For Seniors: Festive Attractions to Liven Up Festivals—Games and Recreational Activities
We’re introducing games and recreational activities recommended for festivals at senior care facilities.
There are plenty of attractions that can be enjoyed while seated so that older adults can participate comfortably.
Activities like “goldfish scooping,” “target shooting,” and “lucky string pull” may bring back memories of festivals enjoyed in childhood.
Festivals are exciting events for both adults and children.
They can also spark communication with people you don’t usually interact with.
Use this article as a guide to plan a festival that allows seniors to have fun safely.
- [For Seniors] Fun Activities That Liven Up Cool Evening Festivals and Summer Festivals
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- [Let's Enjoy Japanese Festival Songs!] Songs about festivals. Famous songs related to festivals.
- [For Seniors] Simple Tabletop Games: Fun and Engaging Recreational Activities
- [For Seniors] Recreational Activities Enjoyable in Large Groups
- Entertainment and Performances That Delight at Day Services for the Elderly
- [For Seniors] Recommended Dances You Can Move To and Enjoy
- [For Seniors] Fun Brain Training! Lively Whiteboard Activities
- [For Seniors] Introducing recommended songs to give on Respect for the Aged Day
- [For Seniors] Crowd-Pleasers! Recommended Songs Everyone Can Enjoy Together in October
- [Today's Recommendation] Gentle Health Exercises for Seniors
- Recommended Songs for Nursing Home Recreation [Fun Exercise, Soothing Songs]
[For Seniors] Activities to Liven Up a Festival: Games and Recreational Activities (1–10)
ball throwing
“Ball Toss” is a game where you throw balls at a stand lined with many tubes.
The stand’s tubes are arranged in three colors at random.
The player must throw each ball into a tube of the same color as the ball they’re holding.
For example, if you have a red ball, you must throw it into a red tube; if it goes into a blue one, you score zero points.
Decide beforehand how many balls each player gets, such as three balls per person.
For extra excitement, prepare one very tall, hard-to-hit tube in the center—if a ball goes in, the score is multiplied by 10! Adding a higher level of difficulty makes the game even more fun.
Capsule Korokoro
You’ve probably seen capsule toy machines filled with toys and merchandise at arcades or supermarkets.
Let’s use those round capsules to play a lively game.
Attach a stick to an empty tissue box and use it to roll a capsule across a table.
The goal is to land the capsule in a target without letting it fall off the table.
To make the game even more fun, create gaps between the targets.
Placing the capsule without dropping it into the gaps is a great way for older adults to show their skill.
Cheering on the players and calling out to them can spark interaction with the people around them, too.
ring toss
Let’s try ring toss, a classic game you often see at festival stalls.
With ring toss, you can play either standing or sitting, which makes it easy to adjust the distance and other settings.
It’s also a good idea to make a movable ring-toss stand.
Decide on a set number of rings per person and play team matches to make it even more exciting.
target practice
How about everyone enjoying a target game together? Stretch a string tight and hang folded pieces of paper on it.
Write illustrations and point values on the papers.
Then throw your beanbags at the papers to knock them down.
The number of throws is fixed, so compete by totaling the points of the papers you knock down with all your throws.
Make the illustrations large and easy to recognize.
A game where you use a fan to get a balloon out of a basket
Here’s a balloon game that’s perfect for a lively festival atmosphere.
Place several inflated balloons in a basket, and have older adults sit around it holding paper fans.
At the call of “Start,” they fan the air to blow the balloons out of the basket within a set time.
It’s a simple game, but it really gets everyone excited.
Participants can enjoy cooperating with one another and calling out encouragement.
Whether the balloons make it out of the basket or not within the time limit, it’s a game that’s likely to bring smiles to the faces of the older adults.