Boredom,what to do?

[louiseC]

Is there anyone who has experience of providing occupation for people with mid stage Alzheimer's? Like occupational therapists used to use craft work. I think Mum would enjoy some sort of occupation but nothing too taxing that would be frustrating if she couldn't complete the task. At the moment she enjoys cutting large tissues into smaller squares, and then folding them into triangles. All her pockets are full of them!

[Christin]

Hello Louise, can I ask what occupation your Mum did? Did she have any hobbies that she particularly enjoyed. Often people like to do something along the lines of their occupation. My FIL was a mechanic and we went through a stage where he liked to be in the garage all the time. It didn't matter what the weather was like; wind or rain, he would be out there and often refused to come indoors. At that stage, he sorted screws, nuts and bolts into jars, and he spent hours just sawing up pieces of wood.

Hope you get some good ideas x

[TinaT]

What you describe as your mother's behaviour has been remarked on many times here on tp. Only yesterday I observed a lady in a care home doing almost the exact same thing.

Personally I think that a short outing is a very good form of occupational therapy. Simple visits to a supermarket and a drink of tea, a visit to a garden centre or such like work very well if she has no serious movement problems. I know a gentleman who is wheelchair bound and he is taken out twice a week and pushed around the town centre and then taken for a glass of guinness. He loves his outings. My mother is fascinated by children and a walk to a local park on a good day just to watch children play is a good outing.

One gentleman who was an electrician has a board with plugs and switches on it. Give him a screwdriver and this will keep him happy for a while. I've seen large lego bricks in use but you do need to sit and make things alongside or the activity is soon forgotten.

Sing alongs are great, especially if you know the type of songs she likes. Winding balls of wool, sorting out a button box, a clean cloth and knives and forks to rub dry, etc., etc., Colouring books and crayons can sometimes pass a short time. A chat and a cup of tea is a very good therapy. I've seen a lady chatting away for hours to a soft toy and sitting it in various positions near to her.

I'm sure many others will come along with ideas. I find that the simpler the activity, the more successful it is.

xxTinaT

[Margaret79]

My MIL can still do the ironing so that keeps her busy for some of the time, especially as she irons all my bed linen, we have lots of visitors so they keep her in ironing.

We recycle our stamps from letters, I tear them off and when I get a pile she'll spend a whole afternoon cutting them into tidy squares before they go off to the Guide Dogs.

Also we save all our odd change so I ask her to check and see if I've got the amounts in the bag right. She loves checking up on me . This can sometimes keep her busy for days. Not that we have a lot you understand . Just that she counts it over and over. Best bit is I bring it over here (she lives in an annexe) tip it out and start all over another day when she's bored!!

I think she likes to feel "useful". Will keep checking this thread and see what other ideas there are.

[frazzled1]

What you describe as your mother's behaviour has been remarked on many times here on tp. Only yesterday I observed a lady in a care home doing almost the exact same thing.

Personally I think that a short outing is a very good form of occupational therapy. Simple visits to a supermarket and a drink of tea, a visit to a garden centre or such like work very well if she has no serious movement problems. I know a gentleman who is wheelchair bound and he is taken out twice a week and pushed around the town centre and then taken for a glass of guinness. He loves his outings. My mother is fascinated by children and a walk to a local park on a good day just to watch children play is a good outing.

One gentleman who was an electrician has a board with plugs and switches on it. Give him a screwdriver and this will keep him happy for a while. I've seen large lego bricks in use but you do need to sit and make things alongside or the activity is soon forgotten.

Sing alongs are great, especially if you know the type of songs she likes. Winding balls of wool, sorting out a button box, a clean cloth and knives and forks to rub dry, etc., etc., Colouring books and crayons can sometimes pass a short time. A chat and a cup of tea is a very good therapy. I've seen a lady chatting away for hours to a soft toy and sitting it in various positions near to her.

I'm sure many others will come along with ideas. I find that the simpler the activity, the more successful it is.

xxTinaT

Hi there,

Most successful outside activity....a trip to RHS Wisley as beautiful gardens and lots to see under conservatory if wet and nice tea and coffee area, ditto local farms. Also going to riverbank to watch boats and rowing. Least successful....restaurants as with someone wheelchair bound who finds it really difficult to get in and out of a chair and is incontinent leads to stress and hassle trying to get up every ten minutes or so. Indoor activities at home are usually the order of the day and sing a longs to Songs of Praise/X Factor type shows are successful as are armchair exercises....FitnessTV channels .......brilliant stuff! Church activities offer a full timetable for both new mothers and the elderly. They have the advantage of having ramps everywhere, disabled facilities and wide doorways to allow buggies and wheelchairs to pass (another thing that stopped us going out to restaurants as we battled with both!!!) Not sure if its a great idea for the elderly or not but i remember as a small child spending hours in my room on wet days making elaborate bottle gardens!

