Activities for Seniors with Early stages of Dementia.

Louray920

My dad is now living in assisted living because he was recently diagnosed with early/mild dementia. Prior to living in assisted living he was a very active person, with exercising. reading, a couple of clubs that he was part of, traveling and so on. I am trying help come up with activities that he can do while at the assisted living. In the mornings they do have an exercise class that he enjoys going to. In the afternoon, some of the activities are not that interesting to him. He is not a big fan Bingo or Flower arranging. He is a retired marine and lawyer. He loves history, travel, some science, and trivia. I am just curious as to what other folks have tried with family members or have suggested to assisted living to have. I would like my dad to be active during the day when he is more with it and so he can sleep better at night.

ltbub0418

is it possible at his AL for him to start a new group ? Possibly a history group ? Something geared towards his interests ?

sandwichone123

I think a lot of facilities have trouble providing activities for men. For one thing, men are a much smaller part of their population, so activities are naturally geared toward women's interests. Nails and flowers are small and inexpensive, and can be done across a range of abilities, so that's attractive. The activities director typically is young and there's not a lot of training, so any support you provide is likely to be appreciated. Perhaps suggest that the trivia games include more focus on history and travel, or that they include another active activity in the afternoons, like a bean toss or bowling?

caregiving daughter

ideas

bring in tin of nuts, bolts, and screws and ask him to sort; bring him baseball cards to handle; how about a basic puzzle of the us or series of paper maps

hire someone to be a companion; ask the vfw to send visitors