Page 18 - Leisure Living Magazine Holiday 2019

Holiday Fun And Games
By Theresa Bowen, Ph.D., Email - theesajb@gmail.com
Game playing offers loved ones at home and in memory
care facilities an enhanced quality of
life, health benefits, and all around fun
for the caregiver and the loved one.
Playing games is well documented for
more than just entertainment. Games
can help a challenging demeanor or encourage cooperative behavior. It
can also provide health improvement
through laughter, engagement, and
brain stimulation. The challenge for
many activity coordinators and home caregivers is adapting games to match
abilities with the different stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Alz.org suggests
when playing games the ultimate
objective is for enjoyment. If it is not
working out try another game or revisit the activity at a different time. It is best to keep it simple and not over estimate the skills of your
Games can help a challenging demeanor or encourage cooperative behavior.
loved one. Focus on the experience.
In the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease
a loved one may enjoy a memory game using family pictures. I personally refer to this game as Concentration. First gather family pictures that have the same person in two different scenes. Then turn all the pictures over face down (maybe start with 10-12 pictures) and have your loved one find a matching set. Finally if the two pictures do not match up turn them face down and guess again. Caregivers play along and test your own memory. I have been playing this game for years with many different objects as game pieces. Picking out family pictures together and reminiscing while you are preparing for the game can be a rewarding activity in itself, especially during the holidays.
In-between the early and middle stages of Alzheimer’s, Qwirkle may be a fun game for the caregiver and the loved one. It comes with 108 tiles that can be considered blocks. Each tile has 1 of 6 different shapes painted on one side. A sturdy cloth bag is included to store the tiles and use for players to reach in and choose their random game pieces to begin the game. This game seems to be a cross between Scrabble and Dominoes. This game is very colorful, fun and simple for the young and old. It was highly praised by Goldencarers.com and is reasonably priced on Amazon.
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18 |LeisureLiving Holiday 2019
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