Activities for Seniors in 2022 - Indoor and Outdoor Activities

What activities do Seniors like to do?

Are you a senior citizen and finding it difficult to come across fun senior activities? Are you perhaps a loved one of a senior and looking for activities for the elderly? Well, worry no more because we've got you covered.

We have assembled a list of fun activities for seniors, both indoor activities, and outdoor activities. This is especially true for aging people who have difficulties with mobility - for those, consider a wheelchair or a mobility scooter for outdoors by Marc's Mobility designed to get out and about. But before we tell you about them, there is one more activity we would like to mention.

Outside Activities for Seniors

While we all experience laziness from time to time, it’s important for senior citizens to go outside every so often. Not to say older adults are lazy, but we have to accept that they're getting older, and summoning the effort and strength to go outside may be difficult. But these fun outside activities should have enough variety and benefits that will get seniors outside.

Take a Nature Walk

A fairly simple activity to get started with is a nature walk. Whether it's a quick trip to the park and back or you go and visit your favorite national park, a nature walk can do wonders, both for the body and mind. 

Nature walks have many benefits, ranging from general relaxation to lowering the risk of cancer. Nature walks, even if it’s just 30 minutes a week, can greatly improve your health. Being with nature will reduce blood pressure, increase physical fitness, and will also speed up health recovery processes.

Japan has been researching the health benefits of being with nature and have found some interesting results. When out “forest bathing” they found your levels of cortisol and your blood pressure decrease more than they would, had you walked inside. The research is interesting a definitely worth taking a look at.

Have a Picnic

Another great activity idea is to go have a picnic. Whether it’s on your own or with friends and family, a picnic is a great way to spend quality time outdoors. You can even have one during your nature walk!

If you have a picnic with your friends or family, it’s a great way to spend time together, talk, and share stories. As you start to get older, you start to crave more time with your loved ones and a picnic is a great way to do so. The picnic will also be outside which, as we know, will improve your mood, keep you relaxed, and has various health benefits.

If you don’t have loved ones to take on a picnic or you’d rather go alone, that is more than okay. Going on a picnic by yourself can be an enriching experience as being out and about in nature on your own allows you to stop and reflect on your life. You’ll be able to live it over again in your mind and hopefully find some new insight into life, making you appreciate it even more.

Garden

Have you ever considered starting a garden? If you have, then great! If not, you should definitely consider doing so. Not only do you strengthen your muscles and burn calories while gardening, but gardening is a very relaxing activity that has great mental health benefits.

Feed the Ducks

Feeding the ducks is definitely cliche but, do not let that turn you away. It doesn’t even have to be ducks. Simply going out to feed pigeons or sparrows will do.

Feeding the birds can actually give you a sense of purpose in life, according to surveyed assisted living institutions. For those who took care of people all their lives, whether it be their siblings when they were young, a large family, their parents, feeding the birds can supplement that caretaking void and restore a sense of purpose.

Go to the Museum

Going to a museum can be a lot of fun. It all depends on what you’re interested in. But whether it’s a local art exhibit or the Smithsonian, museums can improve both your physical and mental health.

If it’s an art museum, you can quietly observe each piece, pondering it’s meaning and then deciding what it means to you, making it an enriching experience. If you’re a veteran, perhaps you decide to visit a memorial museum, allowing you to think back on the time you served. No matter what museum you choose to go to, it benefits you and can be a very therapeutic and much-needed experience.

Grill Out

Grilling out can be a wonderful activity for seniors. Grilling out gives you the opportunity to host or be apart of a small gathering with friends and family. You also get to cook, which itself has great therapeutic benefits, foods that you like and that are healthy for you.

With just you and the grill, grilling can greatly boost your mood. You get to cook and eat the foods you want, but eating said foods will also have great benefits for your body as long as their healthy. Just be sure to avoid too much fat content and don’t be shy to grill some fish!

Learn Photography

Always wanted to learn photography? It’s not too late. Photography is an art form you can learn that will improve your overall health and connection with nature.

It’s a good idea to invest in an actual, entry-level DSLR camera to get started. This will make you have to learn the simple layout of the camera which will activate your brain. You can then go out and start taking pictures of what you want. They can have meaning if you want to, but view these pictures as an extension of yourself, allowing you to connect with the world and find peace.

Not only will photography exercise your creativity, but when you share these photos if you choose to do so, it can be great for your self-esteem, further improving your mental health. Therapeutic and stress-relieving, learning photography is a great activity to try.

Outside Sports

When we say outside sports, we aren’t talking football or soccer. A small or severe injury is the last thing we would want. We’re talking more along the lines of tennis and cycling.

Both of these sports can greatly increase your cardiovascular health and overall physical health. This health improvement can increase blood flow and as a result, decrease blood pressure. The improved blood flow will also keep your heart healthy.

You can also do these sports with a partner, tennis more-so than cycling. This just makes the activity another social one. If you’d rather go by yourself, cycling may be more your speed, although if you’re intent on tennis alone, racquetball is always an option.

Indoor Activities for Seniors

Somedays you just want to stay inside. It’s not out of laziness, it may be the weather, but you just want to stay inside. And that is perfectly okay.

