Posts Tagged dementia crafts
February 5, 2018 at 8:00 am · Filed under Activities for Mild Dementia ·Tagged activities for reminiscing, Alzheimer, Alzheimer Disease, alzheimer s association, Alzheimer's, alzheimer's activities, alzheimer's association, alzheimer's care, alzheimer's disease, alzheimer's statistics, Brain, Caregiver, caregivers, caregiving, Conditions and Diseases, craft, definition of dementia, Dementia, dementia activities, dementia crafts, dementia facts and figures, dementia in the elderly, dementia statistics, dementia vs alzheimer's, Disease, diy, elderly, Health, Mental health, pomander balls, United States, what is alzheimer's, what is dementia
Feeling crafty? Make a homemade pomander ball! Pomander balls, commonly seen at weddings and baby showers, actually have very interesting historic roots. Learn more about the history behind the pomander here.
Buy rosettes at a craft store, create your own by shaping pieces of tissue paper, or punch/cut out flower shapes from scrapbooking paper. Use crochet pins to fasten each rosette into place on a large to medium sized styrofoam ball. Use the pomander ball as a centerpiece or tie a ribbon around the ball to be used as a hanging decoration.
Step by step instructions can be found here.
Remember, it’s the process not the product. Our primary goal is that the person enjoy themselves; it is not important that we create a flawless finished product. If it’s becoming apparent that the person is becoming confused or frustrated, leave the remainder of the activity for another day. In fact, it may be easiest to plan the activity over the course of several sessions, versus trying to do everything in a single sitting. If your person is further progressed in the disease, they may get more pleasure out of watching you do the activity or admiring the finished product. Be flexible and have fun with it!
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March 23, 2015 at 1:00 am · Filed under Activities for Mild Dementia ·Tagged activities for reminiscing, Alzheimer, Alzheimer Disease, alzheimer s association, Alzheimer's, alzheimer's activities, alzheimer's association, alzheimer's care, alzheimer's disease, alzheimer's statistics, Brain, Caregiver, caregivers, caregiving, Conditions and Diseases, craft, definition of dementia, Dementia, dementia activities, dementia crafts, dementia facts and figures, dementia in the elderly, dementia statistics, dementia vs alzheimer's, Disease, diy, elderly, Health, Mental health, pomander balls, United States, what is alzheimer's, what is dementia
Feeling crafty? Make a homemade pomander ball! Pomander balls, commonly seen at weddings and baby showers, actually have very interesting historic roots. Learn more about the history behind the pomander here.
Buy rosettes at a craft store, create your own by shaping pieces of tissue paper, or punch/cut out flower shapes from scrapbooking paper. Use crochet pins to fasten each rosette into place on a large to medium sized styrofoam ball. Use the pomander ball as a centerpiece or tie a ribbon around the ball to be used as a hanging decoration.
Step by step instructions can be found here.
Remember, it’s the process not the product. Our primary goal is that the person enjoy themselves; it is not important that we create a flawless finished product. If it’s becoming apparent that the person is becoming confused or frustrated, leave the remainder of the activity for another day. In fact, it may be easiest to plan the activity over the course of several sessions, versus trying to do everything in a single sitting. If your person is further progressed in the disease, they may get more pleasure out of watching you do the activity or admiring the finished product. Be flexible and have fun with it!
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March 2, 2015 at 1:00 am · Filed under Activities for Mild Dementia, Activities for Moderate Dementia ·Tagged Alzheimer, alzheimer s association, Alzheimer's, alzheimer's activities, alzheimer's association, alzheimer's disease, Caregiver, caregivers, caregiving, craft, Dementia, dementia crafts, easy crafts, wine cork, wine cork ball
Wine cork balls are decorative, yet inexpensive and easy to make. Your biggest obstacle may be finding enough wine corks for your project! Consider collecting any wine corks that you, friends, family, or neighbors may use. Another option is to purchase wine corks in bulk from such vendors as Amazon.
