I have been playing this game for a while, each time we play we try and get more words than the time before. The great thing is all staff and visitors get involved as they come and go.
I use this game for one of my visually impaired clients, so they can join in an activity at the same time as keeping the brain active. The client said it was best days ever had when I did this
This is a very simple and fun game that I use in memory care. You don't necessarily need any materials, just brains for thinking but I use a white board and markers to write down everything listed.
First pick a category. You can tailor these to fit your surroundings but ones I use are: Animals, Food, Places, Names, Games, and Movies/TV.
Start with the letter "A" and list things in that category that start with that letter and go through the whole alphabet.
Example: Animals
Anteater, antelope, ape
Bear, bobcat, barracuda
Cat, camel, cougar...etc.
My residents love this and it's a fun easy way to make them use their brains!
I teach dance to seniors with varying physical & cognitive challenges. For an alphabet game we make body shapes of the letters of the alphabet starting with the first letter of their first name. Staff & I help when needed. Then we move on to their favorite animals, making the shape of the first letter of their favorite animal. We all have fun with this activity. A wonderful book that I show them before we do this lesson plan is: The Human Alphabet/Pilobolus. Roaring Book Press, New Milford, Connecticut
We play this regularly, I make a new list of questions from household items, things in your bag, toolbox, car, office, kitchen appliances... you can make it endless fun... The residents love the challenge at happy hour. Divide tables as with trivia so others can help to make up teams. Have a volunteer, staff member or family members to help each table they love to get in on it too.
Great for a laugh and they really love the competitiveness!!!
I like doing surnames are also a profession or linked to their background & what someone might have done for a living, like abbot, archer, baker, carpenter, driver, English, fisher, gardener, hunter, Brewer, Butcher, Carter, Clark, Cooper, Cook, Dyer, Farmer, Faulkner, Fisher, Fuller, Glover, Head, Hunt, Judge, Mason, Page, Parker, Potter, Sawyer, Slater, Smith, Taylor, Thatcher, Turner, Weaver, Woodman, and Wright - I have a list of each of the alphabet and do a mime for some, and we chat about their names and their partner's names
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I really love your website. I still find it incredulous that this site exists. I know how hard it must be for our Lifestyle teams to keep coming up with ideas and activities and to now have found this site - WOW. I really do think it says a lot about the immense value of community collaboration - because this site is about that! so I am immensely proud that people, especially older people, may be benefitting from this wonderful resource all over the world.