Many people think that senior living and memory care communities only offer activities like bingo and chair exercises. While these options can be fun and exciting, they don’t provide much stimulation for people who have memory issues like dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. If you want to brighten your senior loved one’s day while visiting him or her at a senior care community, try these more meaningful activities:
Watch home videos
The key to providing an engaging experience for seniors with memory trouble is to stir their long-term recollection. While they may not know the name of the center’s staff or be able find their way to the dining area by themselves, many older people can recall what happened five, 10 and even 50 years ago. Viewing home movies together is a great way to stir those memories. The sights and sounds of yesteryear can bring your loved one to life as he or she explains what is happening and notes who is in the shot. You can learn all sorts of fun family stories when watching these tapes. If your home movies are in VHS format, take them to a video store where they will transfer the files to a disk drive or DVD so you can share them more easily.
Clean together
It may sound strange, but cleaning together can be very meaningful to someone who has Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Being productive provides the individual with a sense of accomplishment, which can be hard to come by when he or she has memory problems. Depending on the senior’s abilities, he or she can work with you to dust, organize and fold laundry. These seemingly menial activities can provide self-worth, and the senior can remember how to do them without much effort.
Read a book
Think about your favorite books. Not only do you remember the plot, you’ve likely connected with the characters and even reread the whole thing several times. Readers connect stories to what is going on in their personal lives. Hearing a chapter or two from a much-appreciated book might stir up emotions and recollections of the past, especially for seniors. Even though the characters and plot may not be real, they feel familiar like walking into a home where the person once lived. You can read aloud to the senior or have him or her read to you. You may even leave an audiobook version with your loved one so he or she can also enjoy the story when you’re not visiting.
Trigger memories through the senses
Did you know that your sense of smell is key to forming memories? While a senior with dementia may not remember where he or she took a family vacation five years ago, the scent of sunscreen might be that extra trigger that helps them recall the Bahamas. Take your senior loved one on a journey through his or her memories with the help of scent. Offer up the shirt of a loved one and see if he or she can recall who it belongs to. Certain objects that have strong scents may bring up wonderful memories the individual hasn’t thought of in years.
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