Ideas for activities or crafts for someone with dementia?

[SmileyClare]

I clean once a week for a charming 80 year-old lady. She has been in a wheelchair for years now but has now fairly advanced dementia. She is still living quite independently although her daughter comes in every evening to check on her, and help her.

I've agreed with her daughter to start spending Thursday afternoons with her; not to clean but just to give her some company and someone to talk to. We've always got on well.

However, just lately, I'm finding it difficult to hold a conversation. She's very confused, her attention span/ memory is too short to follow television or read a book and she can get very muddled and worried if I start conversations. I'm not experienced and feel a bit out of my depth but want to continue. Her face literally lights up when I go to see her!

I decided to try activities. We painted each other's nails which she seemed to enjoy, I tried bringing a jigsaw but that was a fail! (too difficult).
She used to be quite a successful artist (painter) so I wondered if craft activities might be fun?
Would it be patronising to bring a colouring in book and felt tips? I don't want to treat her like a child.

I'd love some ideas (crafts or otherwise) She has a lot of land and a garden which is wheelchair accessible. This lady still has a lot of life and sense of fun in her and I 'd love to have some things we could do together to engage her.

Any ideas welcome

You can get jigsaws especially for people with dementia, that don’t have many pieces but still have ‘grown up’ pictures, so that might be worth looking at. We’ve had lots of success with them for my step dad, as well as word searches (again, you can get some designed for people suffering from dementia). Does she have photo albums? She might enjoy showing you those.

Making jewellery together can be do-able (especially large bead necklaces).

Colouring in is good - you can do more "grown up" pictures and use proper pencils to make it less childish.

Depending on how she is doing, very simple card games can be ok. (Maybe not if she can't follow a short conversation).

Making greeting cards - especially if you use paper punchers to cut out shapes.

Listening to music together.

Those nice adult colouring books with fine liner pens. Can get themes she might like

Tegu - magnetic wooden building sets. We visited dh grandfather with dementia recently ( he’s in a care home), and has Ds travel set of tegu with us ( he’s 1 year). It was only the 6 piece travel set but fil spent ages with toddler with it.

Could you do some planting with her for garden? Right now maybe a hanging basket with autum/ winter plants in. Can be done indoors.

Baking? you take pre bought cupcakes and she can decorate with icing/ sprinkles/ edible paper flowers/ chocolate shapes etc. could take pre bought gingerbread men or shortbread to decorate the same

Take for walk with wheelchair locally or in garden.

Thank you. I've just been looking online at those jigsaws, they look great.

Word searches are also a good shout. Not sure why I didn't think of those. We have looked through a couple of photo albums. Neither of us know who anyone is really, although we can both pick out her daughter

I remember reading an article about a care home that got dolls for the residents to look after, apparently was very calming for them.

www.dementiauk.org/get-support/complementary-approaches/doll-therapy/#things-to-consider

Colouring in or painting would be totally appropriate. You can get simple colouring books for people with dementia with non childish shapes (but not as complex as regular adult colouring).
If she liked plants, she might enjoy potting up some bulbs. Also, try sending off for a bulb/seed catalogue and then you could do the talking about all the things in it (ie, you chat about 'oh, I love these miniature daffodils but are they suitable for my garden, you know its very dark, what does it say, hmmm, maybe these would be better' and she can add to it as she wants).
If you can knit and she has done it previously, she might enjoy doing it even if it is full of holes - or might find it frustrating. Just winding up balls of wool can be therapeutic though.
She might get pleasure/stimulation from just watching you do things, so take her out in the garden and you do a little light weeding under her direction, or you knit/embroider/sew and theres a lot that can be said around that

Fil also still likes tea and cake in the afternoon in proper teapot, and his favourite cup and saucer. He was rather annoyed when admitted to hospital a few days and they gave him a plastic ‘baby beaker ‘

Wow loads more ideas. These are all great, thank you.

I think some will probably be trial and error but I'm going to try some, I think especially the crafts appealing to her arty side.
I'm finding it tricky to judge what will appeal. I didn't think of building sets, funnily enough she loved helping me fold all the tea towels and towels last week so maybe some sort of "sorting and organising" puzzle would go down well.

