Entertainment

Lilye

Registered User
Oct 15, 2016
38
0
My dear wife lives at home with me and as time passes she becomes less and less capable of doing anything. We used to do jig-saws, colouring in pictures, making Lego things and all sorts of little activities that kept her entertained. Now she is in a far more mentally remote place and I found it almost impossible to do anything to entertain her.............then I remembered our old button boxes; tins of old buttons and things that have been in our family for generations and added to by my wife in years gone by. I give her a box of buttons and a tray after breakfast and say to her 'oh boy, these all need sorting out' and she agrees with me and gets busy moving them all around talking to them and having a lovely hour playing buttons.
I highly recommend button boxes!
 

Sia

Registered User
Nov 15, 2019
10
0
Welcome to the forums @Sia.
My OH does not like comedies, but she will respond to music. Early this year she had been suffering with a run of illnesses, but when I took her to a communal lounge at our sheltered housing complex for a concert she was flirting with the singer and conducting the music. One lady at our music memories monthly concerts sings along perfectly to most of the songs. It's a common theme on here that music and singing for the brain are ways to stimulate and bring a person with dementia to life as much as it will entertain them.
Does your friend's mum respond to music or to comedy?

Hi Nae,

Thank you for the welcome. Interesting re music. I'll google some events.

I had read a study on the efficacy of comedy workshops. Carers described that it brought 'patients back to life'. There was also some stuff re effects of comedy on patient outcomes. Hence, I was curious if anyone had any experiences re comedy.

My friend's mum doesn't react to entertainment. We tried to make her watch TV or listen to music. She does not pay attention to it. She was a doctor who was very active and spoke five languages. The loss of independence is crushing.

I am glad your OH enjoys music! :) Did you do anything to get her interested in music? Or was she interested from the get-go?

Best wishes,

Sia
 

nae sporran

Registered User
Oct 29, 2014
9,213
0
Bristol
Hi Nae,

Thank you for the welcome. Interesting re music. I'll google some events.

I had read a study on the efficacy of comedy workshops. Carers described that it brought 'patients back to life'. There was also some stuff re effects of comedy on patient outcomes. Hence, I was curious if anyone had any experiences re comedy.

My friend's mum doesn't react to entertainment. We tried to make her watch TV or listen to music. She does not pay attention to it. She was a doctor who was very active and spoke five languages. The loss of independence is crushing.

I am glad your OH enjoys music! :) Did you do anything to get her interested in music? Or was she interested from the get-go?

Best wishes,

Sia
Her son is a pianist, Sia and her father played mandolin while her cousin played accordion. It's in the blood and thankfully not been lost to dementia. So sad to read about your friend's mum losing interest in everything after such a great life.
 

kindred

Registered User
Apr 8, 2018
2,937
0
Buttons great idea. I volunteer at a nursing home as an activity co Ordinator and have found dolls house furniture hug hit with the ladies, box full they can rummage in and bring out to look at. Men a little more difficult but they often like textured objects such as coloured scarves and sequins and things that glitter!
Kindred.
 

Sia

Registered User
Nov 15, 2019
10
0
My husband has Alzheimer’s, diagnosed 18 months ago. He doesn’t watch much new programmes on TV , though loves watching Football. We go to the pictures a lot, and he enjoys this, also the theatre. I find that when we have been to see something, he talks more. When at home he spends a lot of time on his laptop looking at the news, and maybe an old tv programme. So I try and take him out 3 / 4 times a week. I feel this will get harder as he progresses. I dread to think then what I can do to amuse him. X

When your husband goes to the pictures, is that new films or films he saw before? Does he prefer a particular genre, e.g. comedy, action, romance?
 

PompeyNev

Registered User
Oct 31, 2017
12
0
It's not my partner but my father who has Alzheimer's disease, but I was fascinated by your experiences.
This year may be the last time my mother, father, sister and I are all together for Christmas and I have been thinking desperately of games that we can play that could involve my Dad.
His memory is (obviously) poor, although he can recognise music and family events from decades ago. He can talk, but his vocabulary is becoming increasingly limited, and he struggles to understand new concepts - and certainly cannot think laterally.
So quizzes are out - even basic ones - as are memory games.
Music might be a possibility - but more as participation than answering questions about it.
I did think that a dexterity game, such as Jenga, or a more basic equivalent, might be a possibility.
I wondered whether any of you might have any ideas, please?
Thank you.
 

northumbrian_k

Volunteer Host
Mar 2, 2017
4,415
0
Newcastle
I've said it elsewhere but it is possibly worth repeating here. My wife does not have enough concentration for board games but she does enjoy anything that needs hand eye co-ordination. Batting a balloon about is easy fun. Throwing balls or beanbags at a target or into a large box which has compartments with different point values - 3 in the centre, 2 in the near centre, 1 around the outside for example - often works, especially as it introduces an element of competition.
 
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Canadian Joanne

Registered User
Apr 8, 2005
17,710
0
70
Toronto, Canada
My mother and I would play Snakes and Ladders. We would play card games at the beginning and then we slowly made our way down to the easier and easier games. We finished by playing Candyland, a board games for children who don't county yet.

My family was always big on board games, Monopoly, Sorry, Parcheesi etc.so it wasn't hard to get Mum playing.
 

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