Alzheimers Ideas

[mintawebb 0]

My name is Minta and I am in Texas BlueBell Country, I handle General Assisted Living and beginning stage dementia and alzheimers Assisted Living.

I have worked mostly with dementia and alzheimers for a little over five years, I have gone through some of the old forum topics for Alzheimers Activities and found good ideas that are slightly different than what we do, I diffinately will be adding some of the ideas to my calendar.

However I am in a rut so to speak and need some freshening up. My group is from just standing and not really seeing to weak and tired to busy bodies and I love them all. Finding something that they can all do at the same time other than music or walking in the garden is becoming progressively difficult we are so diverse.

I take all suggestions and support.

Minta

[Ella 0]

Minta: Could you give us some idea of what you have done? What activities have you tried, are tired of etc. so we don't post the same 'ol same 'ol stuff and maybe we can give you fresh ideas! Just a thought!

 

Ella

[mintawebb 0]

Minta: Could you give us some idea of what you have done? What activities have you tried, are tired of etc. so we don't post the same 'ol same 'ol stuff and maybe we can give you fresh ideas! Just a thought!

 

Ella

 

 

Ella,

Right now we are building popsicle stick bird houses which will house our nests and silk birds, busrides, walk abouts, gardening, garden adventures, kick ball, table ball, balloons, looking for light weight scarves, bowling, WII bowling, Sing alongs, video's music and babies, baking, painting, crafts, devotions, outside entertainment every Wednesday, girl scouts come and do things with the residents, reading, table games usually Cover Up(twelve squares one marked free and the others 2 thru 12 and large fuzzy dice, have to roll the number and place a marker on the card number) sometimes Bingo, dominoes, special holiday events, Joy Journal, callages(msp), discussion of pictures cut from magazines, special dog, mini horses, skits, teas, red hats, feed turtles at the complex water pond. When I look at this it seems very busy but it is repetious and I need some of that.

Minta

[Ella 0]

Minita: I work in Long Term Care so activities are a bit different than Assisted Living. My Residents range from limited assist-cognitively alert to totally dependent-severely impaired. Our activities include residents of all abilties and cognitive status'. Of course we start all activities with music and depending on the activity we choose the music accordingly, up-beat vs. soothing. Those residents that are unable to actively participate are still getting sensory stimulation from the music, conversations and people watching.

 

Some of our activities include:

1)card/board games - Uno, Yahtzee, Dominoes, etc. I have an activity called Table Games where I set up several different games at various tables. The more alert residents can choose their own game i.e. a game of rummy, while I help another table with a game of Uno, and my activity aide assists another table with a game of checkers and at the same table a game of dominoes. We also serve light snacks and drinks.

2)Manicures

3)Bingo, Card Bingo, Po-Ke-No

4)Any Social to get them outside - Ice Cream Social (made to order Ice Cream Sundaes), Root Beer Floats, Fruit Smoothies, Irish Sodas etc. all with up beat music and sometimes a game of ball toss or some other form of light exercise

5)Coupon Clippers - I keep the coupons from our Sunday paper and ask staff to bring in theirs - Resisents clip the coupons and we put them in a decorated tub organized by items (meats, dairy, cereal/breads, pet supplies etc) we then have this tub in our employee cafeteria for staff to pick from on their breaks. **If not sorted staff doesn't have time to look through them** While residents clip Activity staff sorts out expired coupons and places new ones in tub.

***On scheduled days when there are no coupons, we cut pictures out of old magazines to make "Sensory Stimulation" Picture Books. We cut out pictures, glue to plain paper and place in binders. We have made specific books for residents related to past interests (hunting/fishing, babies, cooking, etc)

