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

shaved ice

Nagomi no Sato Kabe Day Service Center, Asakita Ward, Hiroshima City - Summer Evening Festival

When it comes to the fun of festival food stalls, shaved ice is a must.

It’s the best on a hot day.

While many shaved ice machines are hand-cranked, there are also electric models these days.

They’re easy and effortless to use, which is great.

Let’s prepare lots of syrups—strawberry, lemon, melon, and more—and have a lively time together.

Since it’s cold, be careful not to chill your stomach!

Goldfish Game

Goldfish game #nursingCare #nursingHome #careFacility #recreation #rec #elderly #game #KitasunaHome #dayService

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.

Whack-a-mole

Whac-A-Mole game

Let’s all try playing the classic whack-a-mole game you often see at arcades! Make holes for the moles to pop out of using cardboard, and have the moles poke up from there.

Of course, the moles are controlled by hand (lol).

Set a time limit and have players whack them with a toy hammer.

A squeaky hammer that goes “piko piko” makes it easy to understand and really livens things up.

Can Stacking Game

What's the highest you can stack? 'Can Stacking Game'

It’s a game where you stack empty cans and compete for points.

It looks simple, but empty cans are surprisingly light, and once you stack them, they become unstable and hard to balance.

Even among empty cans, the balance differs between the standard 350 ml and 500 ml sizes.

For the taller 500 ml cans, points are doubled, and you compete on how many you can stack within the time limit.

If your stack collapses along the way, you can start over as long as you’re still within the time limit.

Let’s write everyone’s scores on a chart and see who gets the highest score!

flowing somen (nagashi-somen)

Today's activity at Day Service Asumiru

Nagashi somen, a classic summer tradition, is still a must-have and popular attraction at school and community summer events.

If you plan it for a summer festival that seniors will attend, I’m sure it will be a big hit with everyone.

You don’t have to start from scratch by cutting bamboo—these days there are plenty of easy-to-use items available.

Make use of those and enjoy a cool, summery nagashi somen experience.

Still, even though it’s the same somen, why does it taste better when it’s flowing like that? It’s a mystery, isn’t it? (laughs)

Grilled Eel Game

I tried the eel-grilling 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.

portable Shinto shrine (mikoshi)

Summer Festival Week at Day Service Tamagawa Gakuen Begins

The mikoshi is an essential mood booster for summer festivals! It’s so much fun to carry the mikoshi together to the festival music.

If staff at a facility are going to carry it, why not make a flashy, high-energy one? And if older adults will be carrying it, consider making a lightweight version.

It may be just an event where you carry the mikoshi, but it really gets lively, so it’s highly recommended! You could also have people join the festival music by playing simple rhythms on drums and the like—it would make for a great memory.