With the onset of COVID-19, many people have been locked inside their homes. While adults may be able to entertain themselves easily enough, especially those working from home, finding good indoor activities for seniors can be trickier.
After all, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut, doing the same things over and over again. That situation isn’t just boring; it’s also unhealthy, as the best way to improve cognition is to keep the brain stimulated. Doing so involves pushing the brain and focusing on different tasks.
Thankfully, there are plenty of varied indoor activities for seniors. It’s just a matter of finding them, which is where this post comes in. We’re highlighting a variety of activities. Some of these may inspire you, helping you to discover entirely new activities.
Writing a complete list of activities would be almost impossible, but we’ve given it our best shot. Please leave a comment if we’ve missed one of your favorite activities.
Indoor Activities for Seniors
- Get Creative
- Find New Entertainment
- Get Physical
- Think About the Past
- Other Indoor Activities for Seniors
Get Creative
Being creative has countless advantages. It can improve your ability to think and your mood, making life seem a little brighter. The importance of creativity is why art therapy is such a powerful tool.
Being creative offers you a sense of direction and purpose too. You get to create something new, which could even become a gift or something that you sell.
Pick Up a New Hobby
Hobbies are one of the best places to begin. There’s plenty of debate about what is and isn’t a hobby but, in general, you’re looking at an active task that you do for leisure.
Hobbies are often creative in some sense or another – and there are countless examples out there.
Being retired is the perfect time to pick up a new hobby, even one that seems better suited to a young person. It’s never too late to learn. Some seniors even find an entirely new lease on life in their later years.
A small selection of possible hobbies includes:
- Painting
- Calligraphy
- Crochet or knitting
- Scrapbooking
- Making your own soaps or candles
- Learning a musical instrument
- Photography and/or image editing
- Sewing
- Woodworking
- Furniture restoration
There are countless other examples too.
Don’t worry if a hobby seems confusing or overwhelming; there is great support out there. Many YouTube videos or blogs will provide you with a guide for getting started, including step-by-step tutorials of important techniques or processes.
Subscription boxes are also a perfect place to begin. Many of them ship you out all the materials that you need, plus instructions, for different projects every month.
Here are a few of our favorites:
- The Adults & Crafts Crate. Offers a new crafts project each month, where you are making something for your home. Previous projects have featured bowls, wall art, a bottle holder, and a clock, to name just a few.
- Paletteful Packs. The perfect gift for artists everywhere, where each month ships out a variety of art supplies.
- Craftsman Crate. This product has a manly theme, although anyone would enjoy it. The crafts are popular, with many users enjoying crafts that they didn’t expect to.
- Knit-Wise. This company provides a beginner and an intermediate/advanced box, allowing you to choose the best one for your needs.
- Bargain Bead Box. This subscription ships out a selection of jewelry supplies and beads, allowing you to make your own jewelry.
Cooking
Cooking isn’t just a way to keep you fed. It can also be an enjoyable activity and another way to be creative. Cooking isn’t restricted to preparing your favorite meal either. There are many other cooking activities to try out.
Cooking can also be a fun way to connect with family, regardless of whether you live together or family members come to visit from time-to-time. Grandparents often enjoy sharing the kitchen with their grandkids, whether they’re teaching the grandkids new recipes, baking with them, or something else entirely.
Being social with cooking might be difficult during the coronavirus pandemic. Still, there are always options, if you’re willing to be creative. The senior might try to teach a family member a new recipe via video chat or bake some cookies and ship them to family members.
For something new, why not try Mix Box from Cratejoy? This box ships out ingredients and instructions for a new baking project every month.
Do Some Gardening
Gardening isn’t just an outdoor activity. You can do indoor gardening too.
This could be as simple as having a pot plant or two, or you could go much more complex. You can even grow vegetables indoors. Be sure to research carefully, as some plants are better suited to being indoors than others.
Gardening has advantages too. It’s a fantastic way to de-stress and it can feel good to care for another living thing. Again, there are some fantastic subscriptions that can help you along, like the House Plant Box and this Plant of the Month Club.
Turn Up The Music
You don’t need to be a musician to get creative with music. Even just dancing around to your favorite song can do wonders for your mental health, while also getting you moving.
