This is a great list of ideas to try with a loved one with dementia. Another way to connect and to enjoy an activity together is to look at photographs and reminisce about the past.

What kind of volunteering my elderly father could do if he has Aphasia?

I'm a 'social activities co-ordinator' at a local nursing home and my job is the best job in the world!!! 'My' residents all have dementia to varying degrees and to do something with them all together can be a bit of a challenge. ~We play skittles from wheelchairs, with familiar music on and a film in the background as well, have a dance on a Sunday morning - again, with most of them from wheelchairs ( some take to the floor) and even the most afflicted have a great time - excersise music fun and singing- all in one package. It's wonderful to see them laugh sing and smile even for that hour before they 'go back inside ' again. Thanks for these articles - some great tips, and I'll keep in reading in the hopes of learning more about how to get through. I so love my job

I bought appropriate puzzles at the thrift stores. Some are brand new looking and some have never been opened.

Wendylou, suggestions of things to do are just that, suggestions. None of them work for everyone. For some people nothing seems to work. Some people who used to do 1500 piece jig saws are content to do 300 pieces. Others who can no longer do the 1500 pieces are insulted by lesser puzzles and won't do them. My mother still does crosswords, but at a much easier level than she used to. All you can do is try a scaled-down version of an old passtime, but not insist.

I think that senior centers and day care places can be beneficial even if the senior doesn't actively socialize. It is good to have another adult compliment a new shirt or just be polite and attentive.

All you can do is try, Wendylou. There are no guarantees for success. :(

What about if they no longer want to do the hobbies they use to like doing? And they don't like to socialize with others at Senior places? And there is not insisting with her (my mother).Sincerely Wendylou

Dollar Stores & Thrift Stores have childrens books and 35 piece puzzles along with other items for activities to check out, and not expensive if any of it gets ruined. Hope this helps.

I am very frustrated because my father in law won't participate in any activity at all. He will only watch tv, eat, and go along in the car with us. None of the articles Ive read talk about this. He seems perfectly normal, but then has absolutely no interest in any thing and sits in a chair all day, unless I do things with him, like take out the trash or clean something. He doesnt want to do a word circle or puzzles or read a book-- no hobbies, nothing. It is very frustrating and he says he is bored!

I have to admit it's been very challenging to come up with pleasurable, meaningful activities, but the things that have worked are feeding the birds at the local pond. We also sit outside mom's condo, enjoying the sunshine, talking to neighbors that walk by. Sometimes I do mom's nails while we're sitting outside. I also got a basket and put in lots of letters (I call it the basket of love), cards she has received over the years and we sit and I read them to her. This does wonders for her self-esteem and helps her to be aware of how others love her. One of the best things is that I just sit on the arm of her lazy boy chair where she is sitting and we watch TV together with her dog on her lap. I often put my arm around her and just kiss her occasionally on top of her head. We used to play scrabble, but she isn't able to do that any longer. So I adjusted things and I put all the scrabble letters on the table and we just try to put words together 'til the letters are all gone. This seems to help her brain and it IS fun, challenging. Lately I have had her join me in grocery shopping for just a few items and I put a small basket in her lap and put a few things we need in the basket. This helps her to feel part of the process. I also take her to a writers group and read portions of the one major story she wrote probably 20 years ago. She gets attention and feedback....does wonders for her. Recently I took her to the library and we looked up some of her ancestors on website: Ancestry and found all kinds of stuff. Amazing. I took all of the family photos and made up about a dozen specific types of photo albums.....one of the grandkids, one family album, one of family travels, one of her bestest of friends that passed away, one just of her dad, about 4 albums just of her travels. This has helped tremendously when the grandkids, or others stop by or even when I can get a caregiver to assist. At least it's something for them to look at and talk about. I then found some bingo cards at a rummage sale and wrote the card numbers on sheets of paper and put the papers in a small container to pull from and then use pennies to use as markers on the cards. Occasionally I have her assist me in making dinner by chopping up veggies or setting the table. Mom has macular degeneration, so I read the newspaper to her or simple childrens stories. I was able to find a darling children talking book at the library and she enjoyed that. Mom is 95 yrs. old. So, I share this with you all and hope you all can be inspired from some of this. It definitely is challenging. Chris

Jeannegibbs,

I realize that there will come a time that we will have to slow down or stop but for now we are going full steam ahead.

In regards to our pick up truck, we own an F250 4 Door Full Size with an 8 foot bed, so it is long and big.

We bought a package of the metal ramp making kit from a local tractor supply. We bought one board that was a 2 x 10 or 2 x 12. My husband cut 2 - 3 foot boards to the metal ramp kits.

Now this is where we get really unique, but lots of compliments when we travel. My mom had some milk crates around her home. We picked 2 heavy duty plastic ones to be the one she stands on. Then we use 2 other plastic ones to put the ramps on. So we set up a base of 4 milk crates, then the ramps are on the edge.

