Recreation Activities to Liven Up January Events for Seniors
January is full of traditional, time-honored events.
It’s wonderful that the spirit of treasuring the start of a new year has been passed down for so long.
In this article, we introduce recreational activities to liven up January events for older adults! Many care facilities, such as day service centers, likely have annual events they hold every year.
If you’re thinking, “I’d like to add a new game this year,” you’ll find plenty of recreation ideas here to use as a reference.
Some are easy to try, so you can enjoy them at home as well.
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[For Seniors] Recreational Activities to Liven Up January Events (41–50)
Let’s try visiting a New Year’s shrine indoors.
By creating a shrine inside the facility and having residents pay their first visit of the New Year there, older adults can enjoy the experience.
Let facility staff or the seniors themselves play the roles of shrine maiden and priest.
First, purify the hands, then make an offering and prayer, draw an omikuji fortune, and head home.
Making authentic-looking omikuji will enhance the sense of realism.
Having an extraordinary experience in the familiar facility can feel refreshing and be a lot of fun.
It might also be enjoyable to make goshuin stamp books or protective amulets.
Please give it a try.
New Year’s party
Some of you may feel that exchanging New Year’s greetings only through New Year’s cards is a bit lonely.
You’d rather meet people in person and enjoy a lively chat, right? In that case, how about hosting a New Year’s gathering? Invite your close acquaintances—friends you see regularly, people you meet at senior facilities, or members from your circle or hobby club—and enjoy a pleasant time together.
If it’s just for a few hours, you don’t need elaborate dishes.
If you hold the gathering at a care facility, performances by the staff can be part of the fun as well.
It would be wonderful if older adults could start the year in high spirits!
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.
Fukuwarai (a traditional Japanese “lucky laugh” face-making game)
When it comes to January activities the whole family can enjoy, “Fukuwarai” is a classic, isn’t it? I think it’s twice as fun if everyone makes their own instead of buying one! Whether the pieces end up in the right places or the face turns out a bit goofy, it’s fun either way—that’s the charm of Fukuwarai.
It might not be very familiar to many older adults, but there’s a song called “Fukuwarai” by the musician Yu Takahashi.
It’s about smiles making the world a happier place, and just listening to it can make you feel really happy.
If you get the chance, please give it a listen!
Listen to rakugo
Kick off the year with the first laughs of the season and make it a fun one! Some older adults may be fans of rakugo, the traditional performing art that dates back to the Edo period.
There are surely people who used to spend New Year’s by going to a yose theater to listen to rakugo.
Since January marks the start of the year, we all want to spend it smiling and having fun.
You could invite a rakugo performer for everyone to enjoy together, or create an opportunity to learn and perform rakugo yourselves.
Three rakugo stories recommended for New Year are “Yabu-iri,” “Katsugiya,” and “Hatsu Tenjin.” Be sure to give them a listen!