Why not try out karaoke? Indoor activities for seniors don’t get more fun than this. Try playing old favorites on the television for everyone to sing along to. Or, take it one step further and look for a music-based game to get them hooked on.
There are other stimulating music activities for seniors too.
Find New Entertainment
Being entertained isn’t just something to do. It’s also a way to keep the mind active, while offering mental benefits, making people feel more positive, and reducing stress levels.
Reading
Seniors get more from reading than just a decent story to enjoy. Reading can also help decrease stress, which could also reduce the risk of dementia. Reading has cognitive benefits too, helping to inspire the imagination and promote critical thinking.
And finally, reading provides a chance to escape into another world. This can be appealing when reality is tedious or overwhelming.
The number of books out there is simply staggering, so it shouldn’t be difficult to find ones that the senior enjoys. You can even turn to services like Amazon to get the books delivered straight to the senior’s door.
Don’t forget about libraries either or borrowing books from other people. These are both great ways to get books without needing to buy new ones each time.
eBooks are another option. These can be read on most devices, including phones, tablets, a Kindle, or even laptops. eBooks are often cheaper than physical books. It’s also easy to change the font size. That’s perfect for seniors who struggle with their eyesight.
Audiobooks
Audiobooks are a fantastic alternative for seniors with failing eyesight. With an audiobook, they still get to enjoy the story, without struggling to read the text.
An audiobook also means that the senior can do something else at the same time. Many indoor activities for seniors pair well with listening to an audiobook, like working on an adult coloring book, doing a jigsaw puzzle, knitting, or drawing.
Audible is one of the most well-known sources of audiobooks. It’s a powerful service, with many amazing audiobooks to choose from. Check it out here.
While Audible can be expensive, they do have a free trial. The service also regularly has discounts, where your membership fee is lower.
There are other paid services too, including Big Finish, Kobo, and Audiobooks.com.
Take a look at your local library too. Many libraries allow members to borrow eBooks in a similar way to physical books.
Movies, TV, and Documentaries
Watching TV all the time isn’t a good plan, as it is a relatively passive activity that doesn’t engage one’s brain much at all. Even so, watching TV and movies every so often can be a useful practice.
After all, sometimes it’s nice to simply get lost in a fantasy world without needing to put any effort in at all.
Seniors might particularly enjoy nostalgic movies and TV shows. These can be perfect for seniors facing cognitive challenges, as it’s always easier to connect with something that’s already familiar.
You can also look for more challenging media, like documentaries, lessons, or even TV shows with convoluted plots. Such types of media provide some mental stimulation rather than entertainment alone.
Puzzles
While puzzles are played widely by people of all ages, they have many advantages for old age people. For example, some studies show that jigsaw puzzles can help keep seniors’ brains strong and help develop problem-solving skills.
Puzzles are also cheap and can often be ordered online. This makes them convenient choices for entertainment, especially for housebound seniors.
There’s another advantage too – puzzles don’t have any complicated rules. Seniors don’t need to figure out how to do a puzzle.
If the senior struggles cognitively, you could try a simpler puzzle. Some are designed with seniors in mind. Puzzles for children could work as well.
Puzzle Books and Apps
Jigsaw puzzles are just one type of puzzle. Puzzle books and puzzle games may be even more appealing, as these can be more challenging and engaging than a jigsaw puzzle.
You’ll often find puzzle books at local stores. They come in all different difficulty levels and include things like word searches, crossword puzzles, logic puzzles, sudoku, cryptic puzzles, word puzzles, kakuro, and much more.
The same games can be found in puzzle apps too, many of which are free to play. Puzzle apps offer different types of games too, including ones that are more complex and rely heavily on graphics.
You can find memory game apps too, along with many other app types that help stimulate the brain.
Board and Card Games
Like puzzles, board games such as chess and checkers also enhance senior citizens’ cognitive abilities, improving their memory and strengthening their brain function. Studies show that elders who often engage in playing a card game, checkers, or table games had higher brain volumes than those who played fewer or no games.
This activity also has social benefits. It helps you spend quality time with your family, diminishing loneliness, something ubiquitous among senior citizens. It is also a perfect opportunity to pass all your tricks and tips in card games down to the younger generation.