6)We have many different trivia games, Penny Ante - (Take a Penny if you have ever... Give two pennies to everyone at the table who likes....)at the same time of doing this activity, we reminisce about the questions, at the end of the game top 3 residents with the most pennies (we use poker chips) gets a prize. Wheel of trivia - I laminated the alphabet (individual letters) and I use a poster board (covered with clear contact paper) to tape the letters to. I usually use this game with a theme (4th of July words) write blanks on the board for every letter in the word, have residents guess a letter (one resident at a time). As they guess a letter, remove it from the board so they know what has been used. If they guess a letter in the word write it in the space (using a wet erase marker (so you can reuse the board). The resident that guesses the word gets a prize. Race to the Finish Trivia - I use the same Board and draw a race track from the bottom of the board up across the top and back to the bottom on the other side. I have two small laminated cars. Split residents into two teams. Take turns going from one team to the next asking trivia questions. If team 1 gets the answer right they move up one space, if they do not, team 2 gets a chance to answer, if they get the answer right, they move up one space. You have to remember it is now team 2's turn because that was team 1's question! 1st team to the finish line gets a prize. I have a few other trivia games as well

7) Monthly Birthday Celebration - we do a version of a cake walk where the residents pass around laminated pieces of cake and when the music stops, the resident holding the number called gets a goodie bag,we do this for several goodie bags and then one larger goodie bag we assure goes to one of our monthly birthday residents, we also do a similar activity called pass the present where a present is passed around. The present is wrapped with several layers of wrapping paper, when the music stops the resident holding the present tries to unwrap it, when the music starts they have to continue to pass the present, the resident that gets the present unwrapped gets what it inside. All birhtday parties include cake and ice cream.

8)We do a wide variety of outings depending on what month it is and we do the standard activities that everyone does, exercise in many forms, religion, coffee socials, and special events that includes families.

 

Wheew!!!! I hope a little bit of this helps and if you have any questions please ask!

Ella

[lvalcoure 0]

I do alot of the same activities, some favoites of my residents are: tea Parties (I cover the tables with pretty table clothes and decorate with flowers, miniture tea sets or some other items that are pretty and we have speciality teas and cookies, cake or some other treat not used normally in their meals).They like the card game: Skipbo and pitch. When the weather is nice we have gone to the city park for a picnic. We had a sampler fest where people brought in different animals, food, music and projects from the 4-H groups and old cars and even had a horse and buggy rides which our firemen helped the residents up on the wagon. We also hold a back to school party every year which includes hotdogs and chips, music by a local dj, carnival games, big slides, and prizes. We have even put up some small swimming pools for the kids to play in. Lisa

[jrsarandreajr 0]

My name is Minta and I am in Texas BlueBell Country, I handle General Assisted Living and beginning stage dementia and alzheimers Assisted Living.

I have worked mostly with dementia and alzheimers for a little over five years, I have gone through some of the old forum topics for Alzheimers Activities and found good ideas that are slightly different than what we do, I diffinately will be adding some of the ideas to my calendar.

However I am in a rut so to speak and need some freshening up. My group is from just standing and not really seeing to weak and tired to busy bodies and I love them all. Finding something that they can all do at the same time other than music or walking in the garden is becoming progressively difficult we are so diverse.

I take all suggestions and support.

Minta

 

The absolute best thing I can offer, and it might sound so simple and silly, is to blow up a balloon (sometimes a larger punching type balloon is better due to size) and hang it from a string down from the ceiling in an activity room or day room. Whether you choose to sit the residents in a circle around it or simply leave it hanging for them to play with at their own leisure, trust me, you will be amazed at who actually participates. I have residents at my facility who barely move their hands or feet for anything but they will sit for many times over an hour and hit the balloon back and forth. If the balloon is hanging low enough they will even try to use their feet to kick it. It truly is amazing what you'll find. Residents of all different abilities will be able to play andyou'll even catch some smiling that normally do not on regular occasion. Try it.

 

Thanks,

 

Joe

[danisylvestre 0]

I work on a alzheimers unit and i have all stages. we do a fitness and fun exercise to "Light and Lively" cd. As diverse as they are they all love it. I also have an outsider come in from a college who teaches arts RISD (Ri school of design) and she teaches them to paint so beautiful and its so easy. My residents love competition so i do pictionary and other games and divide the teams women and men. see if that helps good luck . Danielle S.

