Balloon Tennis is an inclusive game for seniors with varying levels of cognitive and physical disability. Lots of fun and laughs too!
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Balloon Tennis is an inclusive game for seniors with varying levels of cognitive and physical disability. Lots of fun and laughs too!

Benefits

  • Improves hand-eye coordination and mobility.
  • Fosters social interaction and a sense of community.
  • Inclusive for participants with diverse abilities.
  • Stimulates cognitive functions through teamwork.
  • Provides a low-impact workout for residents.

Materials

  • Foam-padded noodles or badminton rackets
  • Standard-size balloons

Instructions

  • Arrange seats in a circle for clear visibility and ensure enough space for safe movement.
  • Provide foam padded noodles or rackets to each participant, tailored to their needs.
  • Inflate a balloon and gently toss it into the room's center at an accessible height.
  • The idea is to keep the balloon in the air for as long as possible while remaining seated, allowing wheelchair users and those with walking aids to participate fully.
  • To extend the game, only I can stand up to rescue a wandering balloon!

Even those with comprehension impairments or communication difficulties can fully participate and feel included in our weekly balloon tennis game. It is definitely a staple for gross motor skills.

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Comments   Post a Comment

Roxanne 3rd Mar 2023 Life Enrichment Coordinator
My residents love this game... we use pool noodles cut in half. they use the noodle to hit the "VOLLEYBALL" (balloon) So fun
Carla 12th Jul 2022 Former Lifestyle Officer / Coordinator
Our residents really loved to play and participate. They really engage with the activity and with each other.

Staff gather 6 or 8 residents and arrange them into a round group or front to front. If you have a net to place between them that is really fun and residents feel that they can still do a sport (indoor).

Residents must be seated while playing this sport or activity and staff must supervise and assist them. 

What you need:
6 or 8 Rackets - $10 From KMart
1 or 2 Party Balloons
Berthe 11th Dec 2023 DT
Good morning Carla, we can call the game that you talked about another name on the weekly activity program as net balloon.
Life 23rd Jan 2022 Life Enrichment Director
Dori

We like doing another form of balloon tennis. With Balloon Ball the group sit in a circle and need to work together to hit the balloon in a basket ( it's a fold up organizer). It take teamwork and is fun and we laugh so much.
Donna 23rd Jul 2021 Diversional Therapist
Balloon Tennis is very popular. We use fly swats as our bats and have a volley ball net. I love seeing the determination on the residents faces trying to hit the balloon over the net.
Jan 6th Feb 2018 Leisure & Lifetsyle
We do noodle Tennis sitting around a table and Day children join in the activity loved by all.
Colleen 11th Aug 2017 Diversional Therapist
We play this quite often, definitely a favourite in our facility. We use table tennis bats and usually yellow balloons as our sight impaired see them easier.
Solange 28th Jun 2017 Diversional Therapist
Hi Susan, I am glad it worked for you. This game is very popular, even when residents cannot participate for some reason, you notice how they follow the balloons with their eyes with a delightful expression on their faces. Cheers.
Susan 28th Jun 2017 Activities Co-ordinator
Average age in the room well over 90, 2 virtually blind residents and half had dementia and we all had a ball! we had a great time with our fly swats and balloons such a cheap easy activity. I was very sceptical that all would be able to participate but every one thoroughly enjoyed it.
Wendy 30th May 2017 Lifestyle Co Ordinator
We cut our pool noodles into three so it was easier for our residents to manage. They loved hitting the balloons and there was plenty of laughter.
Talita 5th Jun 2017
Yes, so much fun! Thanks for your feedback Wendy.
Jill 30th May 2017 Activities Director
We played balloon volleyball and it was a hoot! One resident participated for the first time and loved it. To save myself from having to go chase balloons around on the floor, I tied a ribbon to the balloon and taped the ribbon on the middle of the table so it couldn't fall on the floor. High five for this activity!
Solange 30th May 2017 Diversional Therapist
Hooray, for your creativity Jill! Thak you for sharing. Cheers.
Janaya 28th May 2017 OTA
To further spice up this motor activity. I tossed three balloons, at varying intervals, and all of the same colour, into the circle. Any balloon within reach was "fair game" the result was hilarious laughter and controlled 'chaos' - with balloons shooting everywhere.
At first, I threw in balloons of all different colours, but found our dementia patients could only focus on and track one coloured balloon.
Tossing in one then.. two, then... three of the same colour,
solved the problem fantastically.
Solange 30th May 2017 Diversional Therapist
Well observed Janaya, well done! Cheers.
Sancha 23rd May 2017 Personal Carer
Played this recently with my Dementia Residents round the table (8) and they all had such a fun time will definitely do it again. Lots of laughs from both the nurses and Residents playing and watching. Thanks for the ideas. Love Golden Carers. Cheers!
Talita 27th May 2017
Thanks so much for your feedback Sancha! And thanks Janaya for sharing this activity.
Talita 22nd May 2017
Yes, balloon games are always popular, thanks for sharing Janaya!
Vicki 23rd Feb 2016 recreational facilities officer
I love the idea of the pool noodles being used! We do balloon tennis and make our own rackets with wire coat hangers which we bend out into a circle shape and stretch pantihose over them...the sharp bits at the end are covered with tape.
Marcia 16th Feb 2016 Lifestyle Coordinator
We use table tennis net and bats and use balloons great fun and enables all levels to participate including wheelchair/tub chair/stroke residents who only have use of one hand including those who can stand and are quite mobile, many think they are back playing tennis again
Mary 16th Feb 2016 diversional therapist
we made bats out of wire coat hangers then covered them with panty hose[ the knee-highs] when discarded firstly you bend hangers to form a bat then put the knee highs on, great fun
Heather 16th Feb 2016 Diversional Therapist
we do a balloon tennise but we use balloons as balls our net is toilet paper our bats are fly swats it is a lot of fun we were taught this by a clown doctor
stephen 11th Feb 2016 lifestyle coordinator
I went to the local cheap store and had to improvise as there was no noodles.

Instead I got 6 foam tennis bats and turned it into balloon tennis.
It was a fantastic session and all the residents loved it :)

It was great to see them all laughing bending stretching and smiling.

I would recommend this to anyone else :)
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