Two-Minute Activities for Dementia Care

Hello I have male who has lewy dementia and his wife need help with some stuff

First time client with lewy

Do you have activities games crafts

For the couple to do

I'm a caregiver

Hi,

Do you have any ideas for people who are non verbal?

Thanks

Residents love back rubs and touches. Thank you for all of your suggestions and support.

Hi Julie

Another great idea

Thanks for sharing

Hi there Iike the sound of the bag filled with fun stuff to take round the dementia home to get a few second of interaction with less able residents that don't want to join in with the main activities. Ideas please for what I could carry in my bag.

Thanks you for your beautiful hints.

Love them.

Hi Lorraine

These articles are shared to help you

https://www.goldencarers.com/games-for-people-living-with-dementia/4779/

https://www.goldencarers.com/flip-cards-and-dice-matching-game/7052/

Search

https://www.goldencarers.com/search/?search_tag=Activity&search=Balloon%20games

https://www.goldencarers.com/10-sensory-activities-for-men/7100/

https://www.goldencarers.com/5-aphasia-activities-for-senior-care/5406/

Hi I love all your ideas but does anyone have activities for men with dementia who may have difficulty putting a sentence together? There seems a great deal of ideas for women so any help is appreciated. Thanks

Hi Carol

What a great idea

Thanks for your input

A few years ago I managed to engage a couple of clients, one in unravelling a ball of wool while the other wound it round in a ball, while also engaging both in simple chatter. Successful 15 minutes of productive and fun activity!

Another time I passed round a couple of Rubik's cubes, demonstrating what needed to be done and even got the guys interested as men love 'fixing' things :)

I just started in hospice, coming from developmentally delayed toddlers. I love these ideas as well as the activities for later stage dementia post.

I was wondering if you have tried water colors? That was my plan for one patient tomorrow, but now I'm excited to try these other ideas. (BTW, with the kiddos, I would skip the glass of water and just heavily mist the paper and the pallet with water, then give them a 1.5 inch paint brush. I learned that actual water color paper had way more dramatic effects than construction paper. But, then I would y'all about the colors they chose, and try to get them to look at their art) I would love some feedback if you think part of this plan might be too difficult or u stimulating for the end stage Alzheimer's patents.

Hello ,im new to this but ive got 2 week trial at my work ,so far ive made playdo with residents and this week im going to try finger painting im trying to work on hands. Im normally a carer but im enjoying my challenge . thanks for the ideas .

My 92 yr old friend that I companion for 3 days a week enjoy making cookies for his family, talking about his life on the farm doing, some chair exercises using soup cans and just sometimes sitting on the porch listening to music. Listening to his stories ( maybe more then once) of growing up and how his mom loved to bake never gets old with me.

This sounds exactly like it came from the Best Friends approach from David Troxel and Virginia Bell. We’re instituting that program this year. Very cool.

We do a lot of these activities as well, residents love to receive hugs, hand or foot massages etc. Human touch is so important to us all.

We also have visits from a couple of babies/toddlers, all the residents love to touch and hold those little hands.

Thank you for all your help

Rosemary,

Here in Alice Springs I started doing exactly this idea for our less active residents . They are called "Activity Bags" and they hold varying items of interest to the resident. The bags were ordered online and decorated with brightly coloured felt letters with the resident's name.

A Journal, Bible or spiritual tracts, snippets of interest like cut out jokes or articles, dementia specific aids, and yes, pencils and colouring books, items that have reflected their life for example, laminated copies of the art works of one of our ladies who was a noted artist, - the contents are as varied and unique as the individual resident is.

Activity bags can be easily carried from room to room by the care staff or relatives and conveniently hold items that reflect thier passions and interests. Good luck with this idea. It has proven worthwhile here.

hi I'm a DT from across the ditch, South West coast of New Zealand. i have 70 residents to care for with two part time helpers, one DT and the other a DT in training.

i have read through this activity as we do have dementia residents here as well as residents on what i call the periphery of our social structure.

Anyway, reading this has prompted me to start putting together a shoulder bag type or resource containg a sketch pad and pencils, colouring sheets and pencil crayons, a picture book, a talkabout object, socks that need folding ect. it's not up and running yet but i believe it will be a handy resourse as i walk around the facility. any suggestions to enhance this will be welcome.

My Grandmother died in the local nursing home of dementia, now my Mother has it and I am trying to keep her here in her home so she will hopefully do better in familiar surroundings. I read and try anything that I can find to help keep her mind as active as possible. I talk to people that give me ideas that are sometimes useful and other times not so much. I welcome any material I can get. I love finding ideas like I did here today for her to try.

If anyone has material and knowledge to share with me that would be helpful for my Mother I would very much appreciate it. Thank you!

Love your ideas, because I actually do many of them and the response is amazing, majority love to be hug and the more I take time out just say hello or greet them you actually get to know them a little more. Thank you!

Thanks everyone for your wonderful feedback, it is much appreciated.

I've been an activity coordinator for a long time and it is always good to reaffirm best practices and not stick to the same routine. Spontaneity and 100% positivity is the key to unlocking happy memories.

Wonderful practicle low cost heart warming activities. Thanks for reminding me. Very valuable Geraldine Melican

Nothing better than to see the look in their face when you give them a hug or hold their hand. To make them feel we care is so important.

that is so sad not being able to give hugs.

We work in a very homely and careing rest home and always give hugs freely and sit down and talk to them, listening is very important

In my job we are not allowed to hug client's it is against the policy of the organisation that I work in. The client has to initiate the touch or hug. This system has become very sad because many clients like a hug from their carers from time to time.

Thank you for this, like Jo I do many of the above as I work in high care with many advance dementia clients and I feel its such a special time being able to share a little sparkle in ones life. Activities are not always about the large active group session but fitting in these simple little pleasures that we take so much for granted. Thank you once again.

Allowing someone with dementia to hold your hand, or reciprocate a hand massage is also powerful. Tell them how lovely it is to have someone pay you attention. Most people like to feel needed allowing them to give back even in small ways can lift the spirit. Both yours and theirs. Win/win.

Thank you. I do many of the above & find that the ladies in general really respond to gentle hugs & the residents (both male & female) love to be encouraged in all their endeavours.