Guide For Professional Caregivers and Dementia Activities
By Robin Meehan - February 25, 2025
Caring for someone with dementia comes with unique challenges, but the right activities can greatly enhance the quality of life for both caregivers and their loved ones. At Gift of Enrichment, we understand the importance of engaging, meaningful activities that can stimulate cognitive function and bring joy to those with dementia.
I'm Robin Meehan, the Director of Life Enrichment of MorningStar Senior Living. I have working with seniors with cognitive impairment (dementia) for close to 15-years and have discovered enriching their lives has become a passion for me. However, one of my biggest challenges has been trying to figure out a way to engage seniors with different cognitive stages of their dementia journey. Luckily, I discovered the Sensory Outing Group, this has opened a brand-new door for me, with ideas of engagement that are so simple, and I can’t believe I didn’t think of these ideas myself. Once I learned just a few of the ideas, a light bulb went off in my head and I have been able to engage all our seniors who are all uniquely different on their journey. Here are some commonly asked questions of caregiver’s whether working in a community or with a loved-one:
Understanding Dementia:
Some of the common symptoms of dementia, is memory loss, confusion, agitation, depression, paranoia, loss of finding the right words and balance issues. Unfortunately, once a diagnosis has been given there is no turning back time. Dementia is a progressive disease and symptoms include a decline in cognitive abilities. Often time, seniors start to feel lack of purpose that can be very daunting. Therefore, engagement is so important to residents, Montessori-inspired, person-centered dementia activities is our specialty.
Caregiver Challenges:
Some of the biggest challenges that caregivers face when caring for someone with dementia is the fear that they are having to sit in front of a large group of people and create an activity that is appropriate for all of them, this is not the case. Sitting with seniors with one-on-one presence is beneficial to both caregiver and residents. This can create a sense of trust and understanding between both parties. Another challenge is combativeness of seniors when they are feeling so confused and do not recognize their caregiver, this can be disheartening to the caregiver who is now unable to do their jobs. This can cause the caregivers a lot of stress and potential burn out. The best way to avoid burnout is to be sure the caregiver is taking the well needed and time off, along with leaning on others when frustration sets in. It is okay to walk away from a combative and agitated senior and let another caregiver help instead. If this is not an option, then just please take a step back from the situation and let a little time pass. Or redirected the conservations such as, can you help me clear the table or I need a cup of water, would like one? This can often help defuse a situation.
Creating Engaging Activities:
Creating appropriate activities for your loved ones is simply remembering what was important to them before the diagnosis and creating scenarios that the senior can “help” you with a problem that only they can do. This is a purposeful activity for your loved one. If you are a caregiver in a community, finding this information will be from speaking with family members and by observation. If you are hearing “why are we doing this?”, this is probably and activity that the senior is not accustomed to doing. The most beneficial activities for people with dementia, are failure free, purposeful activities. For instance, my dad used to love to cut and organize coupons and go shopping for the family, this was a normal part of his routine, and one of his jobs as a father and husband. So, I took it upon myself to cut a variety of coupons and have them in disarray and I presented them to him. He had the option to sort the coupons that made the most sense to him. Whether it was by discount, or store, or sorted by what he wanted the most. There was no right or wrong answer. He sorted for over an hour and felt a sense of accomplishment. This can be done with almost anything.
Daily Routine and Consistency:
A daily routine for someone with dementia is extremely important! This helps people with dementia, though memory loss is real, they start to recognize what is normal in their daily routines. For instance, in the morning, waking up, getting showered, getting dressed and brushing their teeth is something they have probably always done, and this routine should continue as a person with dementia. This will help normalize their day. Some tips to help creating enriching activities in their daily routines would be to after breakfast, if they read the paper, present them with the paper and a cup of coffee and maybe offer an easy crossword puzzle for them as well. If they liked to exercise, create a failure free appropriate exercise routine for them. The Gift of Enrichment is a resource with a variety of engaging dementia activities.
Social Interaction and Communication:
Caregivers can encourage social interaction for individuals with dementia by creating 2-4 failure free games for one another or even with yourself or a group activity with people such as a sing along, or a fun game where people take turns. Rules for games or activities aren't set in stone – there's no right or wrong way to do it; the key is to celebrate their participation and enjoyment. Some effective communication strategies for interacting with someone with dementia, is to meet them where they are. You can easily tell if someone is frustrated or happy, they are communicating it clearly or not. Meet their frustration with empathy, meet their excitement with your excitement. You might not be able to understand what they are saying but you can still validate their feelings.
Safety Considerations:
Safety should always be at the for front of a caregiver’s minds in all activities! This might often take some preparing of the activity before presenting it to the person. For example, do you remember the coupon reference with my dad? I gave him safety scissors (guarded blades) to cut the coupons himself, I did that in advance for him. This provided a safe environment for him and there was no opportunity for him to misuse the real scissors. All precautions should be taken whether at home or in a community. For caregivers at home, this might be more challenging being there are household appliances that people with dementia still want to use but it is not safe. I suggest going to your local hardware stores to get the appropriate supplies to keep them safe.
Resources and Support:
If you are reading this blog, you have found a great resource to help create activities and for support. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions, and I will update this blog every Monday! I hope you know whether you are a caregiver in a home or in a community, I know the work you do is hard, tire-some and often unappreciated. I want you to know, I appreciate what you do and so do the people you are caring for even if they cannot communicate it. I look forward to hearing from you and hopefully being able to support you!
