There are quite a lot of activities that can be prepared in parallel or in small groups with most, early to mid-stage, dementia individuals. These activities use a deck of playing cards and are particularly good for persons who love numbers, have worked with numbers, relate to numbers, like to play cards, or have played cards some time ago.
1. Sorting the cards; by suit, odd and even numbers, by colors or any original way that might be thought of a lower functioning dementia person might have the benefit of counting a group of cards. By some means just touching and looking at the cards reinstate pleasant reminiscences.
2. Matching- You will need two decks of cards to do the matching.
a. Give the dementia person a number of playing cards (more for those with early stage dementia. Two cards for those with significant memory challenges).
b. Then show her or him a card. See if she or he can pick the matching card.
c. You can see if he or she can go with a series of cards.
Here is one more game needing two decks of cards. In this game, you will need a number of people playing to have the most enjoyable. Pass out four cards (more for those with early stage dementia, less for those with significant memory challenges) to each person playing. Keep the cards face up. Pick a card from the second deck. Whoever has that card, will turn the card face down. The first person to turn all their cards over is the winner. You can also play a community game where there will be no winner.
3. Picking a number(s) of the day or week- Start small, pick only one number. Relate the number to something significant, for instance; if 2 is picked, you may say: We can recall 2 because we have 2 hands, 2 feet, and so on. Then when asking them to recall the number once in a while right through the day, you may say: It is the number of hands you have. In this case, some may tend to remember the number without any clue. However, some may not recall the number but recognize that a person has 2 hands. Either way connections are being made in the brain to replace the ones that have been missing.
PLAY SIMPLE CARD GAMES
Furthermore, you can play simple card games with the dementia victims. Here are a few suggestions;1. War, Crazy eights, Old Maid (take 3 of the queens out of the deck), Go Fish, Twenty-one, or make up a game. This is the perfect chance to get children involved because dementia individuals love children. However, the children should be well-informed about dementia.
Always remember to put a positive viewpoint on everything no matter what games you play or exercises you do. Take in meaningful conversation all through the sessions. Dialogue is really important for the memory challenged person and place the emphasis on fun as well.
There are several books have been written about preventing Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. And these books strongly put forward keeping the mind active.
By using a deck of cards, Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia victim are stimulated with this easy way to help their minds refreshed.
