Wednesday, October 3, 2018
As you get older you can stay fit and healthy physically but one of the biggest organs of the body is the brain and that also needs to stay fit and healthy and strong. One of the things that you can do to stay fit and healthy is to participate in “brain games” which stimulate short term memory, involve skill, and also combine some social aspects if possible.
This is another way to challenge your mind and it can be fun.
Some simple things you can do help keep active include participating in arts and crafts and making things by hand as they keep your mind healthy and you hands active and nimble and quick. This a chance to use imagination and creativity and does not have to be expensive. You can try making collages with construction paper or using photobooks and frams or creating holiday and special occasion cards or materials such as bonnets for babies or magazine scrapping.
Sudoku as well as word puzzles and word finds are great to help the language part of the mind, the Wernicke and Broca areas. You can use word association games as well.
Often you will find in nursing or care homes that you have a large group of people and playing Bingo is a great way to stay connected to you group or community and have fun and be active and also test hearing and sensations and visual accuity and it doesn’t hurt that you might win something.
There are now memory and brain boosting games that help test your memory and speed and ability to remember sequences. These can be played solo or with a group of friends. You might even try Heads Up for instance which can be a fun social outlet.
There are also Mindbenders or logic puzzles or activities that help you sleuth or use your mind to solve a riddle to help you use your powers of deduction in order to solve the mystery. For example there are riddles that start with things like “I am my brother’s brother but …” You get the idea.
Some people are also avid puzzle collectors and these can be very fun and low stress or done at your own pace. There are nature themes and Harry Potter themed ones and Disney themed ones and something for everyone. These are relaxing usually and help you fit things together and use your spacial accuity and dexterity of fingers.
If you try to find a game try to have the game concentrate on memory and sometimes it can help by adding a time element to see how many things you can remember in a time limit.
Another good one is sudoku that solves a logic problem by seaching for number patters. They can also give a sense of accomplishment.
Games like trivia and Jeopardy can also test your knowledge of facts, music, celebs, history and it can be challenging by adding time, boosting competitiveness and add a teamwork element.
Another great game is chess, backgammon, checkers, chinese checkers since these games are know to be strategic mental games. You can be any age to play these. You don’t have to be nerdy or a super smart person to play these games. And often a little practice can get your skills up. There are also online versions as well. These games also help people with focus.
Some other fun games can be card games, board games, dominos.
You can also get people out and about and look at nature and identify animals and plants in the garden.
You can have books that you read and have a book club where you tell each other what the story is about to younger folk.
You can have a quick remember, hide and recall game where you bring out a small pan of items like soap, keys, crayons, mints etc and give them 30 seconds and then cover it up or take it away and tell them to remember as many as possible.
There is also a pegging game that can be played where a person starts with a list. For example I have a box and in it it has a hammer. And the next person says I have a box and it has hammer and nails. And the next person says I have a box and it has hammer and nails and a miter saw and each person has to remember the previous items and add more.
You can also introduce electronic games. Even going to an old fashion arcade or fair can be fun.
You can have your group of elders help out with a soup kitchen or charity or animals.
You can play cards and black jack. Uno, solitaire, euchre and hearts are great social games.
Charades is a fun social activity or even something like Win, Lose, or Draw is a fun activity where you have a pad and your friends have to describe an object. The other friend has to name what is being drawn before the drawing is done or time is up.
Don’t forget that staying healthy and fit is important even into old age. Try something new. Take up some social dance classes, acting classes and comedy improve classes.
And use your laptop, mobile or tablet devices as well to help stay connected over the Internet. There are Words with Friends apps and penpal apps that make it so easy to connect and make friends with any one in the world. Not only will you live longer with a better quality of health but you will also feel happy.
Be well.
This article is inspired by:
https://supercarers.com/blog/games-for-elderly/
Looking for more fun toys? Try brain games toy gadgets like Rubiks cubes, snake cubes, cornhole pegs and memory games.
Bored? Play with a fidget spinner.
*[Is this educational or lifestyle?] [Consider adding some links to brain game toys that people can shop from!]
