Activities for seniors that get residents moving and talking
If you plan activities for seniors, you already know how well bingo fills a room. Let's Tingo is bingo played on the move. Instead of numbers called from the front, the board fills with things residents spot on a walk or an outing, and the first to fill five in a row calls a Tingo.
You set the game up, everyone who plays gets their own board from the same list, and people start pointing things out to each other almost as soon as they set off.
Senior living activities for the next outing
Pick a game type, tell Let's Tingo where the group is headed, a botanical garden, a museum or the farmers market, and it builds a list of finds from that: a koi pond, a bench with a plaque, a hat with a flower on it. Keep the ones that suit your residents, reword or trash the rest, and add your own, like the bakery everyone asks to stop at.
On the bus ride there, residents can watch out the window for the first finds while the driver keeps their eyes on the road.
In most games, finds are shared, so when anyone spots something, it shows up on every board that has it. Residents who'd rather take the walk slowly still see every find the group makes up ahead.
Assisted living activities on your own grounds
Not every day is an outing, and the game works at home too. Build a board for the garden, the courtyard and the common rooms, and residents can play on a short walk before lunch.
Activities for seniors in assisted living have to fit around meals, appointments and visitors, so a join-any-time game helps. It's live the moment the invites go out, and anyone can join halfway through, whenever they're ready.
Games for seniors that run all week
Games for seniors work well when people can come back to them over a few days. Make it a timed game, set it to end on Friday afternoon, and the board keeps going all week. Whoever has the most Tingos when it ends wins.
Name a prize when you set it up, first pick from the dessert cart or the best seat at movie night, and everyone sees what they're playing for. Pick a camera game and every find needs a photo, which stays with the find for the whole group to look through together at the end.
A senior scavenger hunt list to get your board started
These are the kind of finds that make a good senior scavenger hunt. Use them, change them, or let Let's Tingo suggest its own from what you tell it. For other occasions, browse more scavenger hunt ideas.
On the grounds
- Bird feeder
- Rose bush
- Squirrel
- Garden bench
- Wind chime
- Flag on a pole
- Courtyard fountain
- Tomato plant
- Butterfly
- Rocking chair
- Mail carrier
- Visiting dog
Indoors
- Jigsaw puzzle
- Piano
- Fresh flowers
- Knitting project
- Family photo
- Library shelf
- Birthday card
- Checkerboard
- Fish tank
- Crossword
- Handwritten letter
- Afternoon tea
On an outing
- Koi pond
- Bench with a plaque
- Statue
- Church steeple
- Ice cream stand
- Fire truck
- Antique car
- Covered bridge
- Hat with a flower
- Farm stand
- Old movie theater
- Train crossing
Get your residents' next game ready
Build the board a day or two before the outing, and share it at breakfast so everyone's ready when the bus pulls up. The same game works for an indoor scavenger hunt on a rainy afternoon, family reunion games when relatives come to visit, and Thanksgiving games around the holiday meal.
Joining a game is always free, in the app or in a browser. Plenty of games are free to make, too.