[For Seniors] January Activities and Recreation Games

New Year’s Letter Rearrangement Quiz

Word Scramble Quiz: Easy!! New Year Part 2 🎍✨

We’d like to introduce the “New Year Word Unscramble Quiz,” which features words related to the New Year! Rearrange the given characters to form the specified word or sentence.

Because it requires memorizing the characters and putting them in the correct order, it’s used as a brain-training activity in day service centers and senior care facilities.

Simply incorporating New Year elements into the word scramble adds a seasonal touch.

You can adjust the difficulty by changing the number of characters.

Start with 3- or 4-character words and gradually increase the difficulty!

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Kawamura Mina

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Zodiac Kanji Quiz

[Radio to listen to before bed] This is how you write the Chinese characters for the zodiac!

The New Year season is when we’re especially conscious of the zodiac, since it appears on things like New Year’s cards.

With the zodiac, people often focus on the order, how each one is read, and which animal it represents.

But how about paying attention to the kanji themselves? Even though they’re simple, single characters, some are ones you rarely see outside of zodiac notation—so it really tests how closely you’ve been paying attention to the zodiac.

And the fact that the questions aren’t asked in order alone seems like it would make for a tougher quiz.

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kappamaki

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karuta card game (karuta-tori)

Karuta playing at the day service center

How about a gentler style of karuta than the Hyakunin Isshu? Even if you don’t have the poems memorized, it’s a game you can enjoy on the spot, so it’s suitable for anyone and fun for everyone together.

It’s exciting to wait, heart pounding, for the card you’re aiming for to be read out.

Besides using various store-bought karuta sets, it might also be fun to make your own.

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Hirakawa Masako (Bōkarisuto: Sakata Mizumako)

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kite flying

New Year’s fun! Great for indoors too ♪ Instant kite-flying

In old paintings that depict customs and the times, you’ll always see kites flying at New Year.

In Hokusai Katsushika’s famous series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, Edo kites are also depicted, showing that they were enjoyed by everyone, adults and children alike.

Many of you probably flew traditional Japanese kites or the slightly cooler Gayla kites when you were kids.

So how about making an indoor kite to get into the New Year spirit? You can easily make one with lightweight materials like plastic and straws.

There are plenty of videos online explaining how to do it, so try searching for them!

first calligraphy of the year

At the first calligraphy of the year, my brush runs— a pillar at my back.

The New Year’s calligraphy homework we were assigned over winter break in elementary school feels so nostalgic.

Even though we were told to always grind our own ink, we often used bottled ink instead.

How about reliving that childlike feeling and enjoying kakizome in January? Kakizome is said to have its roots in the Heian-period court ceremony known as “Kissho no So,” so it might be nice to set the mood with gagaku as background music.

Of course, let’s frame the pieces we write, display them, and have everyone take a look! If it’s for a senior facility, turning it into a “Kakizome Contest” would be a great way to get everyone excited.