Introduce your bedridden residents (or those who don’t like to participate in group activities) to a few new games that you or a volunteer can play with them. Try out one of these fun two-person games that can easily be played in your resident’s room.
Checkers and Four in a Row
Take a rollable mat and playing discs to your resident’s room to play a fun game of Checkers or Four in a Row. Simply place the mat on a table or even on your resident’s bed tray. Then take turns using the playing discs to see who can beat the other in a game of Checkers. Once the game is over, flip the mat to see who can get their four colored discs in a row on the game mat.
Shut the Box
Use a wooden version of the classic Shut the Box game for a fun activity with your resident. To play, simply roll the dice to see who can cover the most numbers. Be sure to keep score to see who has the lowest score at the end of the game, and is therefore the winner.
If you find that your resident really enjoys this game, consider leaving the game in his room, as Shut the Box can also be played by just one person.
Name 5
Grab the card game Name 5 to see if you and your resident can name five items in a category. To play, alternate picking cards to try to come up with five items that are in the category listed on the card.
Spot It!
Teach your resident how to play the card game Spot It! by trying to identify and match symbols on the cards. Have fun
playing the different variations of the game, like The Tower to see who can collect the most cards, or The Well to see who is first at getting rid of all their cards.
Family Charades
See how well your resident does at acting out during a fun game of Family Charades using a deck of cards. Take turns outing out a charade to see if the other can correctly guess it.
Bingo
While the game of bingo is not new, consider adding a twist to your facility’s bingo games – by including your bedridden residents in the game. To play, simply make sure each resident who is in their room receives an easy-to-operate bingo shutter card, in which residents can cover the called number by sliding the shutter over the number. Then during your regular bingo games in your Activity Room, communicate the numbers that are being drawn for the game to your bedridden residents. You can do this over the intercom, through your facility’s communication device (like a special channel on the television), or even by phone (by having your residents call into the game where they can listen via speaker on their phone).
Find more ideas from Notjustbingo on the S&S blog here.
About Not Just Bingo:
Not Just Bingo is an online resource of fun, senior activity ideas for activity professionals of assisted living facilities. They have been providing fun activity ideas online since 2009, and continue to assist activity professionals across the country by creating meaningful and engaging activity ideas for their residents that go “beyond bingo.” Not Just Bingo feels privileged to help activity directors better the living experiences of their residents while demonstrating that a senior’s quality of life can actually improve when they move to a senior facility!
Want even more ideas each month? Visit www.notjustbingo.com for how-to activity ideas, monthly newsletters, and daily holiday ideas. You can also sign up for the Notjustbingo Membership to receive specialized activity ideas to keep your residents and staff engaged, active, and having fun!
