For Seniors: Festive Attractions to Liven Up Festivals—Games and Recreational Activities

Smart ball made with 100-yen shop materials

How to Make a Smart Ball Game with 100-Yen Store Materials: Pegboard Craft, Summer Project, Pachinko, Corinth Game

How about planning the classic festival game “Smart Ball”? It’s very similar to pachinko, which many older adults know well, so playing it brings back nostalgic feelings.

You can buy a ready-made Smart Ball set, but they can be pricey, so it’s better to make one yourself.

For a small version, you can build it with materials from a 100-yen shop.

Attach wooden blocks to the four corners of a perforated board to make the base, and create a launcher at the lower right using a block of wood, a screw, and rubber bands.

Cut a large card case into a strip and install it along the inside top of the base.

Insert dowels wherever you like, hook rubber bands over them, and attach papers with point values.

Finally, add wooden legs to the back so the base is angled—and you’re done.

Goldfish scooping

A classic summer pastime: festival pretend play with goldfish scooping

Many of you have probably enjoyed goldfish scooping at summer festival stalls.

To make it easy to enjoy at home, try crafting your own goldfish and poi scoops instead of using real fish! You can make the goldfish easily by using colored cellophane and pipe cleaners, just like making a teru-teru bozu.

The poi scoop can be made from a food tray.

Next, let’s make a bucket from a plastic bottle.

If you change the colors of the cellophane, you’ll end up with a set of colorful goldfish.

ring toss

Recreation for Seniors – Timeless Classic That’s Always a Hit! Newspaper 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.

Newspaper Dart

Today's activity: Newspaper Darts

Let me introduce a fun darts game you can play using newspaper.

Prepare several newspapers rolled into long, thin tubes.

Make a target with several holes, and try throwing the newspaper tubes into the holes.

The target can be made of cardboard, and you can make holes in various shapes and sizes—circles, triangles, and more—to make it even more enjoyable.

You can also assign points to the target.

In regular darts, you throw at the point zones on the target on the wall.

In this newspaper darts game, you score points when a rolled newspaper lands in one of the target’s holes.

Since newspaper is light, it should be easy for older adults to handle.

Okonomiyaki Game

Recreation for seniors: Okonomiyaki game

Let’s have fun with an okonomiyaki-flipping game! It’s a game where you use a spatula to flip okonomiyaki made out of cardboard.

If you drop one off the table, you’re out.

Compete to see how many you can flip in how many seconds.

If you panic, you might end up dropping a lot! Turning it into a time trial or a team competition will make it even more exciting.

Parachute Game

Parachute game 🪂 #recreation #olderadults #dayservice #preventivecare #games #elderlycare

A parachute gently descending through the sky.

Here’s a game that lets you play by dropping a plastic bag like a parachute.

Clip a few clothespins onto the open end of a plastic bag.

The clothespins act as weights to make the lightweight bag easier to throw.

Using a ring toss target as the landing spot works well.

Since neither the plastic bag nor the clothespins feel heavy, it seems safe for older adults too.

Also, throwing provides arm training, and aiming at a target helps improve concentration.

Treasure Fishing

Okayama City Day Service Summer Festival Final Chapter Day 1

Let’s host a summer festival that gets participants’ hearts racing with excitement! Here’s an idea for a Treasure Fishing game.

When you think of a summer festival, many people imagine food stalls, right? This time, let’s try a treasure fishing challenge where you use a hook attached to a string to aim for and lift the ring attached to a prize.

The treasures can include snacks, drinks, tumblers, and small goods.

It’s fine to put them in transparent bags so the contents are visible, but setting them up in wrapping paper or paper bags so the contents are hidden could be fun too.

Be sure to give it a try!