[greengirl]

Here is a link to a book on Amazon - links to several more. They are often expensive but your library can often order them in. http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...vities&x=0&y=0
Folding napkins.. tissue paper can be scrunched and made into pictures. There are painting sets where you paint the picture with water and colour appears, when it dries the picture can be used again.http://www.active-minds.co.uk/aquapaint.
very simple 4 or 6 piece jigsaws, sorting things like buttons, pegs, cotton reels.. pairing up earrings.. marbles on a solitaire set, different coloured cotton wool balls.. present her with a few things on different occasions and see what she is drawn to, it might be colour, texture, scent, something that is triggering memories.
Sometimes you need to bear in mind that she, or others might eat what they 'playing with' and actually marbles might be a bit of a trip hazard but you will know what may or may not be appropriate.
gg

[louiseC]

Thanks so much, lots of great ideas! Mum actually was an occupational therapist during the war. But married a farmer, so didn't continue with her career. But she always enjoyed art and craft and took up weaving when we left the nest. But a few years back I tried getting her to help make Christmas wreaths and she got very frustrated. She was also a keen gardener, but now has severe arthritis and practically wheel chair bound, so trips round garden centres are good but she wants to buy everything, the brighter the better!
I'm really hoping to find some things she can do when she is alone, and I think organising buttons, coins etc will go down well. Of course what she really enjoys is driving round the countryside listening to music, but I can't do that more than a couple of hours a week.

[FifiMo]

How about her making some Christmas Cards? You get kits with everything you need in them and they are all pre-cut. All you need is some glue or, even better, double sided tape. Would also be something that both of you could perhaps sit and do to while away an hour. There is a craft channel on tv that supplies these kits, if you want them but can't find them then send me a PM and i'll give you the link.

You could then print off the names and addressed on to labels so no writing needed. I even printed labels off with a message on when my mum couldn't write very well.

Fiona

[greengirl]

no but music in the background will release lots of happy feelings to keep her company while she counts the small change !

recently I printed a picture of a vase A4 and put it in a plastic folder. This was then laid it on a tray or plain table. Then real flowers were arranged 'in it' to make a lovely picture. I photographed the 2D image and it looked 3D but the process involved no water, no reaching, just making a picture out of flower heads.You could use plastic or paper flowers or garden magazine cut outs so it is re-useable as a hobby.

Some lovely photos of the 'flower arrangements' were produced and looked great. We then used 'artistic effects' on the computer to make them look like paintings and made those into cards crediting the designs to their individuals creaters... You could do something similar with any printed paper scene, a living room, a garden, a farmyard, a work place etc So a simple thing led to several activities needing different levels of support but even those with limited finger movement created pretty work that was much admired.
good luck , gg

[hollycat]

Have learned with mum that the easier the process of any activity, new or old, the better she seems to take to it.

Once a water colour artist, the process has simply become far too difficult for her, so rather than frustrate my mum, we have learned that sorting through old loose photographs and placing them into albums neatly has worked really well. We "think" that the talking about the photos whilst placing them in the albums works really well.

[susana53]

How about her making some Christmas Cards? You get kits with everything you need in them and they are all pre-cut. All you need is some glue or, even better, double sided tape. Would also be something that both of you could perhaps sit and do to while away an hour. There is a craft channel on tv that supplies these kits, if you want them but can't find them then send me a PM and i'll give you the link.

You could then print off the names and addressed on to labels so no writing needed. I even printed labels off with a message on when my mum couldn't write very well.

Fiona

You could also recycle old cards, which is something I do with my groups. All you need to supply is card, which you can get from the pound shop, glue and scissors. Double sided tape is a pain to use at the best of times so a glue stick would be easier. Don't forget to cut out the greetings inside and use them too.

[Jess26]

I SO wish I could get mum to do at least one of these activities. Even at day care she sits in the corner and refuses to join in

Her sole past time is TV, any programme will do, with or without the sound on