activities: Recreation and Games
- [For Seniors] Introducing Whiteboard Activities to Enjoy in Winter!
- [For Seniors] Get Through the Chilly February! Recommended Health-Themed Recreations
- For Seniors: December Health Topics — Winter Recreational Activities to Warm the Body and the Heart
- [Seated] Fun Health Exercises for Older Adults and Seniors
- [For Seniors] Enjoyable Indoor Activities! Recreations and Games That Engage the Mind and Body
- [For Seniors] Recommended Easy Strength Training
- [For Seniors] Enjoy the Cold Winter! Simple, Recommended Crafts
- For seniors: Enjoyable exercises done while seated, accessible for wheelchair users.
- [For seniors] January health topics: A roundup of popular recreational activities from exercises and crafts to New Year’s games
- Recommended Indoor Exercises for Seniors
- [For Seniors] Fun Exercises You Can Do While Seated
- [For Seniors] Winter Haiku: Introducing Beautiful Masterpieces by Famous Haiku Poets
[For seniors] Enjoy the cold winter! Seated activities (11–20)
Popcorn Game
Even if you know that moving your body is good for your health, you might still feel reluctant to get active.
So here’s a fun popcorn game that lets you exercise your feet while enjoying yourself.
Sit in a chair and place paper plates on both knees.
Fill the plates with lots of crumpled-up paper balls.
Think of the paper plates as frying pans and the crumpled paper as popcorn for the game.
When someone says, “Ready, start!”, flutter your legs and march your feet to shake the paper popcorn out of the plates.
Watching the crumpled paper fall from the plates looks just like popcorn popping in a heated frying pan.
Because it’s an exercise you can do like a game, it seems like older adults can enjoy participating too.
Word Calculation Game
Here is a recreational activity where you try calculating words using the rules of arithmetic.
First, present a few example problems that allow people to discover the rule, and write their answers.
Then, once you feel people have grasped the rule, present the actual problems.
If no one can figure out the rule, it can get dull, so it’s a good idea to offer additional hints if necessary.
If you prepare the problems in advance, you can start without any special materials, so it’s something you can enjoy even in short spare moments.
Gum-Gum Kick Bowling
It’s a game where you attach a ball made from crumpled newspaper to your foot with a rubber band, kick it forward, and try to knock down a row of milk cartons.
Because the ball is connected by the rubber band, it returns to your feet after you kick it, so you keep kicking and race to see how fast you can knock down all the cartons.
Not only the kicking motion, but also pulling the ball toward you to position it for an easier kick is a key point.
If the ball is in a hard-to-kick spot, your stance can become unstable, so while keeping a sense of speed, proceed carefully.
Free Throw Game
It’s a game where you throw balls toward baskets that have assigned point values and compete on the total score.
The higher the point value of a basket, the harder it is to land a ball in it, so controlling your throwing power is key to getting a high score.
Since the rules allow a ball to bounce before going in, unexpected points can happen, and awkward bounces that miss the basket can also add excitement.
Let’s encourage players to focus on controlling the force needed to reach the basket and on moving their bodies in ways that effectively transfer that force to the ball.
Sheet Valley
Let’s play Seat Volleyball using sunshades sold at 100-yen stores.
It’s a game that many older adults can enjoy.
Connect two sunshades to make a volleyball court.
Have seated older adults hold the two connected sunshades.
Roll a beach volleyball on top of the sunshades.
Before starting, use tape or similar to mark territories on the sunshades.
When the time limit is up, the side where the ball is located loses.
With gameplay similar to real volleyball, older adults are likely to enjoy it.
Since it can be played while seated, many older participants should be able to join.
Gift-stuffing game
This is a game where players compete to see how many presents they can stuff into their own bag within a time limit, taking them from a table.
When pushing the presents in, they should use force while still being careful not to tear the bag—encouraging awareness of strength control.
To keep players from focusing only on the simple act of stuffing, it’s recommended to make the presents colorful so the visuals are enjoyable too.
If you randomize the sizes and shapes of the presents, you can also add an element of judgment in choosing which ones to put in the bag.
[For Seniors] Enjoy the Cold Winter! Seated Activities (21–30)
Fill-in-the-blank with a spring theme
It’s a game where you draw circles on a whiteboard—some with blank spaces and some with letters—and have players think of words by filling in the blanks.
While making use of the letters already written, they come up with words of that length.
The broad range of choices helps stimulate the brain.
If you prepare the letters in advance with a spring theme, players can enjoy a sense of spring while still having plenty of options to form words, which is recommended.
The difficulty changes depending on the number of letters and where the blanks are placed, so try various patterns to have players think of different words.