Are you a senior citizen? Age doesn't prevent one from having their share of fun. Jazz up your life with some entertaining activities tailor-made for senior citizens.
We look at some activities for senior citizens, which will keep them engaged and amused.
1. Mix about 200 small safety pins in an ice cream bucket along with dry oatmeal. Blindfold a person and time them for say 10 minutes, and let them see how many pins they can find in the dry oatmeal. Let everyone have a turn (blindfolded), and the one who finds the maximum number of pins, wins a prize.
2. Take different photographs, and tear each of them into pieces. Organize the senior citizens into teams, and hand over the torn pieces of a single photograph to each team. The team that first puts together the photograph wins the prize.
3. Auction. Pick up some inexpensive items from your local grocery store. Good choices would be toiletries, kitchen items, personal care products and home decorations. These items should be gift-wrapped as mystery prizes. You will also require some fake money, which is equally distributed along the participants. The auctioneer will pick up a single prize at a time, and so, the bidding begins.
4. Hire a music band and have a dance. Encourage senior citizens with limited mobility to dance in their chairs or keep the beat to the music.
5. Organize a fashion show. Senior citizens who are unable to walk the ramp could be rolled out in wheelchairs.
6. Senior Fishing Day. Everyone is supposed to get their own fishing pole and bait along. It will help the seniors relax as well as keep themselves occupied. There should be prizes for the maximum fish caught and the biggest catch.
7. Organize a yoga class. This is extremely beneficial to senior citizens, and each person should do only those yoga exercises that they are comfortable with. However, this activity needs care and caution.
8. Organize a one-mile walk. This is something which is within the capability of most senior citizens.
9. Mental exercises like solving puzzles and doing mathematical calculations mentally without using a paper and pencil could be undertaken. This might delay the onset of serious old age diseases like Alzheimer's, or delay the progress of the disease in people already afflicted by the Alzheimer's disease.
10. Have every senior citizen bring a photo of themselves when they were babies or teenagers. The game is to guess whose photo it is. There would be attractive prizes for the winners.
11. Monthly birthday parties could be organized. Everybody would bring decent gifts for the person who has their birthday.
12. Have a quiz regarding movies, songs, TV shows, actors, and other categories that the seniors are familiar with or are enthusiastic about.
13. Playing Favorites. We guess each person's favorite choices, eg., their favorite sport, favorite food, or favorite music genre. Keep prizes for those who guess it right and win.
14. Sculpting for seniors. You could use the soft clay products, which are made for children. There should be a prize for the quickest sculpture created and the best looking sculpture. This activity would also help in strengthening the seniors' dexterity and muscle control.
15. A holiday trip to a scenic spot could be organized. Nature is one of the most effective healers for the mind.
16. Hold a flower decoration competition. Supply the flowers, vases, and scissors. You are allowed to take your handmade creation home.
17. Supply the seniors with cameras. Each one can take pictures of their favorite items, and display them to others as a slide show.
18. You could also place your favorite recipe among many recipes, and ask the seniors to guess it.
19. Each senior can talk for a few minutes offering personal advice and tips on health-related issues.
20. Make up a list of questions that can be answered with only Yes or No. Make a circle with the number of chairs enough for each senior citizen to play. Ask a question and if a person can answer yes to a question, they should move to the seat on the right. The person sitting on that seat may not be able to answer yes to that particular question and will still be sitting there. So they sit on their lap. Sometimes we have 3-4 people sitting on one chair and a lot of merriment. This is a lot of fun, and questions are mostly easy, e.g., 'Do you have black shoes?' or 'Do you have blue eyes?' or 'Do you own a cat?', and so on. Again, a word of caution is suggested as some physical activity is involved.
1. Mix about 200 small safety pins in an ice cream bucket along with dry oatmeal. Blindfold a person and time them for say 10 minutes, and let them see how many pins they can find in the dry oatmeal. Let everyone have a turn (blindfolded), and the one who finds the maximum number of pins, wins a prize.
2. Take different photographs, and tear each of them into pieces. Organize the senior citizens into teams, and hand over the torn pieces of a single photograph to each team. The team that first puts together the photograph wins the prize.
3. Auction. Pick up some inexpensive items from your local grocery store. Good choices would be toiletries, kitchen items, personal care products and home decorations. These items should be gift-wrapped as mystery prizes. You will also require some fake money, which is equally distributed along the participants. The auctioneer will pick up a single prize at a time, and so, the bidding begins.
4. Hire a music band and have a dance. Encourage senior citizens with limited mobility to dance in their chairs or keep the beat to the music.
5. Organize a fashion show. Senior citizens who are unable to walk the ramp could be rolled out in wheelchairs.
6. Senior Fishing Day. Everyone is supposed to get their own fishing pole and bait along. It will help the seniors relax as well as keep themselves occupied. There should be prizes for the maximum fish caught and the biggest catch.
7. Organize a yoga class. This is extremely beneficial to senior citizens, and each person should do only those yoga exercises that they are comfortable with. However, this activity needs care and caution.
8. Organize a one-mile walk. This is something which is within the capability of most senior citizens.
9. Mental exercises like solving puzzles and doing mathematical calculations mentally without using a paper and pencil could be undertaken. This might delay the onset of serious old age diseases like Alzheimer's, or delay the progress of the disease in people already afflicted by the Alzheimer's disease.
10. Have every senior citizen bring a photo of themselves when they were babies or teenagers. The game is to guess whose photo it is. There would be attractive prizes for the winners.
11. Monthly birthday parties could be organized. Everybody would bring decent gifts for the person who has their birthday.
12. Have a quiz regarding movies, songs, TV shows, actors, and other categories that the seniors are familiar with or are enthusiastic about.
13. Playing Favorites. We guess each person's favorite choices, eg., their favorite sport, favorite food, or favorite music genre. Keep prizes for those who guess it right and win.
14. Sculpting for seniors. You could use the soft clay products, which are made for children. There should be a prize for the quickest sculpture created and the best looking sculpture. This activity would also help in strengthening the seniors' dexterity and muscle control.
15. A holiday trip to a scenic spot could be organized. Nature is one of the most effective healers for the mind.
16. Hold a flower decoration competition. Supply the flowers, vases, and scissors. You are allowed to take your handmade creation home.
17. Supply the seniors with cameras. Each one can take pictures of their favorite items, and display them to others as a slide show.
18. You could also place your favorite recipe among many recipes, and ask the seniors to guess it.
19. Each senior can talk for a few minutes offering personal advice and tips on health-related issues.
20. Make up a list of questions that can be answered with only Yes or No. Make a circle with the number of chairs enough for each senior citizen to play. Ask a question and if a person can answer yes to a question, they should move to the seat on the right. The person sitting on that seat may not be able to answer yes to that particular question and will still be sitting there. So they sit on their lap. Sometimes we have 3-4 people sitting on one chair and a lot of merriment. This is a lot of fun, and questions are mostly easy, e.g., 'Do you have black shoes?' or 'Do you have blue eyes?' or 'Do you own a cat?', and so on. Again, a word of caution is suggested as some physical activity is involved.
