Objective To explore the effect of cup-stacking task on cognitive function of elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment(MCI). Methods Forty-eight elderly patients with MCI were selected and randomly divided into a control group (n=24) and an experimental group (n=24). Both groups received routine outpatient management, while the experimental group was additionally provided with a 6-month cup-stacking intervention. Before and after the intervention, both groups were evaluated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), the Auditory Verbal Learning Test-Huashan version (AVLT-H), the Alzheimer′s Disease Cooperative Study-Activities of Daily Living scale(ADCS-ADL), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the 30-Geriatric Depression Scale(GDS-30). Moreover, after the intervention,the experimental group was interviewed. Results Twenty cases of the control group and 23 of the experimental group completed the study.Before and after the intervention, the average scores of MoCA, AVLT-H and ADCS-ADL of the experimental group were significantly higher than the control group (P<0.05). All interviewees reported that they benefited much from the intervention, and 90.48% of them hoped to participate in this exercise or similar training in the long term. Conclusion Cup-stacking can help improve cognitive function and self-care ability of elderly patients with MCI.