Activities for Seniors with Dementia

Activities with one who has dementia are important for stimulation, providing purpose, exercise, and hopefully warding off depression and anxiety.  Right at Home is focused on trying to help our clients engage and thrive. We strive to focus on person-centered care – where we can see them thriving, as much as is possible!

Sometimes those interests are completely different than what they were before the dementia. It is important for us to identify what their current abilities are and focus on those.  Our staff come along side, and guide, while doing activities together, anticipating where the breakdown in capability is.

Examples of attention and care, from the insight of our caregiver, Donna:

“I try to learn what she enjoyed doing in the past and what her present interests may be as well as what her present abilities are. I learned she loved playing golf. I had thoughts of taking her to play miniature golf but she depended on her walker far too much for that.

A great way to know and understand my client(s)  is by looking through old photo albums together- which is always fascinating to hear the stories she shared. For example, Eunice would talk about each picture with such love and pride. This was a good stimulation for her memory and put her in a cheerful mood. I noticed, however, that she did not recognize who the people were in the more recent photos.

Sometimes I would bring small 100 piece puzzles to do together. She would say with a big smile, “I like doing these as long as the pictures are cute!" 😊

We also played a Memory game using only 6 pairs to keep it simple. This was challenging enough for her. We also played Words Within Words. I would write down words such as “celebration” and see how many words she could make from it. Another game we enjoyed was Rhyme It. I would say a word and she would say a word that rhymes with my word. Then we reversed it, asking her to say a word and I would say a word that rhymed with her word. The latter was harder for her. She couldn't think of words to give me.

We also went for walks outside to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine, sit out on the back porch, and play Rhyme It. We would have small conversations with other residents who would pass through.

We would go for drives and out to lunch at different places. This she enjoyed tremendously. She needed a lot of help with menus. She could not decide when too many choices.

I took her to the zoo where she was thrilled to feed the giraffe eucalyptus branches. She laughed at the monkey's playing. And received much joy in watching the little children feed the animals in the children's area.

These were activities we enjoyed doing together. Not only was it providing stimulation but we formed a trust and bond with each other that was only positive, and one that I can see brought her joy!”