Creating soothing activities using a busy or activity board

dancsfo · November 14

I understand that some activities like folding clothes or napkins can offer feelings of control, or be soothing for PWDs.

Most are harmless, but PWD likes to scratch coffee stain marks from a sofa using a fingernail, or scratch off burn marks from a frying pan with a kitchen knife, and doing it repeatedly. It ends up not working, which frustrates PWD, but still seem to sooth the PWD in some way. I used to attribute this to an arbitrary behavior of a broken brain, but it seems to fulfill a PWD's needs.

However, it is also annoying to caregivers and potentially harmful or even dangerous for PWD, since there is a knife. I usually try to take the knife away, but I may miss it as I may be busy,

I've read that with a "busy board" or an activity board, it may provide enough harmless, soothing feeling of control to fulfill these needs. Has anyone created or built one and share experiences with it? I realize there are differences with each PWD.

One idea is to simulate these "stains" by applying some watercolor paint or something like similiar on a smooth board that a PWD can scrape off, using a safe and blunt tool.

I got a puzzle board (put a round or square peg into appropriate hole) but PWD seems to have gotten bored with it.

Activity Board for Dementia article

It must have been discussed in this forum before, but I can't find much. This is different from a "Stay sharp kit for memory"

harshedbuzz · November 15

@dancsfo

In creating an activity for a PWD you should aim for "failure free".

It might be time to lock up the knives, tools and cleaning solutions to avoid injury and/or damage.

Some ideas often offered are sorting. Sometimes this can play into a former hobby or activity — sorting beads, buttons or nuts & bolts. Since your LO is a "picker" maybe you could play to that. When DS, who is on spectrum, was a little kid who picked, I used to paint non-toxic glue (the stretchy kind on surfaces for him to pick at and remove in lieu of his cuticles or scab. Dried Elmer's on skin can also work. If you do have pots to scrape, a plastic scraper tool would be safe and effective.

HB

dancsfo · November 15

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/258538#Comment_258538

Thanks for the ideas, especially avoiding failures and looking into prior hobbies or current desires. It seems that making things clean (by picking off things) is a motivator, along with some sense for order and control. Going too far into analyzing the mind may not be worth it, since the brain is broken and I'm not a trained specialist, but I will deal with general ideas to help with a desire for "sorting", and "picking" that other caregivers have observed.

Creating soothing activities using a busy or activity board

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