My aunt is 93 and only mobile from bed to chair due to a sever heart condition. She still has her longterm memory from childhood to her 70s+ but little to no short term memory. She is nearly blind (sees dim shapes in 1 eye) and deaf (total in 1 ear, nearly deaf in the other) so movies are no longer an option even with headphones. She speaks 4 languages but unfortunately Audio books with headphones are not proving to be very successful any more, and only work if the speaker enunciates slowly and clearly. She can't knit any more so we are searching for tactile activities that will provide her with some form of interest and fulfillment. The final product is of no concern, just the enjoyment of the activity. Does anyone have suggestions of tactile, entertaining activities for the near blind and deaf with short term dementia?
We do 2 activities with it. Either "Can You Find The ______? " or I put his fingers on an item and ask "What's This?" He has good vision, but when his hands are inside he can't see what's there. And, since things are attached inside and out you can reverse it and have more treasures to find.
Your Aunt might enjoy those games or might just like feeling all around on the muff and discovering the various textures and temperatures of the attachments. Metals are cool at first but warm when you hold them.
I dont knit but there is a very active knitting group in the neighborhood that is happy to use up ends of yarn on these muffs. You can provide the trinkets to attach.
Enjoy!
Hopefully others will come up with some other ideas.
Jenna
Play-doh or modelling clay?
If it is just hearing difficulty and she can still follow the story line of books you might find a DAISY reader or app works for her (I'm in Canada so I'm not sure how you would access that in the USA)
Hooking a rug?
A box or bin of the little yarn balls (the puffy things that you make decorations out of..not a ball of yarn) Just sorting them according to how they feel.
Poor vision aside would she paint..just colors on a paper or canvas? Might actually be pretty ..if not use white house paint and paint over it.
The other obvious ones.
Folding towels, sorting socks. (does not matter..just putting 2 together if you don't have enough socks buy a bunch at the resale shop. )
And...a project for a student for the summer, maybe someone is Scouts. Get her history, her memories down in a Legacy book. Se might enjoy talking to someone about her youth. How is it she speaks 4 languages? Was she born here? if not why did she or her family leave? Are there any family recipes that you need written down? I wish I had some of my Grandma's recipes!