[For Seniors] Fun Winter Activities: Recreation and Games
We’d like to introduce recreational activities and games that older adults can enjoy during the still-chilly winter season.
Winter is full of occasions like New Year’s and Valentine’s Day.
Many senior and care facilities may be planning events that match these occasions.
With our “Recreation and Games for Older Adults to Enjoy in Winter,” your events might become even more enjoyable.
We also have ideas for activities that are usually played outdoors but can be done in a warm indoor setting.
From activities you can focus on and enjoy alone to ones that a small group can tackle together and get excited about, we’ve prepared a wide variety.
We hope everyone can fully enjoy winter indoors while still feeling the season.
- [For Seniors] Recommended in December! Safe and Fun Indoor Recreation
- [For Seniors] Enjoy the Cold Winter! Seated Activities You Can Do
- [For Seniors] January Activities and Recreation Games
- [For Seniors] Simple Tabletop Games: Fun and Engaging Recreational Activities
- [For Seniors] Simple Recreational Activities You Can Enjoy While Seated
- [For Seniors] Fun Recreational Activities Without Equipment
- [For Seniors] Easy and fun seated activities you can do in your room
- [For Seniors] Recreational Activities Enjoyable in Large Groups
- [For Seniors] Enjoyable Indoor Activities! Recreations and Games That Engage the Mind and Body
- [For Seniors] Enjoyable Day Service: A Collection of Fun Event Ideas
- [For Seniors] Enjoy safely even during the COVID-19 pandemic: Seated activities
- [For Seniors] Winter Haiku: Introducing Beautiful Masterpieces by Famous Haiku Poets
- For Seniors: Fun Activities in February — Celebrate Setsubun, Valentine’s Day, and Snow
[For Seniors] Fun Winter Activities: Recreations and Games (91–100)
Winter picture letter
Winter-themed picture letters are a perfect recreational activity for older adults.
They allow you to express the beauty of the season—like snowy landscapes and Christmas imagery.
Not only do they stimulate imagination and creativity, but they can also help improve memory and concentration.
Using your hands can help maintain dexterity as well.
Above all, drawing brings joy and a sense of fulfillment, and it’s refreshing for the mind.
By expressing the winter season in pictures, let’s enrich our hearts while expanding our imagination.
It sounds like a wonderful way to spend enjoyable time together with older adults.
first shrine visit of the New Year
It goes beyond play or lectures—even beyond any such framework—and at this point it’s practically a yearly tradition! Let’s visit a shrine to pray for a year of good health.
It’s also a good chance to get some exercise, but it’s cold, so keep warm.
This year, next year, and the year after—when you put it all into a slideshow like this, it’s easy to look back, which is really convenient.
Let’s enjoy it with the whole family or together with friends!
first calligraphy of the year
Kakizome, the first calligraphy of the year, written with ink you grind yourself and a brush dipped in ink.
Writing your resolutions for the year at the start of a new year feels somehow fresh and invigorating, doesn’t it? Putting brush to paper is also a great way to reflect your state of mind.
Fewer people practice kakizome these days, but why not take a moment to calm yourself and try it again? It can leave you feeling refreshed, with a renewed spirit.
Fukuwarai (a traditional Japanese “lucky laugh” face-making game)
Fukuwarai is a game where you’re blindfolded and assemble the parts of a face.
Since winter is cold, how about playing it while sitting under the kotatsu with your grandchild, or getting together with friends for some lively fun? Depending on who’s making it, the face can turn out funny or cute, so fukuwarai is a classic game you can enjoy over and over! It’s also great to try handcrafting the original face from scratch.
Ema making
Let’s write our wishes for the year on an ema, the wooden plaques that many people write on during New Year’s! But to write on an ema, you’d normally have to go to a shrine.
In the cold winter, some people don’t want to go outside, and for many seniors who have difficulty walking, it’s not so easy to visit a shrine.
For those people, here’s an ema you can make with origami.
You can easily make an ema using just one sheet of origami paper! It’s also a great idea to write your wish on the finished origami ema, and to decorate it by attaching an origami daruma or camellia flower.
Let’s offer our prayers from home or at a day service center!
Giant Menko
Giant Menko is a one-on-one game you can play while seated.
Prepare oversized menko (bigger than a palm) out of cardboard or similar material, and color-code them—red on the front and blue on the back.
You can choose any colors you like! Create a scoring area in the center between the two players, and take turns throwing your menko into that marked zone.
Add up the points where each menko lands; the player with the higher total wins.
It’s a nostalgic, exciting game that brings back memories of playing menko as a child.
Christmas wreath making
Christmas is one of the most important events of winter.
It arrives just when our spirits are starting to rise toward the end of the year.
Speaking of Christmas, there are many striking motifs, and wreaths are one of the essential decorations.
You can buy a wreath base woven from plant vines at 100-yen shops and the like, so it’s easy to make one by simply attaching ornaments—that’s another plus.
The standard approach is to add plants like fir and holly, along with festive decorations such as bells and ribbons.
By keeping classic Christmas colors like green and red in mind, you can create a vibrant wreath that also evokes the season.
In conclusion
We’ve introduced winter activities, recreation, and games for seniors—what did you think? Some activities may seem difficult at first glance, but with a bit of creativity, they can be made simple and fun.
Many games that seniors can do are also suitable for young children, so please try playing them together with your grandchildren!