Activities for Elderly People at Home: 20 Ideas

The best activities for elderly people at home are the ones built on something they already enjoyed, adapted to what is harder now: smaller print, stiffer hands, less energy late in the day. Below are 20 practical ideas, from large print puzzles to sorting old photos, with notes on eyesight, on doing things together and on keeping busy when someone lives alone.

Most of them cost little or nothing, and none needs a screen, although a phone call or a radio can be part of several.

Four questions to ask before suggesting anything

• What did they enjoy before? A keen gardener may like potting bulbs on the windowsill more than a craft they have never tried. Start from their interests, not from a list.
• What has become harder? Small print, fiddly buttons, standing for long, hearing in a noisy room. Adapt the activity rather than dropping it.
• When do they have the most energy? For many older people that is the morning. Save the puzzle or the visit for then, and the radio for later.
• Alone or with someone? Some activities are better shared (cards, baking), others are a pleasure on one's own (a word search with a cup of tea). Have both kinds ready.

Word games and puzzles

1. Large print word searches. One big grid per page, words that never run backwards, a theme they know. Print one page at a time so the book never feels like homework. Our guide to word search books for seniors explains what to check.
2. A letters game. Draw nine letters from a bag of Scrabble tiles or paper squares and find the longest word in 30 seconds, like the letters round on Countdown. Two players, or one against the clock.
3. A-to-Z categories. Pick a category (flowers, towns, film stars of the 1960s) and go through the alphabet together. It works face to face or over the phone.
4. Jigsaws with big pieces. A 100 to 300-piece puzzle with large pieces, on a board that can be moved off the table at mealtimes.
5. Cards and dominoes. Large-print playing cards and a card holder make rummy, whist or cribbage easier on stiff fingers.

Creative and hands-on activities

1. Colouring with a sense of humour. Many adult colouring books are full of tiny mandalas. A page with a big funny quote and simple shapes is easier to see and more fun to talk about.
2. Bulbs and herbs on the windowsill. Plant daffodil or hyacinth bulbs in pots in autumn, basil or parsley in spring, and watch them come up week by week.
3. Knitting or crochet squares. Small squares are quick to finish and can be joined into a blanket for a grandchild. Thicker wool and bigger needles are easier to handle.
4. Baking together. Scones, a fruit loaf or biscuits: weighing, mixing and the smell of the kitchen are half the pleasure. The visitor takes care of the hot oven tray.
5. Arranging flowers. A supermarket bunch, a few jam jars and some greenery from the garden. Ten minutes, and something to look at all week.

Memories and conversation

1. Sort a box of old photos. Write names, places and years on the back in pencil, and let the stories come as you go.
2. Write down the family recipes. The Christmas cake, the Sunday gravy, the jam. One recipe per visit, with their tips in their own words.
3. Music from when they were twenty. Find the songs on the radio, a CD or a speaker, and ask where they were when they first heard them.
4. Letters to the grandchildren. A short letter or postcard each week, and a reply from the children. Post that arrives is an event in itself.
5. A family tree on a large sheet. Start with what they remember and add the photos you sorted. Others in the family will want to fill in the gaps.

Moving a little and getting out

1. A walk with a purpose. To the post box, the corner shop or the bench in the park. A reason to go out makes the walk easier to start.
2. A bird feeder outside the window. Fill it together and keep a list of visitors by the chair, with a simple bird guide.
3. Pottering in the garden. Deadheading, sweeping, sowing seeds in trays on a table at standing height.
4. A short trip out. A garden centre café, the seaside, a drive past the old house. Plan the toilet stops and the parking first.
5. Moving to music. If a physiotherapist has given them exercises, do them together to a favourite song. Otherwise, a gentle dance in the kitchen is allowed.

Activities for someone who lives alone

• Give the week a shape. A call at the same time each day, a visit on the same afternoon each week, the paper delivered in the morning. Fixed points are easier to look forward to.
• Post a puzzle. Print a large print word search or a colouring page, add a note and post it each week. Ask about it on the next call.
• Use local services. Many councils run a home library service for people who can't get to the library, and Age UK and local charities run befriending schemes by phone or in person. In the US, senior centers offer similar programs.
• Leave something ready. A puzzle open on the table, a pencil next to it, the next bulb to plant on the windowsill. It is easier to carry on than to start.

Our word search books and colouring book

Our Large Print Word Search, volume 1 has 90 easy puzzles, one per page: 13 × 13 grids with squares of about 1.2 cm, big bold capitals, 15 words per puzzle, never backwards, and the solutions at the back. Themes include At the Bakery, Old-Fashioned Games, Afternoon Tea and Photos and Memories. Volume 2 has 90 new puzzles (In Cornwall, Coffee Morning, At the Pictures), and the large-print Christmas word search 64 festive ones, from Advent to Pancake Day. For someone who likes a joke, ZEN? NOT TODAY! is a colouring book of 50 everyday quotes such as “My patience is in aeroplane mode”, in outlined letters to colour, with cosy drawings and no swearing.

All four are black-and-white PDFs that you print at home on A4 or US Letter, one page at a time if you like, and reprint when a page is finished. The licence covers personal and family use: print them for your own parent or grandparent, but not copies for a whole group. You will find them all in our seniors and relaxation section, and our word search tips help a beginner get started.

To print at home

Large-print word search, volume 1

€9.90

Word searches you can enjoy without squinting

Large-print word search, volume 2

€9.90

90 new large print word searches, easy on the eyes

Large-print Christmas word search

€6.90

Christmas word searches you can read without squinting

Zen? Not Today! Funny adult colouring book

€9.90

Zen? Not today! So you might as well grab the pencils.

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