Activities for the Dementia Patient that Engage Their Senses
The dementia patient experiences forgetfulness and confusion. Familiar activities can help them to remain calm and maybe even enable them to communicate more clearly with their caregivers and family members. When looking for familiar activities it helps to find ways to use the senses. Our memories are often stirred up by familiar scents, textures, tastes, sights, and sounds. Here are some ideas for incorporating the five senses into a dementia patient’s activities. Hearing Listen to old radio shows. Shows like Lil’ Abner, Gunsmoke, and Sherlock Holmes mysteries are available at Audible.com. Your loved one may not be able to follow the story line, but just hearing the music and voices they remember from their childhood can be comforting.Play a CD softly in the background in the evening while you are starting to wind down for bedtime. Match the style of music to the kinds they enjoyed in their younger years. You may find them singing along with the words.If the dementia patient had a favorite activity as a child, teen, or young adult that involved sound find a recording of that activity (or make one yourself) to play for your loved one. For example, a former schoolteacher may enjoy hearing children laughing and playing, someone who grew up fishing in his grandpa’s stream may enjoy hearing the sounds of splashing water.
Seeing
Incorporate their favorite colors into your decorating, especially their bedding choices. Also, look for clothing in their favorite colors.Watch old movies. You can find a variety of choices at Blockbuster.com.  Look for the programs they enjoyed as children—Lil’ Rascals, Lassie, The Andy Griffith Show.Keep picture books with large, colorful pictures out on the coffee table. If you gear these books towards their interests they will enjoy browsing through the pages.Smelling Help them plant their favorite flower outside their bedroom window. If they have told you stories about their mothers lilacs or roses purchase bunches of these to put throughout the house.What was their favorite holiday smell? You can bake sugar cookies or spice cake all year long.Purchase the cologne, lotion, or powder they used in their younger days. Help them apply it after their bath.Tasting Unless other health issues make it dangerous for them to consume sugar, let them have a supply of the candy they enjoyed as a child. Help them to prepare their favorite recipes. Going to a Farmer’s Market to choose fresh ingredients makes the experience even more enjoyable.Buy fresh fruit in season. Slice into pieces and serve with cheese cubes. Touching Again, what activities did your loved one enjoy as a youngster? A former gardener may enjoy the texture of dirt on their hands, a former sculptor may enjoy squishing clay between their fingers, a former hairdresser may enjoy styling the hair on a wig or hairstyling mannequin.Help them to massage their hands or feet with scented massage oils.In the wintertime play in the snow. In the summertime play in the sand.
Get a Copy of Our FREE Ebook!
Dementia Caregiving Priorities: Making Life Easier for the Dementia Patient and the Dementia Caregiver when you subscribe to our FREE e-zine!
|
