Alzheimer’s dementia is a neurodegenerative disease that causes deterioration of cognitive functions and loss of autonomy in patients who suffer from it. This loss of autonomy will require increased care as the disease progresses.
In this aspect, the figure of the caregiver is crucial, the person who will be in charge of providing support and meeting the needs required by the person with Alzheimer’s.
If you are a caregiver, spend a lot of time with people with Alzheimer’s or are simply curious to know what type of activities can be carried out with these patients, continue reading this Psychology-Online article in which we propose 21 activities for people with Alzheimer’s: exercises, games and crafts.
Alzheimer’s Dementia
It must be taken into account that to diagnose a “Major Neurocognitive Disorder” (a name that appears in the DSM-5 diagnostic classification of the American Psychiatric Association; and ICD-11 of the World Health Organization) there must be a deterioration in cognitive function (in one or more areas) and that this deterioration negatively influences the patient’s autonomy.
In the case of one of the affected areas, it must necessarily be memory and learning. However, this disease follows a progressive pattern of deterioration. Therefore, all functions will end up deteriorating and the person will lose autonomy and increase their dependence on the caregiver.
For all these reasons, when carrying out activities with these patients, We must always take into account the phase of deterioration in which they are found. and adapt or modify the activities to be carried out. Below, we suggest exercises, games and crafts for Alzheimer’s patients.
Listen music and sing
Both listening to music and singing is an activity that is not only fun, but also provokes positive emotions for the person with Alzheimer’s. In musical activities for people with Alzheimer’s, it is recommended to use songs associated with pleasant stages of their life. For this reason, music is one of the most used resources in people with Alzheimer’s.
Identify sounds
You can help yourself with a device where you can search and play audio. The variety of sounds can be enormous. Try, for example, sounds of:
- Animals: Play the moo of a cow and ask it what animal it is. If you have difficulties, give them a choice between two options: “Is this a cow or a rooster?”
- Musical instruments: Is this one or this other more serious? Which one do you like better? Do you think it’s a big instrument or a small instrument?…
- Voices: Is it the voice of an adult or a boy or girl?
See old photographs
The photographs evoke. You can review personal photographs or photographs of places that have relevant meaning. Ask them about the moment of the photo, the way they dress, the activities they may be carrying out, the places that appear in them or other details that deserve to be mentioned.
Watch videos
You can search for videos on the Internet that are relevant to them. For example, videos related to customs and festivals of their town or about the profession they have always carried out.
You can also view old movies and ask her about the actresses and actors who appear in it.
Making a family tree
You can make a family tree in a mural as a craft. Use photos, if possible, and ask about each of them: who they are and what relationship they have or have had. This activity will also promote personal orientation and is one of the best crafts for Alzheimer’s patients.
Remembrance of significant dates
Ask him what he was doing on a specific date that he experienced and how he lived it. This type of memory deteriorates in very early stages of the disease, so it would not be an activity indicated in very advanced stages of Alzheimer’s.
Calendar and spatial and temporal orientation
Let’s look at some orientation activities for people with Alzheimer’s:
- Buy a calendar that is simple and whose letters and numbers are large enough. If you can’t find one, you can take the opportunity to build a homemade calendar as a craft.
- Review it together and cross out each day that passesindicating the season we are in, the day, month and year.
- Take the opportunity to also review the Spatial Orientation: where you are (including address), in what location and in what country.
Activities to work on temporal orientation
Take advantage of the important moments of the annual calendar to help the person with Alzheimer’s to orient themselves temporarily: for example, carry out christmas Christmas, write a letter to those closest to you for their birthday or make a mural with flowers for spring or with dry leaves in autumn.
Planning activities
One of the most fun activities for people with Alzheimer’s is prepare a recipe. You can ask the person to tell you what steps they have to follow to carry out the recipe. To work on planning activities, you can also use other tasks that require following successive steps such as getting dressed.
Ideas to adapt this activity to people in different phases of Alzheimer’s:
- If it already has some deterioration, but can read, write on several pieces of paper the steps to follow and let me order them. For example: “light the fire”, “let the rice rest”, “put the water to boil”, “put the rice in”…
- If it is difficult for him to perform the activity, reduce the number of steps that you are going to present to him.
