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
- [For Seniors] Simple Recreational Activities You Can Enjoy While Seated
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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] Performances that enliven festivals: Games and recreational activities (31–40)
fishing
When it comes to recreations that bring a festive atmosphere indoors, fishing is a great option.
Create a “pond” out of cardboard and scatter illustrations of various fish inside.
If there are seniors who are good at drawing, it’s a nice idea to have residents at the care facility or day service create the illustrations.
Make simple fishing gear with chopsticks and attach tape to the end of a string, and you can start enjoying fishing right away.
You can liven things up by competing in teams to see who catches the most fish, or by teaching each other the names of the fish.
It’s also recommended because it’s a game that can be enjoyed while seated, making it easy and safe for older adults to try.
Bowling
Let’s enjoy bowling using plastic bottles! Prepare empty plastic bottles and put a little water inside, then wrap colored construction paper around them.
Make them in various colors.
Use them as pins and try to knock them down.
The amount of water changes the difficulty—more water makes them harder to topple.
Have fun by adjusting the water levels and the length of the lane.
Using plastic bottles of different sizes will make it even more exciting!
Goldfish Game
At festival stalls, there’s usually a goldfish scooping game, right? Besides scooping, here’s a fun game that uses goldfish as the theme.
Two people hold the ends of a face towel, and place a goldfish plushie or a crafted goldfish on the towel.
While shaking the towel, they toss the goldfish into a basket that’s been set up in advance.
Assign points based on the size of the basket and the distance to the basket.
This innovative goldfish game should be enjoyable for older adults as well.
It also seems like it would be exciting to play as teams.
Festival Quiz
With helpful hints, it’s easy to join in! Here are some ideas for a festival quiz.
In Japan, there are famous festivals held in the summer.
This time, let’s try a festival quiz where you use hints to figure out the answer.
For example, there’s a question that shows three hints: “streamers,” “kusudama,” and “Miyagi Prefecture.” Some of you might know the correct answer right away from those clues.
There are a total of eight festival quiz questions, so be sure to give them a try!
Uchiwa Balloon Relay
This is a relay-style game where players move while keeping a balloon bouncing with a handheld fan (uchiwa), go to a target point, and come back.
Competing in teams helps build strong focus on the balloon and good movement speed.
If you skillfully incorporate a forward flick with the fan, you can gain speed, but quick forward movement is also required, so good judgment is key.
If keeping the balloon bouncing while moving is too hard, another recommended rule is to keep the balloon resting on the fan as you go.
By alternating your gaze between the balloon in your hand and the direction of travel, you can also sharpen your visual focus.
[For Seniors] Festive Attractions That Liven Up Festivals: Games and Recreational Activities (41–50)
Grilled Eel Game
In July, there’s the Day of the Ox in the Doyo period, right? In fact, there are several days called Doyo no Ushi no Hi throughout the year, but it became popular in summer as the time to eat eel to prevent summer fatigue.
How about trying a perfect activity for that day: the Grilled Eel Game? You make long, wriggly eels by rolling up newspaper, then place them on a platform that represents a grilling rack and compete for speed.
Simply placing them would be too easy, so try picking them up with chopsticks and setting them on the rack.
It’s good fine motor practice, too.
Stacking empty cans
The can-stacking contest at summer festivals enriches communication.
Its appeal lies in simple, easy-to-understand rules that anyone can enjoy casually.
Even if the stacked cans collapse, we hope participants will keep trying again and again in a warm, cheerful atmosphere full of smiles.
We also prioritize environmental care by ensuring used cans are recycled to keep the venue clean.
By incorporating eco-friendly practices, it becomes a wonderful opportunity where everyone takes center stage and enjoys connecting with others.