[For Seniors] Enjoy September’s Autumn Fun! A Collection of Craft, Game, and Exercise Ideas
September is the season when the summer heat eases and the air turns crisp.
As it becomes more comfortable, you might find yourself wondering if there’s something fun to do.
September, with its moon-viewing, the equinoctial week, and cosmos flowers, offers plenty of activities to enjoy both indoors and outdoors.
You can hang a handmade wreath, do exercises together while singing, or get excited with fun games.
It’s also a great time to hold seasonal events like Respect-for-the-Aged gatherings and sports days.
Spend some heartwarming, enjoyable moments with your family and friends.
- [For Seniors] Enjoyable September Event Activities
- [For Seniors] Fun Autumn Activities: Recreation Games
- [For Seniors] Easy Snack Activity Perfect for September
- Liven up the Respect-for-the-Aged gathering: A roundup of recreational activities everyone can enjoy.
- September Health Topic: Introducing Recreational Activities That Capture the Feeling of Autumn’s Arrival
- [For Seniors] Recreation Games Related to October Events
- Wall decoration ideas for seniors recommended for September
- Simple, Recommended Autumn Crafts for Seniors
- [For Seniors] Recommended September Origami to Feel the Autumn Season
- [For Seniors] Simple Recreational Activities You Can Enjoy While Seated
- [For Seniors] Simple Tabletop Games: Fun and Engaging Recreational Activities
- [For Seniors] Fun Activities That Liven Up Cool Evening Festivals and Summer Festivals
- [For Seniors] Fun Small-Group Recreation
[For Seniors] Enjoy Autumn with September Activities! A Collection of Craft, Game, and Exercise Ideas (21–30)
dragonfly ornament
When it comes to autumn scenery, many people probably imagine a scene at dusk with dragonflies darting about.
This activity shows you how to make dragonflies—an essential element of that autumn landscape—using disposable chopsticks and washi origami.
First, wrap hemp twine around a cut piece of chopstick to create the dragonfly’s body.
Next, attach coiled twine pieces as the eyes, and form a loop from origami paper; shape it and attach it in the position of the wings to complete the whole piece.
Choose your colors and shapes to bring out your own originality.
Autumn Flavors Guessing Game
There are lots of ways to enjoy autumn—sports, reading, and more—but the best part is definitely the season’s delicious foods.
With that in mind, here are some game ideas featuring autumn flavors like sweet potatoes, grapes, matsutake mushrooms, and chestnuts.
Try a “Guess the Flavor” contest where you eat candy and identify the taste, a “Guess the Ingredient” quiz where you sample a dish and name what’s in it, make autumn food cards for a memory game, or collect cards of the seasonal foods you’ve eaten—the ideas are endless! All of these are recreational activities that seem fun for wheelchair users too, so they’re perfect for facilities with many people who use wheelchairs.
Making autumn leaves
When you think of autumn, you think of fall foliage—the leaves turning red and yellow—and the beautiful season of falling leaves.
Let’s make and enjoy our own autumn leaves.
Just cut white paper into leaf shapes and color them any way you like.
Try painting each one bright red, yellow, or with more nuanced shades, and create lots of different leaves.
You can enjoy decorating with the finished leaves.
The Seven Flowers of Autumn
Do you know the Seven Flowers of Autumn? The Seven Herbs of Spring are famous for being eaten as rice porridge (nanakusa-gayu), but the Seven Flowers of Autumn aren’t associated with any special custom.
They are pampas grass (susuki), bush clover (hagi), bellflower (kikyō), kudzu (kuzu), pink (nadeshiko), patrinia (ominaeshi), and thoroughwort (fujibakama).
Pampas grass is well known for being displayed during moon-viewing, isn’t it? Since it’s hard to see all of them in person, let’s enjoy them through pictures and the like.
Hanging decorations for moon viewing
Let’s make a hanging decoration perfect for the moon-viewing season.
It’s like a simple mobile—fun to make, and enjoyable to display afterward, giving it a nice sense of value as a recreation activity.
Create seasonal motifs such as the moon, rice dumplings for moon viewing, and pampas grass using colored construction paper, and attach them to a single string.
You could also adapt this idea to create decorations for other seasons.
Making Japanese-patterned bookmarks
Autumn is often called the season for reading, isn’t it? How about making a simple bookmark with a traditional Japanese pattern? For the bookmark body, cut a piece of fabric with a Japanese motif to the size of two bookmarks, apply double-sided tape to just half of the back, then fold it in the middle and press to adhere.
That alone is a bit too simple, so let’s add a small temari ball and a ribbon—often used in hanging decorations—as accents.
Punch a small hole at the top of the bookmark, thread a slightly long ribbon through, then thread a temari ball onto each end of the ribbon and tie them.
This alone gives it a festive look, and the temari balls swaying at the ribbon tips are very cute.
If you prefer a stiffer bookmark, you can insert cardstock between the layers of fabric.
moon-viewing dumplings
September’s seasonal event is Otsukimi, the moon-viewing festival.
And nothing goes better with moon-viewing than tsukimi dango.
Let’s make chewy, delicious dumplings using shiratamako (glutinous rice flour) and tofu.
Using tofu instead of water keeps the dumplings from hardening as they cool, which is especially nice for older adults.
Mix the shiratamako and tofu thoroughly, then divide the dough in two.
Leave one half as is, and mix pumpkin into the other to create beautifully yellow dumplings like the moon.
Roll into bite-sized balls, boil them well, and while they’re still hot, coat them with sugar to finish.
The sugar melts into a gentle, syrup-like sweetness.