Step-by-step instructions for this craft can be found at the website below:
http://www.imbored-letsgo.com/diy-wine-cork-ball/
As you work through the steps of this project, be mindful of safety concerns, such as use of the hot glue gun. This project may not be suitable if your person might attempt to bite or swallow the wine corks. Provide supervision, guidance, and reassurance throughout the process. Also, consider breaking up the activity into multiple sessions over many days, versus doing everything at once. You can use your finished product as a decorative accent to your living space or as a centerpiece. If you are feeling adventurous, you could add ribbon or faux vine, leaves, berries, grapes, etc. to change the look.
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November 24, 2014 at 1:00 am · Filed under Activities for Mild Dementia, Activities for Moderate Dementia ·Tagged Alzheimer, Alzheimer Disease, alzheimer s association, Alzheimer's, alzheimer's activities, alzheimer's association, alzheimer's care, alzheimer's disease, arts and crafts, Caregiver, caregivers, caregiving, craft, decorations, Dementia, dementia activities, dementia crafts, dementia in the elderly, dementia vs alzheimer's, what is alzheimer's, what is dementia, window cling
I love using window clings to celebrate virtually any holiday. They’re inexpensive, easy to use, and best of all, reusable — I mean really, what’s not to love? I used to volunteer at a nursing home where this was a popular activity. Some residents were able to stick the window clings onto the window without assistance. Others needing some prompting as to where they might place certain items. Others found it too confusing/overwhelming to be involved in the act of decorating, but enjoyed admiring what the other individuals had put together. The idea is to be flexible in how you involve the person with dementia. Ensure that he/she is not bored but also not frustrated either. Let your creative spirit run wild and enjoy!
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July 23, 2014 at 11:45 am · Filed under Activities for Moderate Dementia ·Tagged Alzheimer's, alzheimer's activities, dementia activities, dementia crafts, games for people with dementia
These fun tops work just like any other top toy, but with a fun extra-they draw as they spin! Just lay down a sufficiently large piece of paper and watch the top trace its path as it’s spins! It’s fun to experiment with spinning it faster or slower to see how the design changes, which might help keep someone with a short attention span engaged longer than if it was just a normal top toy. You can also use the resulting art as part of another activity-maybe making cards or a mobile.
Spinning tops can be bought online or at your local toy store.
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May 21, 2014 at 9:46 am · Filed under Activities for Mild Dementia, Activities for Moderate Dementia ·Tagged Alzheimer's, alzheimer's activities, Dementia, dementia activities, dementia crafts
I ran across this super cute craft while browsing the internet the other day and thought it would be super fun for people with memory Loss, so go check it out here!
People in the middle stages might need help with cutting or perhaps they could cut out shapes if they were traced for them. They will probably also need help getting the hang of the steps, but with you there to help and perhaps a sample finished product to look at, this could be a lot of fun! You can place your finished flowers in a vase like the author did, or maybe wire them to a barrette or pin to make a pretty broach. People with memory loss, just like the rest of us, love feeling as if they have something to contribute, so try introducing this activity as a way to make gifts for friends or family if the person is usually hesitant to do crafts.
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May 14, 2014 at 1:28 pm · Filed under Activities for Mild Dementia, Activities for Moderate Dementia ·Tagged Alzheimer's, alzheimer's activities, craft, Dementia, dementia activities, dementia crafts
The contents of the kit.
These fun designs are actually super easy to make, simply wrap the string around the provided shapes and voila! An instant art masterpiece! To change the design, simply change how you you wrap the string. Once you’ve found a design you like, you can mount it to a card, like the kit above suggests, frame it, make a mobile…the possibilities are limitless! Or, you can unwrap the string and design again another day! This activity is great for people in the early stages of memory loss to do with their grandkids, or for those in the moderate stages have their grandkids help them do. It’s also nice for people who tend to be very figity, as the rhythmic wrapping of the string can be very soothing and almost hypnotic. As with all crafts and activities in dementia, remember to focus on fun of the process, not the end result. You purchase these kits at craft stores or, of course, online. This particular kit is part of the American Girl’s franchise and is attributed to the character from the 1970s, so maybe this craft will trigger some long term memory from someone who lived through the time period? I can’t be sure, but it’s worth a try!
