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New equipment at St. John’s Lutheran Community is helping residents practice coordination and get a little movement — all while having some fun, too.

The senior living facility two months ago got two Tovertafels — one for the Woodlands, the skilled nursing portion of the community, and one for The Meadows, the memory care unit.

Tovertafel — translated in English means “magic table” — and essentially is an interactive game system that projects playful and interactive light animations on flat surfaces, such as a table. It is made by a company based in the Netherlands named Tover.

Amber Carberry, activities coordinator in the Woodlands, said the residents at the Woodlands play with the tool every day, and it will be rotating every three months between the three floors. There are scheduled times to play as a group two days a week, and many residents play it one-on-one, too.

She said St. John’s Administrator Shanna Eckberg had seen the technology at an expo she attended, and they brought it in for a demonstration with staff and residents and they liked it so much they decided to move forward with getting one.

The system has various levels so all of the residents can enjoy it, whether in independent living, assisted living or with dementia. It has been shown to increase physical activity, social interaction and quality of life in the players, as well as decrease restlessness and anxiety and improve alertness and focus, according to the Tover website.

Carberry said some of the higher levels include games about math and spelling; otherwise, there’s games in which the players make a cake or pie, another where they push away falling leaves, another where they swat flies during a picnic and another where they move a ball back and forth. There’s even one that’s similar to a whack-a-mole and another where they can pop bubbles.

“Some people will say that’s for children, but when you get them in front of this, they love it,” Carberry said.

It also provides good exercise for them, too, she said, noting they can even have the projector shine down to the floor and use their feet if they wanted to play the games with them.

The projections are large enough for the residents to see, and they also incorporate sounds.

For many of the games played last week, the group playing the games used their hands or fly swatters. Carberry said the fly swatters were good to use because they essentially give the residents the ability to have a little bit of a further reach on the table.

The technology is designed for not only residents in skilled care facilities, but also people of all ages with cognitive disabilities.

“It doesn’t matter your ability, everyone’s able to play,” Carberry said.