My husband will push mom up to the truck using this equipment, I am at the top to assist mom getting into the truck. I do keep one foot on top of the front milk crates to steady her.

Please understand my mom broke her leg over a year and half ago, it is not going to heal. This is where my caregiving began, but she has gone downhill from there. So because of her leg, we have to help her get into the truck.

If your parent is more mobile than mine, then you do not need two people to load your parent or spouse, but because of my mom's leg we use both of us as to prevent her from falling.

To get mom out of the truck, we use one of the heavy duty milk crates, I put my toe through one of the handle holes to hold it stay and firm. I place the wheelchair against the truck, close to the milk crate with the breaks on. I line mom's legs onto the milk crate. Then she holds onto the door, I wrap my arm inside of hers and hold onto her clothes on the back. Mom turns and sits while I hold her and have my knee pushing the wheelchair into the truck.

We can do a one person unload, but prefer 2 when loading. Like I said we are not only working with Alzheimers but a permanently broken leg.

We park to where we can set up our ramps to load her. I can't tell you how many people we encounter at gas stations, rest areas, RV parks, churches and everywhere that compliment on our solution.

Now this is what works for us, it may not work for everyone. It was cheap, effective and works real well. We have been doing this process now since we bought the truck last June.

As I told a company one day when they were giving me a hard time when I asked for something. I told them it didn't matter whether they did it or not, we would find a solution and make it work to ensure my mom has a good time.

Sorry, I don't mean to sound harsh, but I can only speak for myself I am a fighter and I will look for a way to make something work if it means her having a good time. A friend of mine tells me if I was a dog I would be a pit bull because I bite onto something you would have to shoot me to let go. :-)

I promised my mom she wouldn't have to go to a nursing home, so I am fighting to make that happen. I record all of our fun and adventures in stories and pictures that I hope to be able to share with family members in the future. I figured my mom did these things for me when I was growing up so this is the best I can do for her. We have our rough moment, but we have far more fun with the adventures.

If you need a picture of our set up, please let me know. I will be happy to share techniques we use.

dkjellander, good for you! I agree that what you are doing is absolutely excellent for all of you. The time may come when this just won't be possible or you will have to scale it back significantly, but untill that time, full-steam ahead!

Each situation is different, and going on outings may be extremely challenging in some situations, especially with other impairments in addition to dementia.

I think many people would like more detail on how you load Mom in and out of your truck.

My mom is 86 soon to be 87 and just recently diagnosis with Alzheimers. We are past the mild stage, but mom loves to travel and see things so we take her on trips and are planning some family trips as well.

We do not let her diagnosis or the permanent broken leg she has stop us from keeping her busy and showing her a good time. My husband and I have gotten very creative in how we get her in and out of our 5th wheel without costing us a dime. We spent $30 on items to load her in and out of our truck.

We have plans to take her on a cruise in May. We just get very creative and think outside the box. When we told the doctor that she did better when we were traveling and busy, he told us we should start planning trips. This is just what we did.

We are fortunate we can access telecommuting jobs to make our living still. We do not go out do things every day, but we are doing things every other day. We stay in one day, where mom is crocheting and when she finishes her current project, we are going to make a quilt. Mom likes to crochet, so I am having her crochet some baby afghans for future great grandchildren. After she is gone, if someone has a baby, they can still get the afghan that great grandma has made. She is just crocheting in a variety of colors. This is our little secret, I will be the keeper of them and give them out at the births.

On days we site see, we just drive and look at areas, we might go shopping. My mom loves to shop and look around. We might buy something and we might not, but she loves to ride and look at the landscape.

So this is what we do to keep her busy, so far it is working. We do not plan to stop on doing anything at this time. We plan on making whatever days she has left the best that they can be regardless of the diagnosis.

My mother lived with me for 18 years, the last 6 of which her dementia has continually declined and I just put her in a small private home this week. For a long time she did a lot of large print word searches which you can get in almost any bookstore or online. At first she did them easily and about a year ago, she would circle all sorts of letters that didn't make words but that's ok. I ran a therapeutic activity program for about 6 years- modified physical exercises are great (I can't remember the name of the seated exercise video we sometimes used but if you do a search you would probably find it. I think the first name of the person leading in it was Betty). What kinds of things did they do before the dementia? That gives good clues. My mom loved poetry so if I would say or read poetry sometimes, she'd say parts with me. She loved Christian music and there are wonderful nature videos with hymns played in the background. I would also play the piano or organ for her. There are several magazines which can be helpful- an activity magazine called A New Day, another magazine is called Reminisce. If they used to read the newspaper a lot and you like to read it, just read it aloud and chit chat with them about what you're reading. My husband would always ask mom at supper what she did during the day. Her reporting was off the wall and not accurate at all but she enjoyed telling him all about things she did years ago as if it were that day! (and sometimes it was very entertaining for him!). Mom loved flowers so I sometimes would take her to a large nursery and we'd look at all the flowers. Sometimes she just liked to ride in the car. And sometimes it was all too much for me and she didn't have activities that day...