There are loads of activities that you can do inside that have great benefits. The only thing lacking will be all that Vitamin D! Let’s take a look at these inside activities.

Learn an Instrument

As you start to get older, maintaining strong cognitive abilities becomes an issue of high importance. A lot of these indoor activities will help with that and learning and instrument is no different. 

Learning an instrument can definitely be difficult, but the results for your health are astounding. To play an instrument, you have to do so much; you have to make sure you’re counting right, you need to read the sheet music for new and unfamiliar pieces, and much more. But if you can overcome the difficulty and if you really enjoy the instrument you’re learning, then you’ll become a pro in no time, improving both your mind and your skills.

Learn a New Language

Much like learning a new instrument, learning a new language can be a difficult task. The difficulty of course depends on what language you choose. Should you choose one of the romance languages like Italian or Spanish, you’ll have an easier time than if you were to choose one like Russian or Chinese since they have a completely different alphabet.

Learning a new language has been proven to decrease the risk of developing dementia. Even after you’ve been diagnosed, learning a second language can help protect you from losing cognitive function. This is because speaking more than one language works the most important part of your brain that controls our complex thinking.

Online Games

There are many free games online.  Start with a familiar game like Solitaire Bliss.  There are many different versions to try.  You can also try playing with a friend.  Another free online game that is worth a try is I'm A Puzzle. You can play thousands of jigsaw puzzles of all types and also create your customized one using their jigsaw puzzle maker. Moreover, Scrabble is a timeless classic always worth playing too. Unscrambled words help you quickly unscramble random letters into actual words to use in your game.

Take Free College Courses

Learning new things has no age limit. There are many colleges out there that offer free courses to seniors. If there's a particular topic you've always wanted to learn more about, but never got around to it, try taking some courses! If the workload ends up being more than you thought, get some help using places like Customessaymeister.com which can help write essays. Look here for ten colleges that offer free education for seniors.

Join a Book Club

If you thought book clubs were no more, you’re quite mistaken. Not only will a book club do great for your mind, but you’ll get a big boost to your social life.

Joining a book club is a gateway to making new friends. Even as seniors, loneliness can affect you greatly. So finding a way to communicate and form new relationships is wonderful.

Joining a book club will also keep your brain active. The book club will surely have you analyze the book of choice, allowing you to exercise your mind. These books may also open up your eyes to a new perspective you never thought to consider. The Kindle is an easy way to get lots of books without taking up space.

Write a Book

Perhaps your book could be in a book club? Writing a book sounds like a feat, but it could be much more simple. Write an autobiography, a memoir, just a simple collection of stories from your life, and share it with your loved ones. You could even try to get it published.

It’s a great way to reflect on your life and on certain moments that you think define you. You’ll be accessing your memory and writing about it which will keep your brain active and healthy. You could even gift it to your children or grandchildren so they always have your wonderful stories to read.

Arts and Crafts

It may seem childish, but arts and crafts can be a great therapeutic, elder activity that improves your motor skills. It can be something as simple as finger-painting so something as grand as a self-portrait.

Arts and crafts, such as candle making, can be a great form of stress and pain relief. It allows you to express yourself through your art and in doing so all of those pent up emotions and thoughts leave your body reducing the stress. Because it’s so relaxing, you can also lower your blood pressure!

Watch Movies

Watching movies is a great indoor activity for seniors. It gives you some time to separate yourself from the real world and become immersed in a new one. You can watch your favorite movies from when you were a child to feel nostalgic or you can watch new films and really think about today’s pop culture and society. You may also be able to pick up some tips from the filmmakers to help with your photography.

Learn to Cook

Learning to cook is a great way to engage with a few different things. The first is yourself. Cooking is an activity that utilizes all of the five senses, allowing you to become immersed in your food, unlocking memories and improving your mood.

After you’ve had fun cooking a nutritious meal that you enjoy, you can then share it with friends and family. Spending time with loved ones does wonders for your health and doing it while sharing a delicious, home-cooked meal makes it all the better.

If you want to learn about the Top 5 Meal Delivery Kits for seniors, take a look at our blog.

Get a Houseplant or Two

Pets may be too much to handle for some, but don’t worry, there is an alternative. Head on down to your local nursery or garden center and pick up a houseplant or two. It’ll be well worth it.

Taking care of a few plants can re-establish a sense of purpose and responsibility. You’ll form a connection with this plant, making it a fun activity when caring for it. Plants can also help prevent cancer by purifying the air and getting rid of carcinogens.

Plants can also help reduce the risk of dementia or cognitive deterioration. Plants are powerhouses and great companions so be sure to try it out.

Activities for Seniors

Even in old age, you can still have fun and enjoy your life. These activities for seniors are a great way to engage with yourself, your surroundings, your loved ones, and nature. All while bettering yourself.

Did you find this article helpful? Share this with others who are in need of some fun, indoor and outdoor activities for older adults. If you would like to see more content like this, check out the rest of our blog.

Need help finding a place for yourself or a loved one? We can help you find the best communities in your area for seniors. If you have any questions at all, be sure to contact us.