[For Seniors] Fun Activities That Liven Up Cool Evening Festivals and Summer Festivals
The big summer event, the “Cool Evening Festival.” This time, we’re introducing summer festival-style games and activities that older adults can enjoy together.
We’ve gathered classic booth games that capture the festival atmosphere, such as goldfish scooping, senbonbiki (string lottery), and target shooting.
Of course, these are all easy to run indoors at a facility.
If everyone encourages each other as they join in, it will surely become a wonderful memory.
By tailoring how each person participates, conversations will flow and the whole venue will be filled with smiles.
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- Games that liven up festivals. Ideas that children can enjoy.
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Summer Festival Stall-style Games & Recreation (31–40)
Who is the master of the uchiwa?!
Speaking of summer, uchiwa fans are a must-have, right? They’re convenient and easy to use, and they’re cherished as items that blow away the heat.
This time, we’re introducing a recreation activity using uchiwa.
It’s a game where you use a fan to put tissues into a box! You can enjoy competing to see who can put the most tissues in.
As long as you have a fan, it’s an easy game you can play not only at day service centers but also at home.
It helps strengthen the hands and arms, and it’s great for stimulating the brain, so we highly recommend it.
Summer Festival: Staff Performances (1–10)
Let’s guess what’s inside the box.
It’s a game where you put your hand into a box you can’t see inside and try to guess what’s in there using only your sense of touch.
It’s a classic, fun segment on TV shows, and a key point is that it gets people to focus closely on the sensations at their fingertips.
The challenger carefully reaches in, and their reaction when they touch the item is what really livens up the game, so prepare a variety of different textures.
Since surprising textures can make people tense up, it might be important to choose the contents to suit each challenger.
Magic Show
Magic is a classic crowd-pleaser for recreational events and performances.
Here’s an idea to liven up your summer evening festival with a “Magic Show” performed by staff, ranging from table magic to large-scale illusions.
Start with simple tricks that only require coins or cards, then gradually raise the difficulty with escape-style magic using large boxes or ropes to build excitement.
It gets even more engaging if you make it participatory—borrow items from attendees or have them hold something and help with the tricks to boost the fun even more!
Nankin Tamasudare
Nankin Tamasudare is a traditional performance where a small bamboo screen is transformed into various shapes to an original tune.
The way the small, handheld screen suddenly stretches long and keeps changing forms astonishes you no matter how many times you see it.
Accompanied by that song, the audience often sings along or claps to the rhythm, instantly brightening the atmosphere and livening up the event.
Inviting a professional to perform is great, but it would probably be a hit if staff members practiced and tried it themselves, right? Dress up in a slightly flashy costume and give it a go!
carry a handmade mikoshi (portable Shinto shrine)
When it comes to festivals, the lavish mikoshi are an essential element that lift everyone’s spirits, and the powerful sight of people carrying them conveys a positive energy.
This project invites you to try carrying a mikoshi yourself and to express the joy of a festival with a handmade version.
Real mikoshi are heavy and made of wood, but if you build one mainly out of paper, you can make something easy to carry.
Being able to give clear shape to your own image of a festival or a mikoshi is also a key point that highlights the fun of festivals.
If everyone carries it together in unison, it will create a sense of unity on the spot.