Best Games To Keep Seniors’ Minds Sharp

Q: How do brain games support overall wellness?

By staying socially engaged and mentally stimulated, you can manage your mood. Playing games helps promote brain health and memory retention, which in turn helps maintain independence and boosts confidence in social interactions.

Best Games To Keep Seniors’ Minds Sharp: Fun, Easy Ways To Support Brain Health

Three elderly people—a man and two women—are sitting at a table in a community room, focused on playing a wooden block-stacking game together.

Maintaining your brain health allows you to maintain your independence during your golden years. You’ll be less likely to need assistance to complete routine tasks, and will be able to enjoy social engagements without frustration or embarrassment. You’ll also be less likely to suffer injuries from falls because you won’t have balance issues.

Monument Health Group’s skilled nursing facilities are staffed by medical experts who understand how brain health impacts every aspect of seniors’ lives. Our facilities offer a variety of mentally stimulating activities to help seniors retain their mental sharpness, and prevent complications of mental decline.

Discover how our skilled nursing facilities promote brain health.

Why Keeping the Mind Active Matters for Older Adults

Your brain health helps you make appropriate decisions, learn, recall information, regulate your emotions, and maintain your balance. Maintaining good brain health is particularly important for seniors because of the risk of mental decline as people age.

Up to 35.9% of U.S. seniors without dementia have cognitive impairment. As of 2022, another 4% of U.S. adults 65 and older had been diagnosed with dementia. However, mental stimulation can help prevent dementia and cognitive decline. Since the rates of dementia increase with age, engaging in brain games may help seniors delay or prevent dementia, while helping them retain their memory and stay active as they age.

Maintaining your brain health does more than reduce the risk of memory loss and dementia. It can also improve your mood, so you can enjoy interactions with others and help prevent depression and social isolation.

What Makes a Good Brain Game for Seniors?

Excellent brain games for seniors are activities that promote engagement while being simple and fun. The most effective games are ones that people enjoy, and that deliver a sense of achievement. People don’t want to play games they find frustrating because of complicated rules or their inability to succeed.

Since the ability to succeed while playing the game is a key component of good brain games for seniors, these games should be adaptable. This way, you can adjust the game to suit the specific interests or needs of the players.

For example, Bingo is a popular game. However, those with dementia may have issues recognizing numbers and their meanings, so a group with participants in the early stages of dementia may opt to play Bingo using colors or shapes instead.

Those planning games for older adults should incorporate options that people can play alone or with others. Group games promote social engagement, which helps seniors make friends and maintain relationships.

Top Brain-Boosting Games for Seniors

The best brain health games for seniors include classic games that provide mental stimulation, and involve some degree of tactile involvement. For example, players can put plastic circles over squares in Bingo or may use daubers to mark squares.

Classic Board and Card Games

Excellent board and card games that promote seniors’ brain health include the following:

Bridge
Checkers
Chess
Poker
Rummikub
Scrabble
Solitaire

Solitaire is a great solo game. Bridge, chess, poker, and Scrabble are excellent social games involving two or more players. These games do not involve gross motor movements, so they’re perfect for players with limited mobility, and they can be adapted to suit the interests and needs of those playing.

Digital Games and Brain Training Apps

Thanks to modern technology, there are many digital options perfect for seniors who want to engage in brain training and maintain their brain health.

Some options include the following:

BrainHQ
CogniFit
Crosswords
Lumosity
Mahjong
Puzzles
Scrabble
Soduko
Tetris
Wordle
Words With Friends

The best options offer variety and gradually increase challenges, so the games don’t feel boring or repetitive.

These games have tech support available, and players can also receive assistance from caregivers if they have any questions or issues. Access to assistance helps reduce frustration, and increase their success, while enjoying digital games and brain training apps.

Players can use these apps to track their progress, which promotes feelings of success while playing and can also help players set short and long-term goals. Many digital games and brain training apps offer short sessions, so players can enjoy multiple short sessions per day if they choose, or vary their activities by enjoying several digital games.

Puzzles and Solo Games

Puzzles and solo games are excellent options for seniors because they promote focus, and playing solo enables seniors to concentrate on the game. Puzzles and solo games are excellent for maintaining and developing your memory and spatial reasoning.

Great puzzles and solo games for seniors include the following:

Crosswords
Jigsaw puzzles
Logic grids, including Battleship, elimination grids, and Sudoku
Number puzzles, such as crosswords, Magic square, Sudoku, Tangrams

Social and Group Games

Social and group games provide mental stimulation because players must focus on the game’s objectives. These games also provide social stimulation because they promote interaction and engagement.

Enjoying the games you played when you were younger promotes nostalgia. You’ll enjoy the benefits of recalling past events and stories you can share with others while you bond.

When players have fun enjoying these games together, they enjoy the benefits of laughter, which can help prevent depression and anxiety.

Excellent social and group games include the following:

Card toss
Charades
Jenga
Memory match (using family photos)
Name that tune
Trivia games

How Brain Games Support Overall Wellness

You can manage your mood by staying socially engaged or mentally stimulated by playing suitable games. Since playing games helps promote brain health and memory retention, playing games will help you maintain your independence. Maintaining your memory can boost your confidence because you won’t forget things while interacting with others.

Our staff monitors residents for signs of memory loss, while providing stimulating programming designed to help residents maintain their health. We know that caring for residents’ emotional and brain health needs is just as important as caring for their physical well-being, and our team strives to offer every patient whole-person care.

Tips for Making Brain Games Part of Daily Life

You can maintain your brain health by making brain games part of your daily routine. Add short daily sessions with brain training apps or digital games. You can turn brain games into a way of life by planning regular social games you and others enjoy, and prioritizing your enjoyment while playing.

Support Your Loved One’s Brain Health With Compassionate Care

At Monument Health Group, we believe brain health is just as important as physical wellness. No matter what type of support your loved one needs, our experienced team is here to help them thrive — mind, body, and spirit.

Explore our memory care services, and contact us today to learn more.