- If he can’t read, give him a choice between two options and help him order the sequence. For example: To get dressed, do I tie my shoes first or put them on first?
Make the shopping list
The shopping list is a very complete task that involves several cognitive processes, making it an activity indicated for the cognitive stimulation of people with Alzheimer’s.
you can catch a supermarket catalog (or another store whose products attract the attention of the person with Alzheimer’s) and work with them. For example:
- Suggest that I find certain items and tell you the value: for example, look in the catalog how much a jug of water costs. This is how selective attention will work.
- If the level of deterioration allows it, give him a shopping list and ask him to calculate the price. This is how the calculation will work.
- In mild cases, you can ask you to compare two pricesFor example: what is worth more, a jug of water or a bottle of oil?
Housework
To the extent that impairment allows, the person with Alzheimer’s can help his or her caregiver perform tasks such as cleaning or cooking. We will have to supervise the task and, as the disease progresses and autonomy decreases, we can limit these tasks to simpler tasks.
Note that Orders should be short, clear and simple.
Classification tasks
Another activity for people with Alzheimer’s is classification tasks. Ask him to classify objects according to their color, size, or some other characteristic. For example: “separate my white clothes from my colored clothes” or “group my pens by color.” They are practical cognitive stimulation exercises.
Pencil and paper tasks
Although the possibilities here are very great, among the pencil and paper tasks we can put, for example, calculation accounts or calligraphy exercises. They can also be word searches or other entertainment and mental games for older people. You can buy notebooks or print activity sheets for people with Alzheimer’s.
Comprehensive reading
Reading is one of the cognitive activities for people with Alzheimer’s. If the person is able to read and sees well, you can offer short and simple stories in written form (including a one-paragraph description). If you cannot see well or are not able to read, you can read it yourself. Watch the prosody (the tone with which you read it). Emphasize what is important and try to keep their attention. Avoid a flat tone when reading.
Then ask him about the story. If it is complicated, ask simple yes/no questions or give them a choice between two options. For example: “Was the girl blonde or was she brunette?”, instead of asking “what color was the girl’s hair?”
After a while, you can take advantage of the opportunity and work. For example, after twenty minutes you can ask her again: “Do you remember the story I read to you a while ago? Do you remember if the girl was blonde or brunette?…
Color
You can help yourself drawings that have to do with the time of year in which we are, drawings that have significant value for the person with Alzheimer’s or you can even get books of “mandalas”. This activity will depend on people’s tastes, but there are people who love and find it relaxing to paint drawings.
Puzzles
Puzzles are one of the board games most used by people with Alzheimer’s. In the market we can find a wide variety of puzzles in terms of difficulty and theme. Therefore, we can choose them based on the deterioration and the theme, trying to make this the most attractive. Keep in mind that there are companies that make personalized puzzles with our own photographs, which can be a very good idea. Building puzzles is another cognitive activity for people with Alzheimer’s.
Deck of cards
The deck of cards offers us many options for carrying out activities with people with Alzheimer’s. Some examples may be:
- Ask him to sort the cards depending on some of its characteristics such as figures/non-figures, by suits or according to number.
- You can ask me to sort cards according to their number.
- In milder phases, you can even play some of the games most typical of the deck.
I see I see
“I spy” is one of the best games for people with Alzheimer’s, an activity in which you choose (without saying it) an object from the place where you are and offer clues (which are characteristics of that object) until the other person finds it. guess.
In this game the semantic memoryso it is an activity recommended for mild phases of the disease.
Sayings
Can tell him the first part of the saying for you to complete it. In addition, you can analyze together what moral each of the proverbs has. It is a simple cognitive stimulation activity for people with Alzheimer’s that can be done anywhere and does not require material.
Ball
You can use a ball to do exercises and work on psychomotor skills. Get a small, soft ball. You can, for example, ask them to throw it in the air and catch it again, pass it with them, ask them to hold it with one hand and squeeze it, or you can even take a cube, put it near them and ask them to make a basket.
Of course this activity will depend on the physical limitations of each person.