[mintawebb 0]

I work on a alzheimers unit and i have all stages. we do a fitness and fun exercise to "Light and Lively" cd. As diverse as they are they all love it. I also have an outsider come in from a college who teaches arts RISD (Ri school of design) and she teaches them to paint so beautiful and its so easy. My residents love competition so i do pictionary and other games and divide the teams women and men. see if that helps good luck . Danielle S.

Danielle, thank:blink: you so much for taking the time to respond, I will check into the idea of a school of design. Minta

[mintawebb 0]

The absolute best thing I can offer, and it might sound so simple and silly, is to blow up a balloon (sometimes a larger punching type balloon is better due to size) and hang it from a string down from the ceiling in an activity room or day room. Whether you choose to sit the residents in a circle around it or simply leave it hanging for them to play with at their own leisure, trust me, you will be amazed at who actually participates. I have residents at my facility who barely move their hands or feet for anything but they will sit for many times over an hour and hit the balloon back and forth. If the balloon is hanging low enough they will even try to use their feet to kick it. It truly is amazing what you'll find. Residents of all different abilities will be able to play andyou'll even catch some smiling that normally do not on regular occasion. Try it.

 

Thanks,

 

Joe

 

Joe this sounds like this would be so much fun thank you, Minta

[mintawebb 0]

I do alot of the same activities, some favoites of my residents are: tea Parties (I cover the tables with pretty table clothes and decorate with flowers, miniture tea sets or some other items that are pretty and we have speciality teas and cookies, cake or some other treat not used normally in their meals).They like the card game: Skipbo and pitch. When the weather is nice we have gone to the city park for a picnic. We had a sampler fest where people brought in different animals, food, music and projects from the 4-H groups and old cars and even had a horse and buggy rides which our firemen helped the residents up on the wagon. We also hold a back to school party every year which includes hotdogs and chips, music by a local dj, carnival games, big slides, and prizes. We have even put up some small swimming pools for the kids to play in. Lisa

 

I replied via email but I want to be sure you know I appreciate your response. Minta

[mintawebb 0]

Minita: I work in Long Term Care so activities are a bit different than Assisted Living. My Residents range from limited assist-cognitively alert to totally dependent-severely impaired. Our activities include residents of all abilties and cognitive status'. Of course we start all activities with music and depending on the activity we choose the music accordingly, up-beat vs. soothing. Those residents that are unable to actively participate are still getting sensory stimulation from the music, conversations and people watching.

 

Some of our activities include:

1)card/board games - Uno, Yahtzee, Dominoes, etc. I have an activity called Table Games where I set up several different games at various tables. The more alert residents can choose their own game i.e. a game of rummy, while I help another table with a game of Uno, and my activity aide assists another table with a game of checkers and at the same table a game of dominoes. We also serve light snacks and drinks.

2)Manicures

3)Bingo, Card Bingo, Po-Ke-No

4)Any Social to get them outside - Ice Cream Social (made to order Ice Cream Sundaes), Root Beer Floats, Fruit Smoothies, Irish Sodas etc. all with up beat music and sometimes a game of ball toss or some other form of light exercise

5)Coupon Clippers - I keep the coupons from our Sunday paper and ask staff to bring in theirs - Resisents clip the coupons and we put them in a decorated tub organized by items (meats, dairy, cereal/breads, pet supplies etc) we then have this tub in our employee cafeteria for staff to pick from on their breaks. **If not sorted staff doesn't have time to look through them** While residents clip Activity staff sorts out expired coupons and places new ones in tub.