Does she have any items that could be in a memory box (daughter would need to sort that)
Old photos are good to look at if they trigger happy memories. Objects can too eg trophies, ornaments
Music/singing with songs from her youth
Going out for wheelchair walks…lots of sensory input there, orientation to time/place/seasons
Maybe dominos
There are some good colouring books, pencils give a better result I feel.

My mum has dementia and when she still was able to do stuff she loved colouring (adult colouring books) and painting
Jigsaws were tricky because she could only do very simple ones but objected to doing kids ones unless she was doing it with the grandkids.
Singing has always gone down well, show tunes, the Beatles, etc
Reading short poems worked but anything else was too long for her attention span.
Looking at photo albums, nature photos, plants in the garden.
Now she 'helps' make simple cupcakes in the care home - like the kids her favourite bit is licking the spoon.

Thanks these are very helpful. This has given me the confidence to try lots more activities rather than just sitting with her having a cup of tea.

I think if I offer a couple of choices, it won't be too awkward if one of them isn't well received!

The really important thing to remember is that everyone with dementia is different, and will have different issues. So don't be downhearted if she hates something that you've been recommended - my mum was really distressed by old photos as she knew she should know, but her visual processing was gone so she couldn't 'see' what was there. Equally, I tried a doll and she threw it at me. But she got hours of pleasure out of a toddler 'press the picture for music' book about the Nutcracker, and her favourite thing in the world was her cat toy.

Yes I'll bear in my mind that some activities might flop.

I lost some confidence when the jigsaw I brought went so badly. It actually made her a bit upset and frustrated so the opposite of what I was trying to achieve.
I'm trying not to take anything personally.

I appreciate the benefit of your experience.

I've dug out a set of wooden dominoes with numbers and painted animals on my dc used to play with so will try a quick game with those. They don't look too "babyish" I don't think.

I'm also going to look in the shops for a couple of "grown up" colouring books and pens/pencils. I'm really hoping they appeal as I quite fancy the idea of sitting colouring in..sounds very therapeutic.

I think I'll gradually suggest one simple activity each week; baking, potting plants, threading beads etc and we'll hopefully settle on some favourites.

I must admit I feel a bit nervous about pulling a doll out of my bag for her! I think I'll ask her daughter what she thinks about that idea.

Thank you for your inspiring suggestions. I'm feeling quite optimistic that we can enjoy our afternoons together.

My Mum enjoyed sorting things, she liked folding laundry (I sometimes gave her a pile of tea towels or pillowcases to fold for me) sorting buttons from the spare button tin, big/small, colours, shiny/coloured - tailor to what she can understand.
Preparing a simple meal - chopping salad for example.
Reading gets harder for some people. Maybe listen to the radio or ask if she'd like to listen to an audiobook.
Making cards is a nice one, we got some of the more grown up themed colouring books and she liked those.

Listening to music from her era might be lovely for her - may also stimulate memories and possibly a sing-a-long.

I used to work in a dementia care home. If she is able to talk about the past we used to do reminiscence sessions, use pictures of old items such as washer dryer, milkman's van, old local landmarks and ask her about how she did things when she was younger or if she visited these places. We found many people were able to talk easily about things from childhood etc.
Crossword or basic quiz was also good for some, we would read the clue and maybe suggest a starting letter.
Photo albums, baking or cake decorating, adult coloring books (could also use paints)

Thanks for these pointers. I know she has an amazing big sewing basket upstairs which opens up into different compartments. It looks like it hasn't been used for a long time. I'm sure we could have a look through that and she might enjoy sorting through the buttons and organising the coloured cotton reels. Good idea.

Interesting about the reminiscing sessions and listening to old music. I'm not sure the poor woman would enjoy my singing though!

I was hesitant about the colouring books because she was such a great artist. I look at some of the paintings she's done in her house in awe and then think it's a bit insulting to suggest colouring in

I'm probably over thinking this though and should just try something she might really enjoy.

I sympathise with anyone trying to help parents with dementia. It's tough to see this clever, witty lady deteriorate. I'm very fond of her but It must be much worse if it's a parent.