Lanark Village (S&R Senior Living)

Lanark Village is a retirement community located in Kitchener, Ontario. Lanark Village places strong emphasis on quality of life and social connection. The facility has a full-time FUN Coordinator who organizes a rich calendar of events.

In consultation with their FUN Coordinator and staff at Lanark Village, we developed a board game collection tailored for use with residents and their visiting family members, including children and youth. The goal of the collection was to encourage meaningful intergenerational interaction during family visits and to provide residents with engaging, low barrier activities during downtime in communal spaces. The collection was also designed to promote conversation, shared play, and a sense of community among residents and among residents and staff interacting with them one-on-one such as PSWs and visiting highschool students on co-operative education placements.

Our process began with an initial meeting with staff to present a broad selection of board games. This helped us identify a preliminary group of titles to explore further. We later returned for a second visit to trial games directly with residents. Although youth visitors were not present at that time, we spoke with residents about whether they felt their family members would enjoy the games we tested.

Following this visit, we left the game collection with Lanark Village for an extended trial period. This allowed staff, residents, and visiting families to explore the games in their own time. Staff later provided additional feedback, which we used to refine the collection and ensure its ongoing usefulness within the community.

Below we list the considerations that we ultimately took into account in deciding which games to include in both collections. You will also find a Table listing all the boardgames and accompanying materials we developed that are openly available to all.

The materials here are provided openly for other interested schools and community locations to use and adapt according to a CC BY-NC license, unless stated otherwise. This license allows re-users to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. (The creator for the text of these materials should be indicated to be Daniela O'Neill. Some items may have other stated attributions, such as photographs or drawings for which sources and any applicable permissions are noted).

Note that you can find other materials, such as 5 bright posters about the value of board game play and a pamphlet of tips for parents playing with young children, in our Library Section.

Some of the most important considerations that led to either a game being included or not included in the Lanark Village collection as a result of our consultations with staff members and their own independent trialling of the board games were:

• ensuring visual elements were distinguishable for players with colour-blindness by avoiding games that rely on problematic colour combinations (e.g., red-green)
• prioritizing games with larger print, bold fonts, and high-contrast layouts to support players with low or impaired vision
• games with larger, easier to hold pieces, or thicker cards, to support players with lower manual dexterity
• selecting games that could be enjoyed by individuals with diverse cognitive abilities, including those with mild memory or attention difficulties
• games with easy-to-follow instructions, simple rules, reference aids, and/or simple mechanics were prioritized to support independent participation by making rules and mechanics of game play easier to remember
• diverse play durations - some short and light, others longer and more involved – to suit different energy levels, attention spans, and social situations (e.g., quick visits vs. longer afternoon gatherings)
• we provided some card holders and dice trays to help with smoother and easier game play
• two specific games, Chinese Checkers and Rummoli, were requested by residents due to their previous familiarity with them and so we included these as add-ons but were not included in the table below given that we did not pre-test them and are not sure that they would be successful more widely in similar settings (e.g., longer more complex game play, smaller game pieces).

“I do have some feedback on the games for you!!

1. The Chinese checkers has become a favourite-many of the residents remember playing this with their own grandparents!!  It is also great that it is not marbles as they are not the easiest to handle.

2. I currently have two high-school co-op students who have been playing a ton of the different games with the residents.  My observations is that the residents are a lot more agreeable to try a new game with the younger people asking them to play.... and they are getting quite the crowd for these games.  Some just watching (which is also great). UNO has been the popular one this past week. 

3. All-in-all the games have gone over really well. I did have a family member ask about the whole program and talk about how great that was and were thrilled to know that they are able to use these games when they visit.”