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Games to Play for the Elderly With Memory Losses

As a senior citizen, games and activities are not only enjoyable, but can also be functional and enhance the quality of life. Certain games and activities are useful for sharing laughter, bonding as well as stimulating and exercising the brain. Use memory games to help seniors enhance their cognitive abilities.

  1. Crossword Puzzles

    • Crossword puzzles are games for people of most ages to play. These puzzles are beneficial for enhancing vocabulary skills and encouraging mental alertness. Pull out a dictionary along with a few crossword puzzles and have fun. These puzzles are also enjoyable when done as a group activity with two or three people. You can also hold a crossword puzzle contest where several groups compete to see who can complete the crossword puzzle first. For contests, use a simple puzzle that takes no more than 10 minutes to complete.

    Photo Puzzle

    • To play photo puzzle, separate your group of seniors into two groups. Take a picture of each group and enlarge the picture on a photocopier to the size of a regular piece of paper. Cut the photo into several pieces, making a puzzle. Give each group their photo puzzle and instruct the group to complete the puzzle. The first group that completes the puzzle wins a small prize.

    Spelling Bee

    • Spelling bees are ideal for using cognitive abilities. Gather a group of seniors and give each senior a brightly colored piece of construction paper. Have the seniors sit in chairs that are positioned in one single line facing the front of the room. Starting at the one end of the line, give a senior a spelling word. Each time a senior spells the word incorrectly, he places his color card in a basket. The last senior remaining wins the spelling bee. This activity also works with math multiplication questions.

    Memory

    • A good way for seniors to improve their memory skills is by working with flash cards. These cards are available as premade games for language, sequencing, matching, grammar and vocabulary. A useful game to play with pairs of flashcards is memory. To play memory, first mix the cards, then place them face down on a table in even rows. The first player turns over two cards looking for a matched pair. Continue with the game until matching all cards. The player with the most pairs wins the game.

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