Games are a great activity to tie the elderly and the younger people together and spend some hours of quality family time. There are many games that both the younger people and the elderly can play together and enjoy and this article lists below lots of ideas of such games to play with the elderly. Moreover, don’t forget that it is also highly recommended for seniors to play games because it keeps their mind active.
Games to play with the elderly: Cards
Probably one of the easiest games to play with the elderly are cards. Naturally you need to give them some space in terms of the types of games and play games that seniors enjoy.
- Hearts
- Solitaire
- Gin Rummy
- Racko
- Clue
- Pitch
- Pocker
- Old Maid
- BlackJack
- Cribbage
- Pinocle
- Canasta
- Bridge
- Uno
- Skip-Bo
Games to play with the elderly: Board games
Most famously:
- Checkers
- Chess
- Dominoes
- Monopoly
- Backgammon
- Bingo
- Scrabble
- Sudoku
- Crossword puzzles
- Large group jigsaw puzzles
Other
- Trivia
- Karaoke / sing along
Nintendo Wii or Xbox KINECT
These computer consoles have become quite known and fun and include games which can be played by the whole family together including the elderly. However all games can not be played with the elderly as some of them can require much higher levels of energy.
Look more in the direction of games like table tennis (ping pong), bowling, golf and any other game which does not require aggressive body movements.
Games to play with the elderly with Dementia
Highly suggested to always think about and include in the games and activities their very well known past experiences or passions and hobbies of their lives.
For example if they love or find pleasure in gardening / nature then you could try incorporating as much of that as possible into the games such as getting a large piece jigsaw puzzle with a colourful image which you believe they would like. You can also try to name together names of plants or flowers if that was the passion of the elderly person. You could also make cards with pictures of flowers or nature and arrange them together to form a garden on the table (no right or wrong answer).
Other suggestions – Music
Although not a game, if someone in the family can play the piano or some other calming and beautiful sounding musical instrument this can also be something that can be shared among family and the elderly.
To conclude:
Thank you for reading this article. Feel free to read about other activities for seniors and games for seniors in our other articles.