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May 7, 2014 at 9:46 am · Filed under Activities for Mild Dementia, Activities for Moderate Dementia ·Tagged activities for men with dementia, Alzheimer's, alzheimer's activities, Dementia, dementia activities, dementia crafts, dementia reminiscing
Paper airplanes are a fun activity for the young and young at heart, aviation buffs, or crafters. In short, they have potential to appeal to just about everyone! Those in the early stage might like teaching the grandkids different ways to fold them (are being taught by the grandkids). You can reference www.amazingpaperairplanes.com for different patterns. I chose this website because they give examples in pictures and in short video clips, which I think is nice. Those with more moderate dementia may need more hands-on help making the airplanes, but everyone can enjoy making them fly. Once you have a few made, try having distance races or aim for a target like a trash can or a bull’s eye on the wall.
Be sure to ask questions to encourage reminiscence such as asking about when they made paper airplanes in the past, past airplane rides they took, etc.
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April 2, 2014 at 10:11 am · Filed under Activities for Mild Dementia, Activities for Moderate Dementia, Activities for Severe Dementia ·Tagged Alzheimer's, alzheimer's activities, Dementia, dementia activities, dementia crafts
I don’t know about you, but after the winter we’ve had I could really use some color in life, and spring just isn’t springing fast enough! These paper flowers are a fun, simple and cheap way to bring some color into your house. You can make a whole bouquet and put them in a vase, you can make one and put it on a gift instead of a bow, or you can even hang them from the ceiling!
This time, rather than try and write out all the steps, I found a great tutorial on youtube, so I’m going to send you there to check it out. Just click here to open the tutorial in a new window. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Simple, huh? For those of you who may be concerned about converting centimeters to inches, don’t worry about it. Make your folds as big or small as you like, the smaller the fold, the denser the flower will look, the bigger the fold, the more “open” it will be. However, if you must know, 1-1.5 cm is about 1/2 an inch, so there you go.
As usual, the more cognitively impaired the person is, the more help they’ll need. Someone in the moderate stages, for example, may be able to do the folding only after you demonstrate a few fold first, or may need help remembering all the steps. The good news, however, is that tissue paper is so cheap, it doesn’t matter if they make any mistakes, you can always try again!
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February 26, 2014 at 10:39 am · Filed under Activities for Mild Dementia, Activities for Moderate Dementia ·Tagged Alzheimer's, alzheimer's activities, Dementia, dementia activities, dementia crafts
Sadly, it’s still winter. Happily, that means there is still plenty of time to make a wear a super-cute scarf! I found this tutorial online on tidymom.net. She claims she made the super cute scarf in the picture from an old t-shirt in just 15 minutes! While we should probably budget a bit more time for someone with memory loss to complete the project, here are her easy-to-follow instructions.
Supplies:
1 XL or XXL t-shirt
9″ paper plate
Scissors
decorative pin/flower (optional)
1. Lay t-shirt out flat (make sure you can get 8-12 circles)
2. Use paper plate to trace 8-12 circles on t-shirt (4-6 on each side of the shirt)
3. cut out circles
4. cut each fabric circle into a spiral (*see how to do this in the video)
5. stretch each piece of fabric and lay all pieces together
6. tie around your neck and place a pretty flower pin to dress it up!
Click here to watch Kim’s video tutorial to see more detail how to make this scarf and 2 others.
*Kim suggests gluing 2 pieces together, I did not do that, so I just got a shorter scarf.
If you don’t have a big enough t-shirt, no problem, just use two of the same color for a mono-color scarf, or two different colors for a bi-colored version. I would also really advise watching the video. The tutorial for this scarf starts at about the 3:00 minute mark, but I think I like the one demonstrated immediately before it even better! Best of all, both versions can easily be done by those with mild or moderate memory loss. Those in the moderate stages can help trace the circles and cut them out. They may be able to cut the spirals unassisted or may benefit from some guidelines. If so, you can use a washable marker or chalk to make lines for them to follow.
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