Forum Discussion

First of all may I suggest this article
https://www.goldencarers.com/how-to-get-reluctant-residents-to-attend-activities/5980/
I had a lot of luck using these strategies
Balloon activities
https://www.goldencarers.com/balloon-games/3196/
Activities with food and prizes
https://www.goldencarers.com/match-ups/4979/
https://www.goldencarers.com/prize-walk/5148/

Let me know if you need more ideas or more help getting people to activities

This comment may help you also
https://www.goldencarers.com/comments/17499/

I, too, like sensory activities for dementia residents. We have a game called "Follow your Nose," which has 30 different scents--I sometimes just get a small group and let them smell all the different ones, keeping track of favorites. These scents, such as "Pine tree" and "mowed grass" can spark memories and get them talking. Even looking at the beautiful pictures from magazines such as "Country" and "Birds and Blooms" can be a good activity. There's also a "fabric swatch' available from S&S World wide that has several different colored/textured swatches of fabric on a ring. You can discuss the different colors and textures. One thing I am working on is a sensory bag in which you put in common, familiar items such as clothespins and erasers--you have people reach in the bag and try to guess what the item is they are handling. Aromatherapy and hand massage with a nicely-scented lotion is also great.

Great ideas Kim

Thank you for sharing Kim. It is much appreciated.

Hi Marija
I worked for many years on an dementia assessment unit and found that person centered activities and career type activates work the best. E.g. if you have a plumber getting lots of pipes to engage with really works, this type of activity prompts long term memories and makes the person feel useful. within a group for advanced clients have you tired balloon tennis, having large balloons and passing this around will engage people for a long time. Having themed reminisced boxes is also a good activity that clients will usually engage with.
Karen

Hi! We have around 50 elders in our Dementia unit and we about 25 to 30 participants in most events and sometimes even more. This happens because we get the care staff involved in helping to encourage the elders and walk with them to and from programs.

We also try to keep them engaged by scheduling activities back to back so they stay interested. I always like to have a cart with extra activities for those who need something busy, have all the supplies ready to go so I don’t have to leave so I can keep them engaged. I like to play music during my activities.

Example:
9:30 devotion
10:00 exercise
10:30 music
2:30 games & puzzles
3:00 flower arrangements
3:45 sorting, rummaging & folding
4:15 poetry

Thank you Karen for your thoughts good ideas

Thank you everyone for these wonderfull ideas !! I appreciate it so much. Just a quick question for Kim: how do you find the scents, are they coming directly from the source, like the mowed grass or you can get some samples ?

Thank you Tina great ideas and a great schedule