If you’re struggling to come up with engaging activities for someone with Alzheimer’s and vision problems, give these ideas a try!

Finding meaningful, engaging ways to spend each day for a senior loved one with Alzheimer’s can be a challenge. Add in vision impairment, and it might seem overwhelming. Even so, it’s vitally important to ensure every day holds opportunities for purpose and joy – minimizing the level of agitation, frustration, and other difficult emotions and behaviors in dementia. If you’re coming up blank when trying to come up with these kinds of activities for someone with Alzheimer’s and vision problems, we have some suggestions you can try.

What Are Some Engaging Activities for Someone With Dementia and Low Vision?

First, think through the older adult’s past and current interests, hobbies, and lifestyle. Then brainstorm approaches to draw on those preferences, such as:

• Assemble a playlist of the older adult’s favorite songs or genre of music, and then dance, sing along, keep the beat with a tambourine or simply a sealed container of dried rice and beans. Talk about the memories the music raises.
• Read aloud, choosing stories or articles that are simple to follow and on subjects that are of interest to the senior. For instance, a sports fan may enjoy hearing an update on his or her favorite teams and players, and then talking about highlights from the past as well.
• Get up and moving for increased circulation and muscle tone, as well as to help encourage daytime wakefulness and better nighttime sleeping. If weather allows, exercising outdoors is a wonderful option to add in vitamin D and fresh air. Try walks in nature, pointing out the particular trees, birds, flowers, etc. that you pass along the way.
• Try out a number of tactile art mediums that can be manipulated without the use of vision, such as clay or sculpting sand. Or try creating a 3-D work of art by gluing buttons, shells, dried pasta, etc. into a shape or pattern.
• Include the senior in ability-appropriate tasks around the house. Food preparation offers a variety of options, such as washing and tearing lettuce for a salad, peeling and breaking apart bananas or oranges, and mixing ingredients for cookies. Or ask your senior loved one to help with folding laundry or sorting nuts and bolts in a toolbox.
• Give pet therapy a try. Specially trained pet therapists can provide a safe, trusted dog or cat for the older adult to pet or hold. While this might seem simplistic, the joy and relaxing effects of spending time with an animal can be significant.

Our caregivers are skilled in creative ideas to engage seniors of any ability level to help make everyday life more fulfilling. Contact Hired Hands Homecare, the award-winning provider of in-home support services in Santa Rosa and the surrounding areas, to learn more about our in-home dementia care for seniors.