How do you play a finish the phrase game with seniors?

Some lines never leave us. Read “Don’t count your chickens…” to a room of eighty-year-olds and the ending comes back before you’ve finished the sentence, in one voice, often with a laugh. That’s the whole idea of a finish the phrase game, sometimes called a finish the saying or old fashioned sayings game, and it is one of the easiest games to lead in senior living, at a church social or at a family table. Here’s how to play, six sayings with their answers, and how to keep it gentle.

What is a finish the phrase game?

A finish the phrase game is a word game where the host reads the start of a well-known saying and the players supply the ending. With an older group the sayings are proverbs heard at home for generations, about early birds, watched pots and rainy days. Nobody has to learn anything new, and every ending opens a conversation about who used to say it.

How to play, step by step

1. Print the display cards, one saying to a full page, or open the TV slides. For a points game, print one player worksheet per player or team; every start is printed on it.
2. Choose how people answer: out loud together in Easy Mode, best for gentle groups and families, or written on the worksheet in the points game.
3. Say the number, hold up the card and read the start slowly, twice.
4. Wait about 20 seconds. In the points game there’s no calling out: teams whisper and write, and then you say “Pens down!”
5. If the room is stuck, give a hint. First the picture hint, then the first word. Still stuck? Say it together.
6. Read the finish, then what it means and where it comes from. Each “Talk about it” question adds 2 to 3 minutes, so use one or two per round.
7. After each round, players swap worksheets with a neighbor and mark them. Copy the points to the score board.

Six old fashioned sayings with answers

One from each round of our Old Fashioned Sayings, copied from its Host Pack with the meaning it gives:

Don’t cry over… Finish: spilled milk. Also accept: spilt milk. What it means: Don’t waste time being upset about something that already happened and can’t be undone.

Home is where… Finish: the heart is. Another real saying earns the point too: “Home is where you hang your hat.” What it means: Home is wherever the people and things we love are.

A penny saved… Finish: is a penny earned. Also accept: is a penny gained. What it means: Saving money is just as good as earning it.

A rolling stone… Finish: gathers no moss. What it means: Someone always on the move never settles down; some say moving keeps you from getting stuck.

You catch more flies with honey… Finish: than with vinegar. Also accept: than vinegar. What it means: Kindness wins people over better than harshness.

A cat may look… Finish: at a king. Also accept: on a king. What it means: Everyone has some rights, no matter how humble.

The Host Pack adds where each saying comes from. “A rolling stone gathers no moss” was already in John Heywood’s proverb collection of 1546, as “The rollyng stone neuer gatherth mosse.” For “A penny saved”, it notes that Benjamin Franklin wrote a similar line in 1737, “A penny saved is two pence clear”, but not this exact wording.

What counts as a right answer?

Families say these differently, and the game is built for that. In our Host Pack:

• The key words earn the point, and so does every ending listed under “Also accept”.
• Close wording is fine: “spilled” or “spilt”, “till” or “until”.
• A different real saying that fits the start earns the point too, like “Home is where you hang your hat”.
• No half points, and the host’s word is final.

Easy Mode for gentle groups

Easy Mode with the Gentle 20, the 20 friendliest sayings, is made for gentle groups: no pencils, no scores, and everyone says the finish together. The Host Pack’s page for gentle groups is worth following closely:

• Seating. Sit close together in a half circle, with no bright window behind you. Seat anyone who hears or sees less right beside you or the screen. Six to ten players is plenty for one host.
• Speaking. Face the group and speak slowly, a little lower, not louder. Write the finish on a whiteboard for anyone who could not hear it.
• Kind words. “You knew that one!” or “That’s how my mother said it, too.” Never correct a story; in Easy Mode there are no wrong answers.
• Safe swaps. Skip any talk question that makes someone restless, and swap in a cozy one: “What did your kitchen smell like on a Sunday?”

For a resident who stays in their room, the same cards work one to one at a bedside, one card at a time. The game file also has lap sheets, two to a page, that can be cut in half and held on the lap.

How long does it take?

The six rounds are The Kitchen Table, Front Porch Wisdom, Around the Neighborhood, Words to Live By, Rain or Shine, and The Grand Finale.

Five more ways to play the same cards

The game file has five more games for the next get-together:

• Reverse: you read the finish, players give the start.
• Meaning Match: you read what a saying means, players name it. “Everyone gets their moment of success sooner or later” is “Every dog has its day.” The Bonus Round has twelve ready to go.
• Mixed-Up Sayings: you join the start of one saying to the finish of another, and the first player to call “Mixed up!” and put both right wins a point.
• Silly Endings: children invent the silliest ending, the grown-ups vote, then a grandparent tells the real one.
• Team Relay: teams sit in a line with one worksheet and pass the pen after each answer.

The Christmas edition

In December the same game works with carols. Christmas Finish the Phrase has 60 lines from carols, “The Night Before Christmas” and classic holiday sayings, in six rounds, and every line was first published before 1929. Carols are sung in more than one version, so any real version earns the point. For a secular crowd, play rounds 1, 3, 4 and 6 and skip the rounds of carols and Scripture, about 80 minutes in all.

What to print

The display cards print one saying to a page at 76 pt or larger, with body text at 18 pt. For Easy Mode you need only the cards for the Gentle 20, or no printing at all with the TV slides. For the points game, add a worksheet per team and the score board. Print one page at Actual size (100%) first; our guide on printing at actual size covers every app.

Old Fashioned Sayings is also one of five games in our Games for Older Adults Bundle, with a ready 90-minute afternoon, and one of three in our 70th, 80th and 90th birthday bundles, where the guest of honor finishes the sayings first. For another gentle game with two choices, see how to play Which Came First, or browse all our games for seniors.