[For Seniors] Introducing Whiteboard Activities to Enjoy in Winter!
In the cold winter season, older adults may be reluctant to go outside.
They’re likely to do indoor recreational activities instead.
In that case, you’ll want to incorporate activities that don’t require much preparation.
Here, we’ll introduce whiteboard recreation ideas themed around winter.
By adding winter elements to the whiteboard activities you usually do, you can enjoy the season while participating.
Of course, they’re also effective for dementia prevention.
Please use these ideas as a reference!
- [For Seniors] Play Long and Have Fun! A Whiteboard Activity with Brain-Training Elements
- [For Seniors] Brain-Training Recreation Using a Whiteboard
- [For Seniors] Test Your Memory!? Ideas for Whiteboard Games
- [For Seniors] Enjoy the Cold Winter! Seated Activities You Can Do
- [For Seniors] Winter Haiku: Introducing Beautiful Masterpieces by Famous Haiku Poets
- [For Seniors] Get Through the Chilly February! Recommended Health-Themed Recreations
- Recreation Activities Effective for Long-Term Care Prevention for Seniors
- For Seniors: Fun and Engaging December Event and Recreation Ideas
- [For Seniors] Ideas for Winter Wall Decorations and Hanging Ornaments: Introducing Projects That Are Easy to Try
- [For Seniors] Fun Winter Activities: Recreation and Games
- [November Health Topic] Indoor Recreation Ideas for Older Adults
- [For seniors] January health topics: A roundup of popular recreational activities from exercises and crafts to New Year’s games
- [For Seniors] Introducing Whiteboard Activities That Liven Up Spring!
[For Seniors] Introducing Whiteboard Activities to Enjoy in Winter! (21–30)
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.
A quiz where you guess what the initials stand for
It might have been the most popular variety show of the 1990s.
Even if you don’t know the show itself, you’ve probably heard the phrase “Magical Banana.” Yes, this brain-training game was a big hit on “Magical Zunō Power!” It uses only hiragana to depict illustrations—a quiz where intuition and flashes of insight are key.
You express faces or animals using only initial letters, targeting that sweet spot of “almost obvious but not quite,” making it a truly addictive brain workout.
No drawing skills required, so even people who aren’t good at drawing are totally fine!
Brain training with rock-paper-scissors
It’s a game where you create patterns that switch between rock, scissors, and paper hand shapes, then go through those different patterns in order.
The key is thinking about what shape comes next.
Having players say the shapes out loud while making them is also important; thinking, moving the hands, and speaking at the same time helps activate the brain.
Start at a slow tempo at first, then gradually increase the speed to make it more challenging.
It might be easier if you write the sequence on a board in words so players can refer to it while figuring out the shapes.
Animal sound brain training
It’s a game where you read the written name of an animal, think about which sound that animal makes, and answer.
It tests your ability to connect memories—how quickly you can imagine the sound from the animal’s name.
Start by checking which animal makes which sound, then move on to the letter chart.
Because you can reach the answer by thinking carefully, it’s also important to be mindful of speed.
The process of thinking from the written word and then saying it aloud helps activate the brain.
Brain training erasing letters on a whiteboard
It’s a game where the 50 Japanese syllables are written on a whiteboard, and you make words using those characters.
Each character you use is erased from the board, and the goal is to create as many words as possible.
The key point is that you can’t use the same character again, so be mindful of which characters you should leave for later as you play.
If you start without thinking, you’ll tend to use the easy characters early on, so it’s recommended to deliberately come up with words that use the more difficult characters first.
Rather than just going with whatever words come to mind, it might be better to plan with the endgame in mind as you proceed.
Brain training to create kanji related to spring
This is a game where players try to add components to kanji written on a board to transform them into different characters.
For example, you can add parts to 日 to make 春, or turn 女 into 桜.
Choosing kanji with seasonal themes is recommended.
A key tip is to leave plenty of blank space around each character so players have to think carefully about where to add the parts.
If they get stuck, you can give hints about what kind of kanji it could become or where to add the strokes to help spark ideas.
Stroke Count Guessing
Do you still handwrite characters? Many people may find themselves writing less if they don’t really need to.
In times like that, a fun recommendation is a stroke-order quiz.
For each kanji, guess which stroke number corresponds to the part drawn in red.
Start with simple characters that have fewer strokes, and then gradually increase the number of strokes or mix in kanji that make you think, “What was the stroke order again?” Don’t worry if you make mistakes—use those moments to learn or jog your memory.
In conclusion
For seated whiteboard activities, it’s important to create an environment where everyone can join easily.
By incorporating winter events that are memorable for participants—such as New Year’s Eve, New Year’s celebrations, and Setsubun—and deepening interaction while listening to stories from the past, you can make the activities more enjoyable for everyone.