Here’s a fun idea to try. Cratejoy has an incredibly popular subscription called Finders Seekers – Mystery Game. It’s an escape room game where you are solving mysteries as a group.
Video Games (yes, really!)
Video gaming isn’t just for young people. Many older adults are getting involved too – and giving youth a run for their money. An AARP survey found that around 51 million seniors actively play games. That’s an impressive amount.
Those seniors will run the gambit from casual gamers to more hardcore dedicated seniors.
For many, gaming provides a social connection. It might be a way to spend time with grandkids or to connect with other players online.
Video games have surprising benefits too. For one thing, they help to challenge the mind. Many require problem solving skills, fast reflexes, and the ability to think on one’s feet.
Some games, like those for the Wii, are even physical. These get seniors up and moving around.
You might also enjoy this hidden gem, Solitaire. This is the free online version of the classic game of the same name. An ad-free one is available for $5.
Get Physical
We hardly need to tell you about the benefits of physical exercise. Staying active is a critical aspect of being healthy.
Doing this when stuck indoors might seem difficult. Thankfully, many indoor activities for seniors do have physical components.
Get Dancing
Dancing stands out as a way to exercise because it’s fun. Getting exercise by dancing doesn’t feel stressful or difficult.
Plus, you’re getting your body moving to music. Music has plenty of benefits too, helping to improve the senior’s mood and decrease the risk of depression. Combining the two is just perfect.
You can also dance while you do other things. Putting on some fast-paced music and dancing away while you do the housework is a common approach. Doing this gives you plenty of exercise and helps to make a boring task much more entertaining.
Try Yoga
Yoga can be easily done in your own home or out in the garden. It’s a fantastic choice for seniors, as yoga is low impact. The exercise can help you to stretch regularly and stay flexible.
The benefits of yoga are almost too many to list. Yoga helps to strengthen muscles and reduce the risk of injury. It also helps to decrease stress, which can be essential for mental health. Yoga could even reduce the risk of cognitive decline.
If regular yoga is too much for you, think about chair yoga. Relying on a chair makes yoga easier, but you’re still getting benefits from the exercise.
Join An (Online) Exercise Class
You don’t need to join a gym to go to an exercise class. There are many online classes and more cropping up as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
Online classes give you many of the same benefits as an in-person exercise class, including motivation and instructions about each move. This setting is often more motivating than trying to exercise under your own steam.
Clean and Declutter
It’s surprising just how much work there is in getting everything clean. If you’re trying to declutter or clear out whole rooms, the work increases. This doesn’t need to be a bad thing. Cleaning and decluttering can be perfect chances to exercise.
Try putting on some fast-paced music and dancing while you work. You might be surprised at how much fun you end up having.
If the process is too much work for seniors on their own, they could enlist help. Why not make the task into a working bee for the whole family? This could be a great way to connect and get everyone working together.
Decluttering can even be a way to make money. Various apps make it easy to sell unwanted items. You can often do so without even meeting the buyers.
Think About the Past
While the idea of being present and living in the moment has become popular in recent years, thinking about the past isn’t a waste of time. It can often be helpful, especially for seniors who have many nostalgic memories.
Swapping Stories
The past can often be a way to connect and bond. It’s also a very relevant topic for seniors, as they have a lifetime of experience. Some of their childhood memories are fascinating and highly relevant to their children and grandchildren, so there are plenty of stories to share.
Swapping stories with our elders can be a fantastic way to give them a sense of purpose. You’re allowing them to share their life experiences and showing them that they still matter, no matter what else is going on.
There’s another advantage too.
Learning more about the senior’s life can help you to provide better care to them. You end up with a stronger sense of who they are, their values, and what they’re looking for in life. This is much more powerful than making assumptions based on your own perspectives.
To get started, think about some things you’d like to know about your family member. Stories from their lives. Events that you know little about.
You could ask them to share a favorite memory. Or, get more specific again. Why not ask them how they met a particular person or what they thought of a given band when they were young?
Many people love talking about themselves. So, it often just takes a little prodding to get them to open up.
