There are countless no-cost games available to play for all ages, both online and at home with simple things you can gather from around you. This article will give you some ideas of games you can play with your elder adult. Gather a small group of your elder’s friends or of family members of any age and have a little bit of no-cost fun. You can add a few healthy snacks to eat while everyone is playing along.
- Game of Geography – ages 8 and up. The first player says the name of a city, state or even a country. For example, China. The next person must say one that begins with the last letter from the previous answer. In this example China ends in the letter A, so the next player may say Alabama. This one also ends in an A, so the next player may say Arkansas. The next answer might be Syracuse and so on. A player is out when they can’t think of a new place. The last one still in the game wins.
- Fortunately, unfortunately – a non-competitive game to fire up the imagination and get everyone laughing. Someone starts out the story with a sentence. For example, “One day Albert was walking to the store.” Each player in turn adds a sentence. Players must rotate between fortunately and unfortunately. The next few sentences, for example, might be: Unfortunately, Albert stepped in a big pile of dog poo. Fortunately, there was a puddle of water he could wash off his shoe. Unfortunately, the puddle was very deep and Albert got wet up to his knee and lost his shoe. Fortunately…and so on.
- The doodle game – this fun and imaginative game doesn’t require any artists and is fun to pass the time. The first player makes a little doodle or scribble, for example they may draw a curvy line. The second player must look at this doodle and then draw something real out of it. In this example the second player may use the curvy line as the body of a snake, by making another curvy line which follows it and then forming a head, tail, forked tongue and a few stripes. Or perhaps they drew several more curvy lines and a circle around it and a fork beside it to make a plate of spaghetti. The options are as endless as a person’s imagination!
- There are fun and free online games that a person can play against the computer or with another person. Some examples are Chinese checkers, scrabble, word find, boggle, and many more.
- Anagrams – someone writes a word in big bold letters on a piece of paper and then cuts them out and scrambles them up, placing them out on the table in a random order for everyone to see. The first person that comes up with the original word wins. Players need to have their own pencil and paper to write the letters down as they try to figure out the word.
A home care provider can help you take care of your loved one when you need some help. They will assist with home and personal care as well as come up with lots of ideas to help your elder avoid loneliness and boredom.