Activities for Seniors with Dementia: Ideas to Encourage Engagement and Connection

When your loved one lives with dementia, you might find that it is more challenging to connect with them during a visit or phone call. This can be discouraging, but it is also important to note that it is normal. Fortunately, you can still find those meaningful connections by adjusting your time together and incorporating some failure-free activities for seniors with dementia that you both can enjoy doing together. Sharing an experience or activity is an excellent way to create a moment that leaves you both feeling encouraged and loved.

Here’s how to find an activity or two that might meet your loved one where they are at and give you both a special way to pass the time together. 

Why Activities Matter for Seniors with Dementia

When you think about your favorite ways to spend an evening or day with friends and family, you likely think about sharing a meal, taking a walk, watching a movie, or working on a creative project. There’s a good reason that these are the memories you recall so easily. You were sharing an activity or experience together. Participating in familiar memory care activities can help seniors feel calmer, more engaged, and more connected to those around them.

It is easier to strike up a conversation and create a connection over a shared moment. The same rings true for connecting with a senior loved one living with dementia. Activities are important for those living with dementia and can bring feelings of peace, comfort, and familiarity. In addition, participating in activities can:

• Boost self-esteem and feelings of empowerment
• Supports cognitive engagement for seniors with dementia
• Reduce boredom, anxiety, and agitation
• Aids in a consistent sleep routine and can reduce insomnia or other sleep disruptions

How to Choose the Right Activities for Someone with Dementia

When choosing an activity for adults with dementia to try during your next visit, consider these factors. Remember, all activities should be failure-free and encourage conversation. It’s also wise to bring a few activities in case one isn’t a hit.

Consider Their Stage of Dementia

You’ll want to first consider your loved one’s abilities and challenges. You don’t want to pick an activity that is too advanced for them, just as you don’t want to pick one that is too below their abilities. You want to find an activity that is just right, holding their attention without causing frustration. As they progress through the different stages of dementia, you will want to adjust activities to reflect those changes in ability and preference.

Focus on Familiar Interests and Routines

When an activity is failure-free, it means that the person can complete it without frustration, anxiety, or confusion. A great way to find these types of activities is to bring the person’s interests and familiar routines into play. For example, if your mom always made dinner for the family, a cooking or prep activity in the late afternoon would play to her interests and schedule.

Keep Activities Simple and Flexible

It’s important to always be flexible when interacting with your loved one over an activity. Going with the flow and taking their lead is the best approach. So, if you started a reminiscing activity talking about gardening but your Dad ends up talking about going hunting with his grandpa when he was 13 years old, go with it. The activity is just the vehicle for connection. If the craft project you brought with you never gets fully completed but you had multiple good conversations and moments with your mom, the activity did its job.

Prioritize Safety and Comfort

Any time your loved one seems stressed out by the activity or if they are making unsafe choices, it is always okay to pivot to something else. Your loved one’s safety and comfort are the number one priorities.

Cognitive, Creative, and Social Activities

These types of group activities for seniors with dementia can enhance creative expression, keep anxious hands busy, and give your loved one the chance to talk with you about their past. Try cognitive activities during the early and mid-morning hours when attention span is at its highest. Creative and reminiscing activities can be appropriate at any time of day, but you might find it more difficult to stay on task during the late afternoon hours.

Try any of these ideas:

• Matching games (make your own card set with favorite family photos)
• Puzzles
• Sing-alongs
• Dancing
• Coloring or painting
• Crafts
• Reading short stories or poems out loud together
• Reminiscing by looking through old family photos, recipes, or favorite keepsakes
• Favorite board or card games

Physical and Sensory Activities

Both physical and sensory activities can cause the release of “feel-good” chemicals in the brain, resulting in lower stress and better sleep.

Try any of these activities:

• Go for a nature walk or stroll around the neighborhood
• Dancing
• Seated exercises, yoga, or tai chi (look for senior-friendly seated videos on YouTube)
• Gardening
• Baking or cooking
• Looking at familiar family photos
• Interacting with sensory bins, such as a tub full of colorful fabrics and accessories
• Relaxing with a hand massage using scented lotion
• Listening to music while snuggled under a cozy blanket

Everyday and Meaningful Activities

Keep your loved one involved with the tasks in the home they were once in charge of or are familiar with. Try any of these activities:

• Folding laundry
• Matching socks
• Matching nuts with bolts
• Setting the table
• Preparing meals
• Gardening
• Making coffee

Adapting Activities for Different Stages of Dementia

Different stages of dementia come with different challenges. Understanding your loved one’s abilities, preferences, and interests will help you choose an activity that they will enjoy. While you don’t need to know their exact stage, these markers can be helpful when choosing a few activity options to try during your next visit. 

Early-Stage Dementia

Seniors living in the early stage of dementia will be able to follow short directions and have a longer attention span to offer to the experience. However, they may become more frustrated when they notice they are falling behind or having some challenges. Remember to be flexible and change it up before they become anxious or frustrated.

Choose activities that:

• Have short, simple directions (write them down on a post-it note to keep nearby for them to reference)
• Focus on social interaction and connection
• Play up their strengths
• Encourage routine and familiar tasks
• Offer the opportunity for self-expression

Mid-Stage Dementia

Perhaps the longest stage of the disease, the mid-stage can be full of anxiety, repetition, and wandering. Activities will naturally last for a shorter amount of time. Remain flexible and ready to adjust the activity if it is not holding their attention or if they seem bored or anxious. When possible, start an activity before their typical anxious time (late afternoon for many).

Choose activities that:

• Are simple and require no instructions or rules
• Are repetitive (folding towels, watering plants, etc.)
• Are rooted in familiarity
• Offer a purpose for anxious hands and feet (walking around the block, sorting through photos, etc.)
• Feature favorite music
• Enhance multi-sensory experiences (listening to music while sipping a cup of hot tea, smelling warming spices while stirring cake batter)

Late-Stage Dementia

The late stage of dementia is perhaps the most challenging for family members when it comes to sharing activities. A senior living with late-stage dementia might be non-verbal, and communication can be quite difficult.

Try activities that:

• Offer a calming environment
• Rely on body language instead of spoken language
• Provide lots of reassurance and physical touch (as the person prefers and tolerates)
• Rooted in sensory experiences, especially with music and aromatherapy

Tips for Making Activities More Successful

Any activity can be successful (or be a failure) depending on how you respond to your loved one during it. Keep the activity as the modality for connection, but don’t become so married to the completion of the activity that you end up frustrating your loved one or stopping the activity short.

Remember:

• Stay flexible and adjust your approach based on how your loved one is responding
• Look for signs of frustration, confusion, or anxiety, and pivot before they are checked out of the experience
• Avoid overstimulation by making sure you’re in an environment that is quiet (turn off the tv) and comfortable
• Offer lots of encouragement and reassurance
• Take moments to relax into it so that you’re enjoying the moment as well!
• Don’t get hung up on how long an activity must last for it to be your definition of successful

How Memory Care Communities Support Engagement

Senior living communities, specifically memory care residences, are experts at making activities a part of the daily routine. Activities like group exercise, cooking classes, and reminiscing sessions are planned for times during the day when residents will be most engaged. Events like family barbeques, musical performances, and talent shows are fun and provide a social opportunity for residents to connect with one another and staff members.

Memory care communities feature team members who are trained in best practices of dementia care, which means you’ll often see caregivers participating in activities alongside the seniors they serve. They are always looking for ways to build trust and enhance their relationship, as that effort pays off in better care and more personalized interventions.

When you’re ready to begin your search for specialized memory care support for seniors with dementia, we would love to show you how we do it here at Legend. Find a residence near you to get started.