***On scheduled days when there are no coupons, we cut pictures out of old magazines to make "Sensory Stimulation" Picture Books. We cut out pictures, glue to plain paper and place in binders. We have made specific books for residents related to past interests (hunting/fishing, babies, cooking, etc)

6)We have many different trivia games, Penny Ante - (Take a Penny if you have ever... Give two pennies to everyone at the table who likes....)at the same time of doing this activity, we reminisce about the questions, at the end of the game top 3 residents with the most pennies (we use poker chips) gets a prize. Wheel of trivia - I laminated the alphabet (individual letters) and I use a poster board (covered with clear contact paper) to tape the letters to. I usually use this game with a theme (4th of July words) write blanks on the board for every letter in the word, have residents guess a letter (one resident at a time). As they guess a letter, remove it from the board so they know what has been used. If they guess a letter in the word write it in the space (using a wet erase marker (so you can reuse the board). The resident that guesses the word gets a prize. Race to the Finish Trivia - I use the same Board and draw a race track from the bottom of the board up across the top and back to the bottom on the other side. I have two small laminated cars. Split residents into two teams. Take turns going from one team to the next asking trivia questions. If team 1 gets the answer right they move up one space, if they do not, team 2 gets a chance to answer, if they get the answer right, they move up one space. You have to remember it is now team 2's turn because that was team 1's question! 1st team to the finish line gets a prize. I have a few other trivia games as well

7) Monthly Birthday Celebration - we do a version of a cake walk where the residents pass around laminated pieces of cake and when the music stops, the resident holding the number called gets a goodie bag,we do this for several goodie bags and then one larger goodie bag we assure goes to one of our monthly birthday residents, we also do a similar activity called pass the present where a present is passed around. The present is wrapped with several layers of wrapping paper, when the music stops the resident holding the present tries to unwrap it, when the music starts they have to continue to pass the present, the resident that gets the present unwrapped gets what it inside. All birhtday parties include cake and ice cream.

8)We do a wide variety of outings depending on what month it is and we do the standard activities that everyone does, exercise in many forms, religion, coffee socials, and special events that includes families.

 

Wheew!!!! I hope a little bit of this helps and if you have any questions please ask!

Ella

 

Ella, I know I replied once but again I want you to know I appreciate your time to respond as I do everyones, Thankyou Minta

[Anne24 0]

My name is Minta and I am in Texas BlueBell Country, I handle General Assisted Living and beginning stage dementia and alzheimers Assisted Living.

I have worked mostly with dementia and alzheimers for a little over five years, I have gone through some of the old forum topics for Alzheimers Activities and found good ideas that are slightly different than what we do, I diffinately will be adding some of the ideas to my calendar.

However I am in a rut so to speak and need some freshening up. My group is from just standing and not really seeing to weak and tired to busy bodies and I love them all. Finding something that they can all do at the same time other than music or walking in the garden is becoming progressively difficult we are so diverse.

I take all suggestions and support.

Minta

 

 

Hi Minta:

My name is Anne and we also have some residents who have Alzheimers .I like to think that I can start fresh with these types of residents as they forget so easily.So everyday is a new day for them.I start with a smile close up so I can start their day off by having them telling me thier name.Then we progress as the day goes by.It might only be one thing they accomplish but that's okay with me.No matter how small and trivial it may seem.

[pmk0224 0]

My name is Minta and I am in Texas BlueBell Country, I handle General Assisted Living and beginning stage dementia and alzheimers Assisted Living.

I have worked mostly with dementia and alzheimers for a little over five years, I have gone through some of the old forum topics for Alzheimers Activities and found good ideas that are slightly different than what we do, I diffinately will be adding some of the ideas to my calendar.

However I am in a rut so to speak and need some freshening up. My group is from just standing and not really seeing to weak and tired to busy bodies and I love them all. Finding something that they can all do at the same time other than music or walking in the garden is becoming progressively difficult we are so diverse.

I take all suggestions and support.

Minta

 

Minta,

You have gotten a lot of good ideas from people. We also like to do spa days (music, lavendar scents, hand lotions...) and to be more stimulating we have done water pistols out doors.

In crafts we do a fair number of recylce crafts that they can give to family.

The most fun lately is we have been doing our versions of some of the Game Shows, "Wheel of Fortune"," Price is right", Let's make a deal".....