Go Back I'm Robin Meehan, the Director of Life Enrichment of MorningStar Senior Living. I have working with seniors with cognitive impairment (dementia) for close to 15-years and have discovered enriching their lives has become a passion for me. However, one of my biggest challenges has been trying to figure out a way to engage seniors with different cognitive stages of their dementia journey. Luckily, I discovered the Sensory Outing Group, this has opened a brand-new door for me, with ideas of engagement that are so simple, and I can’t believe I didn’t think of these ideas myself. Once I learned just a few of the ideas, a light bulb went off in my head and I have been able to engage all our seniors who are all uniquely different on their journey. Here are some commonly asked questions of caregiver’s whether working in a community or with a loved-one:
Understanding Dementia:
Some of the common symptoms of dementia, is memory loss, confusion, agitation, depression, paranoia, loss of finding the right words and balance issues. Unfortunately, once a diagnosis has been given there is no turning back time. Dementia is a progressive disease and symptoms include a decline in cognitive abilities. Often time, seniors start to feel lack of purpose that can be very daunting. Therefore, engagement is so important to residents, Montessori-inspired, person-centered dementia activities is our specialty.
Caregiver Challenges:
Some of the biggest challenges that caregivers face when caring for someone with dementia is the fear that they are having to sit in front of a large group of people and create an activity that is appropriate for all of them, this is not the case. Sitting with seniors with one-on-one presence is beneficial to both caregiver and residents. This can create a sense of trust and understanding between both parties. Another challenge is combativeness of seniors when they are feeling so confused and do not recognize their caregiver, this can be disheartening to the caregiver who is now unable to do their jobs. This can cause the caregivers a lot of stress and potential burn out. The best way to avoid burnout is to be sure the caregiver is taking the well needed and time off, along with leaning on others when frustration sets in. It is okay to walk away from a combative and agitated senior and let another caregiver help instead. If this is not an option, then just please take a step back from the situation and let a little time pass. Or redirected the conservations such as, can you help me clear the table or I need a cup of water, would like one? This can often help defuse a situation.
Creating Engaging Activities:
Creating appropriate activities for your loved ones is simply remembering what was important to them before the diagnosis and creating scenarios that the senior can “help” you with a problem that only they can do. This is a purposeful activity for your loved one. If you are a caregiver in a community, finding this information will be from speaking with family members and by observation. If you are hearing “why are we doing this?”, this is probably and activity that the senior is not accustomed to doing. The most beneficial activities for people with dementia, are failure free, purposeful activities. For instance, my dad used to love to cut and organize coupons and go shopping for the family, this was a normal part of his routine, and one of his jobs as a father and husband. So, I took it upon myself to cut a variety of coupons and have them in disarray and I presented them to him. He had the option to sort the coupons that made the most sense to him. Whether it was by discount, or store, or sorted by what he wanted the most. There was no right or wrong answer. He sorted for over an hour and felt a sense of accomplishment. This can be done with almost anything.
Daily Routine and Consistency:
A daily routine for someone with dementia is extremely important! This helps people with dementia, though memory loss is real, they start to recognize what is normal in their daily routines. For instance, in the morning, waking up, getting showered, getting dressed and brushing their teeth is something they have probably always done, and this routine should continue as a person with dementia. This will help normalize their day. Some tips to help creating enriching activities in their daily routines would be to after breakfast, if they read the paper, present them with the paper and a cup of coffee and maybe offer an easy crossword puzzle for them as well. If they liked to exercise, create a failure free appropriate exercise routine for them. The Gift of Enrichment is a resource with a variety of engaging dementia activities.
Social Interaction and Communication:
Caregivers can encourage social interaction for individuals with dementia by creating 2-4 failure free games for one another or even with yourself or a group activity with people such as a sing along, or a fun game where people take turns. Rules for games or activities aren't set in stone – there's no right or wrong way to do it; the key is to celebrate their participation and enjoyment. Some effective communication strategies for interacting with someone with dementia, is to meet them where they are. You can easily tell if someone is frustrated or happy, they are communicating it clearly or not. Meet their frustration with empathy, meet their excitement with your excitement. You might not be able to understand what they are saying but you can still validate their feelings.
Safety Considerations:
Safety should always be at the for front of a caregiver’s minds in all activities! This might often take some preparing of the activity before presenting it to the person. For example, do you remember the coupon reference with my dad? I gave him safety scissors (guarded blades) to cut the coupons himself, I did that in advance for him. This provided a safe environment for him and there was no opportunity for him to misuse the real scissors. All precautions should be taken whether at home or in a community. For caregivers at home, this might be more challenging being there are household appliances that people with dementia still want to use but it is not safe. I suggest going to your local hardware stores to get the appropriate supplies to keep them safe.
Resources and Support:
If you are reading this blog, you have found a great resource to help create activities and for support. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions, and I will update this blog every Monday! I hope you know whether you are a caregiver in a home or in a community, I know the work you do is hard, tire-some and often unappreciated. I want you to know, I appreciate what you do and so do the people you are caring for even if they cannot communicate it. I look forward to hearing from you and hopefully being able to support you!
Dementia Levels
