6 Fun Indoor Activities for Senior Citizens to Enjoy at Home
At Enlivant communities, we love to help our residents stay active while building meaningful relationships. Through planned social activities, residents connect with one another and have fun while doing it. At this time of year, most seniors spend a lot of time inside, but there is no shortage on fun indoor activities! Here are six of our favorite.
1. Family Tree
Inspire your senior loved one to do some family history research. There are many helpful and free tools available online. A good place to start is the National Archives, but there are paid services such as MyHeritage.com. If your loved one is curious about his/her origins, they can also try a DNA test kit like AncestryDNA.
2. Chair Exercises
Sit and be fit! Maintaining muscle strength is important as we age because it helps improve balance and prevent falls. Chair exercises are great, they provide a good workout, and almost anyone can do them. All your loved one needs is a chair!
3. Indoor Garden
Growing plants of all kinds, even such as flowers, tomatoes, or herbs, can be done indoors on a table or windowsill. These plants can be easily watered, and there is nothing better than eating fresh grown veggies! Check out Enlivant’s tips to help get your senior loved one’s indoor garden started.
4. Board Games
Playing games is a fun at-home activity for seniors and it also helps keep our minds sharp. Classics like Yahtzee, dominos and Scrabble are great options, but don’t rule out newer games like Qwirkle and Apples to Apples, or even trivia! Learning new games is a good cognitive exercise for seniors.
5. Yoga
More and more seniors are embracing the benefits of yoga. In addition to keeping bodies flexible, practicing yoga can be calming and help improve overall wellbeing. Read about Enlivant’s yoga poses that are perfect for seniors.
6. Book Club
Reading a good book is a great escape for seniors and with today’s technology, anyone can do it. With Kindle, seniors can adjust the text size, so it’s easier to see and apps like Audible even let seniors listen to their favorite books. To make it fun, start a family book club with your loved one. Get started with Enlivant’s list of our favorite books for seniors.
We hope these indoor activities that seniors can enjoy at home will keep your loved one busy and happy this winter. If your parent is withdrawing from regular activities or needs assistance, it might be time to consider senior living options.