Hello, folks. My mother is in a rehab facility with stage 6 Alzheimers. I have been beating my head against a wall trying to come up with craft ideas for her and the other clients to do. I tried helping them put a quilt together, just simple blocks, but it was too difficult. Does anyone have any ideas of simple crafts to do with clients? Maybe some things that could be used as fund-raisers? Mimsy

Hi Merd,

I have been taking care of mom with alz for four years now. She loves to paint the fuzzy posters and the sun catchers. They have them at Walmart, or any hobby place. She likes to color and do the sticker books too.
She also loves to play with dolls. She likes to take care of them and love on them. Also she loves to sing so I got her a cd of some of the old songs and childrens songs and she sings along.

Hope this helps some.

Hi, Mimsy!

Don't think I've seen you here before. If you're new, WELCOME!

I've had the same problem with my Mom. I bought her UNO cards and some other things that I didn't realize were too difficult. And she really lacks things to do.

What about watercolor painting? By the way, check out http://www.gloriajean.org. She's deceased but her daughter did a documentary of the family's struggle and the site shows her artwork! Beautiful stuff.

I also have a list of "101 Ways to Spend Time with a Person with Alzheimer's", compiled by the Alzheimer's Association. I won't list them all. I haven't tried these, but they might be a jumping off point for ya'. Here goes:

Toss a ball
String color beads
Color pictures
Clip coupons
Sort poker chips
Fold laundry
Sort objects by shape and color
Sing old songs
String Cheerios to hang outside for birds
Color paper shamrocks green
Make paper butterflies
Finish famous sayings
Model with play-do
Jigsaw puzzles (smaller ones w/ fewer pieces)
Play with the bubbles you blow with a wand
Finger paint (might be too messy?)
Put coins in a jar
Roll yarn into a ball
Trace and cut out leaves
Sort playing cards
Dance
Make picture frame out of popsicle sticks

Hope these might give you ideas. I've also heard sorting buttons can work.

Best to you.

Fortune Cookie: Thanks for the ideas, I really appreciated it. Here are some bbok titles that I found at the library today along that same line. THe first one is separated into months, which I found really helpful (must be the SPED teacher in me!)
1. An Alzheimer's Guide by Pat Nekola
2. The Positive Interactions Program by Sylvia Nissenboim
3. Alzheimer's Activities by B.J. FitzRay
Thanks again!!! Mimsy

TAHarmon: THanks for the ideas. I foudn some bboks at our local library as well:
1. Alzheimer's Activities by B.J. FitzRay
2. The Positive Interactions Program by Sylvia Nissenboim and Christine Vroman
3. AN Alzheimer's Guide by Pat Nekola.
THe one by Nekola has a section with the activities listed for each month. I liked that! Mimsy

Another craft that might work is using coffee filters. Color them with magic markers then folding them. Dip in water colors run. We make butterflies with them.

I love the coffee filter idea! That's cool! Thanks for sharing, and thanks to everyone else who gave ideas too. I've learned a lot!

A good website that I use for Alzheimer activities/crafts is the
http://www.activityconnection.com They have a special section each month for alzheimer's focus
Hope this helps!
Theme boxes also work well.

Just thought of a small thing that my Dad used to play with from time to time:

Every year on his birthday in the late stages we used to buy a helium balloon with his age on, you know the ones, on a string with a weight at the bottom. If I remember rightly, they used to last about a month and if left it by the chair he was sitting in, helped to stop him constantly visiting the loo!!!

Just a thought

Hi,
The above posts are great ideas. I would like to add a few of my own. My mother liked to fold towels and do puzzles and look at pictures. She also liked to sit at the table with other residents and play balloon ball. They would just bat the balloon back and forth to each other and they loved it. There was also a Candy Land Game there that wasn't like the regular Candyland game. It had no board, and it had cardboard tiles with character pictures and a spinner. You would draw a certain number of tiles and then take turns spinning and if you landed on a certain character that you had, you could put those pictures back in the pile of unused tiles. The person that got rid of all of their tiles first won the game. We liked to change the rules a lot too. Everyone always won!! The game was colorful and moved very quickly and they seemed to enjoy it. They also liked Bingo. Also residents had loose leaf binders of plastic enclosed pictures of loved ones -- some with stories, some without. Families added to the book all the time. This book was about the only way we could connect towards the end. It didn't always work either. Mom and I also liked to go through catalogs, especially the Christmas catalog. One lady loved to sing so her daughter had put together a book of the words to her favorite songs and hymns. They also had a plastic box of hard white beans and they had little plastic toys hidden in the beans for the residents to find. I had subscribed to a magazine called "The Good Old Days" and either mom would read to me or I would read to her or a few of the other residents. We would try to talk the story as we read. These are just a few ideas that I enjoyed with mom and that the residents enjoyed together.

Thanks so much for all the ideas! It's great to know that others are out there doing things to help their relatives with Alzheimers. I especially liked the Activity COnnection! I'll be able to do some of the projects with my special education students as well as with Mom and the other clients in the Alzheimer's wing. Thanks! Mimsy

To Linda Kelly:

Here's the thread I was talking about. Hope you can find something here to try.

Best to you - Fortune Cookie

Found another thing that works (today).

She going through all the return address labels. You know, the ones that charities send hoping you'll contribute. Anyway she is sorting, and cutting them apart so they will fit in a small box (old check box).

Dear Fortune Cookie:

Can you come out and play? Please? Your ideas were so terrific! Thank you.