Caring for an elderly parent or family member with dementia can be a difficult and emotionally draining process. When engaging seniors with dementia, it is essential to find stimulating and safe activities. However, providing activities that give purpose and satisfaction without compromising dignity or self-respect can be challenging.
At Miami Valley Homecare, we understand the unique needs that dementia patients require when it comes to their care. Our team of experienced home carers is dedicated to providing exceptional dementia home care services, including companionship and supervised activities that maximize your loved one's potential.
Below are five activities our carers do to keep your loved one with dementia active and engaged.
If your loved one can still use scissors and handle small objects, they may enjoy clipping coupons from the newspaper. This activity can help keep them active while also helping with their budgeting skills.
Coupon clipping requires minimal physical exertion and resources, making it an ideal activity for people with dementia. Couponing also encourages people to think about what they need daily, providing meaningful consultation beyond being "just an activity." Thoughtful planning, prudent decisions about convenience versus savings, and executive functioning are all addressed when cutting coupons.
Visit your local hardware store and explore the vast selection of colors, shapes, sizes, and textures that paint swatches can provide. Engaging in this activity with a loved one living with dementia may bring joy to their life and also benefits for keeping them cognitively active.
With such an extensive range available, each person's experience manipulating the samples will be unique – from playing simple matching games to creating beautiful color palettes. Paint swatches can stimulate the senses and help people stay engaged in conversations. Furthermore, it opens up creative discussion opportunities to talk about the different colors or themes being created.
This dementia-friendly activity allows a person to use their hands and cognitive abilities. It can also spark creative conversations about different shapes, textures, and colors available in PVC pipe fittings. By manipulating the pieces, dementia patients can experience a sense of accomplishment and practice problem-solving.
People with dementia may lose parts of their vocabulary or the feel for tones in music. Yet, this activity is just hands-on enough so that anyone in any stage of the illness will still reap the rewards from taking part.
Organizing silverware is an activity that can help develop tactile and fine motor skills and improve the ability to sort objects. It also encourages dementia patients to use their hands for something constructive.
Additionally, it allows those with dementia to stay active cognitively by requiring them to execute conscious movements to create groups and order through visual recognition. Involving other indirect activities such as offering reminders, reducing distractions, or presenting differing color utensils when selecting encourages involvement in completing tasks based on choices provided.
Exploring a jewelry box promotes finger dexterity, tactile awareness, and coordination while keeping dementia patients socially engaged. The dementia patient can use their hands to explore the materials and identify objects by touch.
It also offers a chance to reminisce about the different items inside. Exploring the contents of a treasured jewelry box helps spark memories, bringing dementia patients closer to their past while providing them with cognitive stimulation.
Engaging seniors with dementia doesn't have to be complicated. All it takes is creativity and an understanding of how best to approach the situation from both sides of the conversation, which we do here at Miami Valley Homecare!
As our top priority is care, we work with dementia patients to ensure they receive the best care and remain engaged. With our team of experienced home carers, you can be sure that your dementia patient is given the attention and respect they deserve. Contact us now at (937) 671-2273 or fill out our contact form for an assessment.
