Congratulations on deciding to volunteer your time in planning indoor recreation activities for seniors. Whether you’re an adult looking to make a meaningful addition to your day, a student in need of community service hours, or a scout working on a Senior section of the Community Advocate Patch Program® from Youth Squad®; the senior you spend time with will appreciate your attention.
Planning your time
Before deciding on an activity you should find out about any difficulties your senior may have with mobility, finger and hand dexterity, and dementia. It’s important to find out any hobbies or interests your senior may have.
Arts and Crafts
Arts and crafts are a great way promote the happiness and wellbeing of seniors and earn your Youth Squad® Crafting for Service patch!
Holiday Painting
You can easily find holiday themed ceramics or wooden cutouts at your local art or dollar store. First of all, you will need to purchase a few different brushes, palettes, and acrylics for the project. You can suggest single colored projects for beginners. You can offer patterns and color combinations to create different shades for more advanced seniors. Additionally, the seniors can give the completed projects as gifts.
Tied Fleece Blankets
You can make a blanket for your indoor recreation activity. There are a variety of tied fleece kits available for purchase or you can just buy the material and create your own tied fleece blanket. You can do this project with a group or just one senior. As a result, once you are finished seniors have a beautiful blanket that can be kept, gifted, or donated. Ronald McDonald House take these donated blankets and give them to families receiving help through one of their programs.
Balloon Fun
There are so many fun ways to get active using balloons. Preschool aged “Helping Hands” and elementary aged “Friends” volunteers can enjoy passing a balloon back and forth with a senior.
Here are examples of indoor recreation activities that older volunteers can organize for seniors.
- The seniors can sit in a circle and toss one or more balloons across to each other.
- You can modify this game by introducing equipment such as flyswatters or badminton rackets. Then the seniors can hit the balloon to each other while seated.
- Lastly, challenge your group by putting a rope, yarn, or tape across the room. The seniors be seated on either side to play balloon volleyball.
Beach Ball Indoor Recreation Activities
You can use a medium sized beach ball in a variety of indoor recreational activities with seniors. For example, try beach ball basketball or conversation beach ball.
Beach Ball Basketball – First, setup a hoop by using a clean garbage can. Then you can keep score of baskets made. Another way to play this is by using a hula hoop. The senior can throw the ball through it to score.
Conversation beach ball – First of all, use a permanent marker to write numbers starting with 1 all over the beach ball. Next, write questions on a separate paper with corresponding numbers. To play you pass the ball. Then answer the question to the number you see when you catch it. You can create new questions every time you play.
Finally, no matter the indoor recreation activity you choose to share with your companion, choosing to spend time and with a senior will become a treasured memory for both of you.