Sharing stories like this is most appealing in person when you get to sit with the senior and see their expressions. Still, you can do something similar over a longer distance too. Video calls are easier than ever these days and
Genealogy Research
Genealogy research is another approach – one that many seniors could do on their own. There are many powerful websites that can help with genealogy research. Some of them are even free.
Looking into family history can be a fantastic way to help seniors feel connected to the past and the present. There’s a sense of purpose to the process too, as any information found would be relevant to other family members and even future generations.
Make Photo Albums
Photo albums and scrapbooks are a fun way to revisit old memories while being creative at the same time. You can buy comprehensive scrapbooking kits that offer many tools, embellishments, plenty of paper, and a book. Or, you can start off with something simpler.
Even just a basic art book with blank white pages could work well, giving seniors plenty of space to add photos, along with writing, drawings, and whatever else they wanted.
This type of project could be something for the senior to work on independently or a shared task for the family.
Old Movies and Music
Movies and music can be more than just entertainment. They can also be a way to enjoy the past. Look for old movies and music that your family member has positive associations with. Perhaps ones from their own childhood.
Don’t forget about home movies. These can be even more special, as they relate to people the senior knows and loves.
You could get a collection of movies for the senior’s house. Finding favorite movies and music on DVD should be easy enough. You might even be able to find an old VHS player and tapes.
Other Indoor Activities for Seniors
We’ve covered various topics so far, including being creative, finding entertainment, physical activity, and thinking about the past. Within those topics there are many indoor activities for seniors that we haven’t talked about.
Our hope is that the ideas we’ve suggested can act as jumping points for your own ideas.
To finish the list off, let’s talk about some ideas that don’t easily fit into other categories.
Write a Letter
Letter writing is a dying art, but it’s not dead yet. There’s still something special about letter writing.
After all, the process is slower and more intentional than most other communication in this fast-paced world of ours. Receiving a letter means more, as you know the other person put time and effort into writing it. Writing a letter is no less meaningful.
Letter writing could be a tradition to pick up again as a family. Why not get the kids involved? Most grandparents would love to receive a hand-written letter from their grandkids, especially if it comes with some drawings or photos.
There’s also the pen pal route.
Pen pals give people the chance to form long-distance friendships. Many new pen pal programs have kicked off following the COVID-19 pandemic. These programs often pair seniors and kids together. You may be able to find senior pen pals too, for anyone wanting to write to an age mate.
Start a Money Making Hobby
We talked about hobbies earlier, but seniors can take the idea one step further by earning money with their hobby. Doing so can be a fantastic way to supplement current income.
But, this idea is about more than just money.
Earning from a hobby often gives a sense of purpose. The crafter doesn’t end up feeling like they’re wasting their time. This is important for seniors, as some struggle emotionally without the sense of purpose and recognition that often comes from working.
Start Learning
Education is an amazing thing. It expands your mind and can take you in entirely unexpected directions. The best thing is that it’s never too late to learn.
Seniors can still learn, often just as well as younger people. Putting time into education is also important for improving cognition and could help with mental health.
You can sometimes find free or discounted programs for seniors at local universities. There are also many options online, which could be a better approach right now.
Here are some examples to check out.
- Harvard offers around 100 free online courses, including fields like business, humanities, health & medicine, social sciences, and computer science.
- Yale has free courses too. While you can’t earn credits, you can download the in-class lectures along with related course materials. Many of their courses can be found on Coursera too.
- TEDEd is the educational side of TED. The site doesn’t offer courses, but they have many fascinating educational videos. Some of these can help with life (like a video in time management), while others focus on information (like a video on how vaccines work).
- The site Coursera is one of many that offers courses from a wide variety of places. Some of the courses are free, although there are also paid certificates and projects on the site too.
- EDX follows a similar idea to Coursera. Here too, you’ll find plenty of free courses to try out. The main cost comes from getting a Verified Certificate at the end of the course. This isn’t essential, so you can take many courses without paying anything at all.
- Academic Earth offers a list of colleges that provide free online courses.
If you’re looking for a degree at the end, this is possible too. Some universities offer online degrees. You’ll often get to interact with the professor through chat and email, and perhaps with other classmates too.
ed says
them active. Are there any concerns that would prohibit a senior from using your ideas? I enjoyed your post and will be coming back. Be safe.