Hope this helps

[lynderanne 0]

Dear Minta and Friends,

 

Does your group enjoy games? I know of some games that are fun and easy to learn -- and you can play them anywhere. You won't even need a table or pens! I've found that they are perfect for people who are in the early or middle stages of Alzheimer's Disease. And the instructions have tips for making the games easier or harder, so they are very adaptable.

 

Anyway, they're called Senior Sez games, and they have 3 different ones: a trivia game (with just two answers to each question), a categories game, and a game where the players try to guess popular sayings. They're a lot of fun. We recently ordered extra questions for our trivia game.

 

If you want to buy these games, you can order them from the Alzheimer's Store (www.alzstore.com) or get them directly from the Senior Sez Games company: www.seniorsez.com - Phone: 609-332-0168.

 

If you try them, let us know how they worked out for your group!

 

Best,

 

Nina

[MrsC 0]

I have found some of my residents favorite activities are music hour. I youtube their old music and we play along with drums, bells, tamborines, and other sorts of things to shake and make noise. I have found most them to be the most responsive to music from the 20's-40's. For a lot of them that is the music of their childhood and it brings back a lot of memories! After music we talk about things that happened to them during those times. I have found even severely impaired residents will sing along and smile.

 

Also the Koosh ball is always a hit. I got it at a kid's isle of the store. I have a large one. Everyone loves the wiggly hair on it. They even name and call it Mr. Wiggles!

[dwhite 0]

Our residents LOVE parachute games. I play music (somebody different gets to choose type each time) . Everyone sits in a circle (close together if possible) and we throw 3 soft balls into the center. The object is to keep moving the parachute and keep the balls on top.

Sing-a-longs are always appreciated. You can get Sing-A-Longs with Eldersongs with all sorts of music. Some people love to be read to. Ask their families who their favorite authors were before.

[dtown 0]

Minta

I understand your concerns in regards to needing something fresh. I think we all feel that way from time to time, but we must remember that structure is very important for our dementia residents. I often use the same basic format for many activity games, but change them up to make them seasonal.For instance, a bean bag toss game can be changed from to an apple toss in September and a snowball toss in January. For the first, use plastic apples and gathering baskets for the "nets" and the second, styrofoam balls and an icy looking bucket. We change the bingo themes also, such as Reminiscing bingo. I created bingo cards comprised of yes's and no's, instead of numbers. Then we ask questions such as are found in the game Penne Ante. For each answer they then place a chip on the "yes" or "no". % in a row wins just like in regular bingo! This not only allows them to win regular bingo prizes but also provides an opportunity for reminiscing and discussion amongst the residents. Changing everything up with seasonal themes also provides reality orientation. Another game we created that works really well with ALL of my residents, (I cover 2 buildings and create 2 separate programs each month: assisted living and skilled care) is a color wheel. Create an old spinning color wheel like you would find at an old time carnival. Create playing boards with a color block to match each color on the wheel. Residents are each given a chip and at the beginning of each play they put their chip on the color they think it will stop on. Spin the wheel and the residents who chose the correct color get another chip. This game moves quickly, so I do not give a prize for each game. At the end of the playing time, I award a prize for every 5 chips earned. And of course a booby prize for anyone who did not have very good luck. Again, this game can be modified. You could use math equations, trivia, etc. Be creative and have fun! Your own enthusiasm will encourage your residents and staff! Hope this helps!

[LaurenAD 1]

Create an old spinning color wheel like you would find at an old time carnival. Create playing boards with a color block to match each color on the wheel. Residents are each given a chip and at the beginning of each play they put their chip on the color they think it will stop on. Spin the wheel and the residents who chose the correct color get another chip. This game moves quickly, so I do not give a prize for each game. At the end of the playing time, I award a prize for every 5 chips earned. And of course a booby prize for anyone who did not have very good luck. Again, this game can be modified. You could use math equations, trivia, etc. Be creative and have fun! Your own enthusiasm will encourage your residents and staff! Hope this helps!

 

I really like this idea and think it can work in my facility. Any tips on constructing the wheel? I am about the least handy person, and even if I was, we don't have the tools to make one from my research online of plans for them.