I'm looking for things besides the remote and tissue box. She's always trying to move things around and organize her TV tray table. She is able to do things like put on her socks, tie her pants' drawstrings, brush her hair, search through her address book with her glasses on, etc.
I feel like during the days she's sitting alone, she could have an activity or even just a random thing to keep her brain working. She's been really coherent despite some creative imagination. And, she seems tired of the TV all the time. I'm just not sure what to try and put in front of her!
I would also buy second hand scarves and put soft knots in them for him to straighten out. I learned this from nurses who use to give my husband extra long plastic tubes that were knotted for him to unravel.
Do you believe she can safely manage a Mandala coloring book and colored pencils? Or a puzzle? Could she thread beads that are too big to swallow. Would she enjoy large Legos? There are also mazes with a bead that can't get out and lost.
If you can afford it there are electronic pets, and Simpl, (yes it's spelled SIMPL)(prerecorded) radios.
We gave my 100-yr old Aunt with advanced dementia a large stack of kitchen towels to fold several times a day. That was the only purpose of the towels. I also gave her colored poker chips and she not only sorted them but sometimes made patterns with them.
As for the tv, she may not be tired of it but rather cannot comprehend what she is seeing or hearing. For my Aunt, we ran non-scary animated movies with the closed captions on and she would read the entire movie out loud. Not sure she understood what she was reading, but she did it consistently, over and over. We also got her animal books that were mostly pictures. She would read out loud to us while we prepped dinner. She also colored in coloring books.
Mom was also responsible for wiping down the kitchen counter after every meal.
Mom was also responsible for putting the silverware away in the right slot in the silverware drawer (from the dishwasher caddy.)
Mom also liked to pick up pine cones in the yard so she walked around the yard with a plastic bucket and put pine cones in there.
They like them and best of all, they always seem new to them every time., so it's never boring.
Those little squishy kids toys from the toy store that look like a sea urchin or a fidget widget from kids toy store
jigsaw puzzles; my mom at the progression of her dementia could not necessarily find the pieces.. but she could organize them in a linear fashion by color. Try 500 piece or less
dominoes... match and make a long train or play mexican train with her
a small doll baby equipped with easy on clothing, diaper and a bassinet. My mother in law with moderate to severe dementia at a time enjoyed taking care of the baby
Dementia care offers friendships, outings, 24/7 monitoring and meds, sitting and watching TV with their buddies, eating all meals with their besties and laughter that results, entertainment (sometimes a dance where a karaoke guy brings his friends to get the ladies on their feet and dancing), many puzzles, giant legos, the staff's dogs, the staff's kids who bring them cards and play games and sing for them, and on and on.
Go check out some of these places. Mom would be so much better off and so would you.
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