Stimulation Activities

4Gen

I am new to the site. Mom was diagnosed in 2015. Dad has been her primary caregiver until November. We have encouraged dad to accept help for years. Dad is now unable to care for himself or mom. They have lived in their home for over 50 years and now have full time care. The caregiver is amazing. She is caring for every need. Nurses and PTs are in and out to support dad. Mom needs stimulation. She has for the past few years. She is very social and can still hold a conversation. Once she is started with an an activity she can continue for 20-30 minutes but gets distracted if no one is with her. I am trying to find things for the caregiver that interest  mom so when she is caring for dad, mom can be engaged in something.

Mom is in her late 80s dad in his early 90s.

Please share what activities have worked with your loved one.

Thank you.

RobOT

4Gen, the best activities are things that "need to be finished".  Ask Mom if she could "just finish up folding these towels?"  Easy jigsaw puzzles work for my dad, sorting things, bead stringing.  Sometimes I ask him to dust, but he's getting to the point where he's knocking things over instead of cleaning, but it might work for your mom.

Rockym

My mom always prided herself on being sharp and so I would sit with her and play fill in the blank games.  You can print these off the internet.  Some will have a choice of 4 answers and others would be from simple recall.  Typically they would jog a persons long term memory with titles of songs, phases such as a bird in the hand is worth two in the _______.

I could sit with my mom and since her right hand didn't work from a stroke, I would have her read the questions and then I would fill in the blanks for her.  Mom liked these games because first, we would bond and spend some time together and second, it would remind her that she still had her mind even though dementia was taking over.