HELP! I have been an Activities Co-ordinator for a few months now (with no previous experience) and the lady who was training me had to leave to look after family (after a month of training from 0 experience!) I am struggling coming up with Dementia-Friendly Group Activities for my Memory Lane Residents- any help would be greatly appreciated!
Congratulations on your new job I assume you are a natural when it comes to activities Activities for those with dementia can be difficult especially group activities However I am sure you will find a lot of help on this site https://www.goldencarers.com/20-practical-activities-for-people-living-with-alzheimers-disease/3778/ I’d like a sing-along because people of many different levels can enjoy it Some people who cannot speak can sing the words to a song I think that is important to include everyone in the activity in someway You might have to have a multi level within a group https://www.goldencarers.com/comments/26847/
I think the challenge here is to do no contact activities with COVID restrictions. If you play cards or dice games you need to wipe down everything as soon as someone touches them and definitely cannot pass around to other residents! Music therapy is huge in our memory care unit, use an ipad that only you touch, find pandora or amazon music and search 40's or 50's music, play part of the song and let them try to guess what song it is. This or that? game. Dry erase board for words-in-words game, Pictionary, hangman. Use laptop for youtube clips of funny animals. Reminisce 1:1 about favorite holiday, best pet ever, etc. Finish the phrase- on golden carers website A-Z like scattergories: name something that starts with B that you find at the beach; starts with the letter C that you find in the garden, etc. There are a lot of things on Goldencarers- Alzheimer's category, Activity Connection website, and on Pinterest.
I truly am so grateful I have found this group. I am looking forward to your emails everyday and it feels like it has given me a new lease on my working life as I went through a rough patch for a while. So thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you do!
Saskia Badenhorst Activities Coordinator South Africa
I have been an Activities Co-ordinator for a few months now (with no previous experience) and the lady who was training me had to leave to look after family (after a month of training from 0 experience!) I am struggling coming up with Dementia-Friendly Group Activities for my Memory Lane Residents- any help would be greatly appreciated!
I assume you are a natural when it comes to activities
Activities for those with dementia can be difficult especially group activities
However I am sure you will find a lot of help on this site
https://www.goldencarers.com/20-practical-activities-for-people-living-with-alzheimers-disease/3778/
I’d like a sing-along because people of many different levels can enjoy it
Some people who cannot speak can sing the words to a song
I think that is important to include everyone in the activity in someway
You might have to have a multi level within a group
https://www.goldencarers.com/comments/26847/
https://www.goldencarers.com/comments/21321/
Besides these ideas you can always do balloon ball kickball with the beach ball
You can have a number of residents sit at the table and each does their own thing but you can facilitate conversations with each one
I also like playing card games
https://www.goldencarers.com/search/#stq=Playing%20card%20games%20for%20those%20with%20dementia&stp=1
and dice games
https://www.goldencarers.com/dice-games-for-the-elderly/5307/
Often you have to be the facilitator to make the group as smooth as possible
This should be a good place to start
Let me know if you need any more specific help about things I have mentioned
Music therapy is huge in our memory care unit, use an ipad that only you touch, find pandora or amazon music and search 40's or 50's music, play part of the song and let them try to guess what song it is.
This or that? game.
Dry erase board for words-in-words game, Pictionary, hangman.
Use laptop for youtube clips of funny animals.
Reminisce 1:1 about favorite holiday, best pet ever, etc.
Finish the phrase- on golden carers website
A-Z like scattergories: name something that starts with B that you find at the beach; starts with the letter C that you find in the garden, etc.
There are a lot of things on Goldencarers- Alzheimer's category, Activity Connection website, and on Pinterest.
As far as the dice go
I would give each resident on their own days so they’re not touching each other’s
Thanks for sharing