What are some activities for an 84-year-old woman to keep her hands busy and mind active?

I thought about getting out her old boxes of pictures and having her go through them, sort them into different piles or categories and then having her put them into small individual albums. Then I could go back through and help her label/caption them. Figured it might be nice. She could sort out pics of her daughter, put them in an album and it would make a nice holiday gift for her to give to her daughter. Same for her grandkids, greatgrandkids, sisters, etc. I'm hoping that just looking at the pics alone would keep her busy for quite a while. Sounds like a good idea on the surface but something nagging in my gut tells me that I might be opening up a can of worms and I'm not sure why. Have any of you ever tried a project like this with the people you give care to?

giles167 yes I tried having my mom read the Food section of the paper daily to me until she flat out refused. Then I bought some puzzles and she never felt like doing them. I had an old rubiouxcube that I took over there which I thought would be wonderful for her hands and to keep the soreness away (arthritis) no way.

Now we just go out and garden. Mainly she instructs me on what she wants done. I have actually learned quite a lot from her about this and have started my very own at home.

The problem isn't they don't want to, they just don't feel like it. Their bodies are tired and their minds are heavy. My mom is 90 and use to be very pleasant to be around but this has all changed within a couple of months now.

She was always a great cook and loved to experiment so I would always call her and she'd help me with ideas on what and how to make different things. Lately she doesn't even like doing that with me anymore so I've stopped.

When we come in from gardening she says "now I'm tired, don't talk to me, just let me rest". That's usually the time when I tell her that I'm going home and if the "help" can break herself away from the T.V. in the Living room, she can come back in my moms room. Actually I don't even think my mom wants to be bothered with her anymore.

Thanks Pam. I was so looking forward to some nice spring weather so that I could get gram outside a little bit but it seems the weather went to blistery winter right into hot humid summer here. She likes the idea of going outside but usually isn't very happy to be out there once I spend the half hour getting her "ready" to go out and another 15 minutes to acually get her there. By the time we get outside and I sit her down...she's tired and almost ready to come in. Or it's to hot, or cold, or windy, or too sunny, or too cloudy.....I think she likes the IDEA of outside more than actually being out there. But then again, whereas I'm definitely and outdoorsy person, she always was more of an indoorsy kind of gal. LOL I think we'll keep trying it for awhile anyways to see if maybe she can "get used to" being outside.

I know there are lots of books out there with tons of activity ideas... just google Alzheimer Activities or Elderly Activities and you should find some good books on amazon. Good Luck !

Great idea, Diane! I never thought of that. I'll have to check it out. Thanks.

giles , i done same thing u did with ur mom about gettin them ready for outside . all that work f or nothing . pa s ready go back inside , uhhh or he says i gotta peeeee !
when pa was in rehab the ladies gave him a small box , it as filled with comb brush hair rollers , mirror . all kinds of lit stuff in there and he just browes on thru it , stared at it for while , i thought yeah i be starin at it too lookin for head lice ! why in the world they give that stuff to my pa , i have no clue .
keep his mind going i suppose ?
nothing interest my dad . tv and sleep and food . he loves to go bye bye , i cant get him in the van anymore. hes dead weigh and forgot how to get inside the van . my daughter and i done that the last time to get him inside the van , oh gosh next day we both felt like we been ran over by a semi truck . it was awful .
this comin monday he has dr s appt and am wondering how am i gonna get him in the van ? there is transportation but fact is i dont want to wait around for them to come back to pick us up .
when we leave the dr s office pa likes to go to wendys and get bowl of chilli , his fav and he likes go for a long drive amd listen to his fav cd s .
i guess i ll just have to figure something out . any ideas ?

lhardebeck, might want to try putting a chunk of a 2X6 board down on the ground beside the van. it breaks the one big step into the van into 2 smaller ones. It's a quick, easy, cheap fix and it's small enough to pitch into the van so that you can use it to get him back out of the van when you get to your destination. Worth a try anyways. :)

Two ideas I've heard of for elderly folks: rolling coins and hooking rugs.

oooooooooo. I've got an 85 lb tin of pennies that I could have her try to roll. Good idea. We'll give it a try anyways. Thanks.

I got my mom - age 89 - into scrap booking. It's something that she used to do years ago - those old albums with the black corners... so it was familiar. we copied old photos and she put one together for each grandchild explaining their heritage, who their grand parents & great grand parents were, what they did and how they lived. It was a good way to get a lot of family history on paper too. mom's short term memory is bad but her memory of these people and long past events is sharp. It made her feel good to do something that felt familiar and made her think of family.