How can you help your family when you do not live at home near the parent

Dominos, let them set them up and push them to watch them fall, push a brightly colored ball back and forth to each other, Make cards from blank cards which have envelopes. let them use markers or stickers for the cards. clip out pictures from magazines. Ask people you know for thier old magazines. Then have themput the clippings on a poster board or canvas and glue them on with glue sticks. read books of poetry, bible or childrens books, bring a dvd player with a movie if thy are in the nursing home,paint, draw. puzzels with big pieces are good, play chutes and ladders or other kids games. Play war with cards.

checkers, set up dominos and let them push them. play war, paper airplanes (fly) Play chutes and ladders and candy land, clip out magizines of cool stuff and let them help putting the clippings on a poster bord or canvas. read books to them, Put easy puzzles together ones with big pieces, make cards with plain cards that have envelopes. buy stickers for the cards or let them dry with markers on the cards. Read the bible to them or poetry, Let them watch movies. I am bringing a DVD player with me to let my mom watch a movie.

I have my mom help folding laundry and hanging clothes. it gives a sense of accomplishment and some OT skills

I would encourage you to check with Fatbraintoys they have some really GREAT stuff. Also look for wooden pattern puzzles they are usually in stores that have educational toys. They are real good for finger dexterity and also are colorful and give your loved one a feeling of accomplishment!

I need age approp. puzzles that are from 10-35 pieces-no more-do they exist-where do I get them?

I did not mean to be insulting honestly I think that puzzles are good therapy. I agree it has to be age appropriate. Real pictures of animals and flowers and birds I think are appealing to all age groups... My husband and I do a puzzle almost every winter, often we start it when the kids are home and just work on it till it is done.

My mother had numerous strokes and then dementia. Prior to this her favorite hobbies were large puzzles and playing cards.

Age appropriate puzzles and games were not available at this time leading to many tears and frustration.

It was sad watching mom feeling embarrassed working with a small childs puzzle.

My mother is still mobile, but is beyond caring about animals, gardening, flowers, playing Scrabble, enjoying her grandchildren or anything else she used to enjoy. Her only enjoyment is riding and obviously we can't just ride all day long. Any suggestions for other activites would be appreciated.

My M-I-L likes to play marbles. Like aggravation or chinese checkers. She was always sooo good at card games and math, this keeps her brain stimulated. She also makes bread once a week. The family has always loved her bread, so she feels like she is contributing to the meals and making people happy. She sometimes tells people that I steal her bread and give it away. LOL. She needs to feel important, and this helps her.

I think that it can be hard to find things that interest folks with Alzheimers disease or dementia however you can if you try. Puzzles that are not to juvinile are good. Animals or flowers can be fun. We had a nice size puzzle of the USA and that was always fun. It helped with memories of vacations and where we grew up. One of the gentleman I cared for could always find Oregon it had been home as a child. Sometimes word search puzzles are good. Crossword puzzles always seemed to hard. It really somewhat depends on the stage or level that your one is in. We also had dog bingo which was always fun... looking for pictures of a dog in place of letters and numbers. This also proved good to help with memory of dogs we had as children. For ladies who like to knit or crochet help them with large hooks or knitting needles and really soft yarn. hope this helps take care, J

Hi-caring for 87 yr old mom in my home-I work full time and have others come in during day-but have times when she is alone-I leave a note for her every morn of daily routine things to do and hygiene but then get at a loss most days to try to think of simple things for her to do to keep occupied-otherwise she will just sit and stare at the 4 walls

It is true to keep the Dementia person busy. My husband has to be active every minute or his mind wonders and he starts talking about things that don't exsist. He loves to garden. We do this together. Another thing to do is walking, my husband and I walk allmost everyday. I have trouble finding time in the day to complete the things I have to do because I dedicate so much time to him. This is frustrating. He loves to do household chores which keeps him in touch with reality.

Caregivers on Taiwan have the same question. They were looking for activities in community which are good for people with dementia to attend. Taiwan Alzheimer's Disease Association have created "School of Wisdom" for people with mild dementia since 2004. They come to attend activities designed for them, like brain gym, reminiscence group, music group, art group, choir and excercise group. They come to School of Wisdom once a week and they love to attend. Caregivers asked us to run more classes because this program is helpful to both caregiver and people with dementia. We have served more than 150 people with dementia. The longest duration in Scholl of Wisdom is 5 years. Hope this sharing is helpful. LiYu Tang, Secretary General of Taiwan Alzheimer's Disease Association