5 Games and Shared Activities in Companion Care (and Their Benefits)

Fun and engaging activities for your senior loved ones

Being a caregiver of seniors with Alzheimer's or dementia is an engaging profession with hurdles to overcome. One of the hurdles includes finding engaging but easy activities for the clients. There are several games and shared activities you can choose from that seniors can safely participate in as well as receive mental and emotional benefits from, including:

Bingo

Bingo is an engaging and repetitive game, bringing more than fun and leisure to the players. It also has several health benefits for the players, including:

Boosts the mind's ability to stay alert, increases the processing speed, and boosts the memory capacity
Helps clients with social and emotional loneliness and counter the effects of mental health issues
Improves the cognitive ability of the seniors, especially the hand-eye coordination

You will need two or more people and the following items:

A set of 25 numbered balls
A bowl
Piece of paper with a table of 5X5 with random numbers written for every player

To play, every member is given a piece of paper with random numbers ranging from 1 to 25. The host then draws balls from the bowl and announces the number on them. The players keep marking the announced numbers until they have five of them and win by yelling "Bingo."

Bingo is one of the most convenient games and shared activities for seniors since it requires minimum physical activity and boots players' social skills.

Name That Tune

Name that tune, also referred to as the tune, is a fun musical game that a person of any age can enjoy. The game also helps boost the clients' memory through the mnemonic effect and helps regulate the players' blood pressure in a neutral environment.

You only need a music box and a collection of tunes known to the senior. Play a tune and pause after a few seconds to see if the participants recognize the song. Play several tunes and reward the participants who get the tunes right.

Cooking and Baking

Baking and cooking are examples of sensory activities that help seniors reminisce about a time they served their loved ones. There's so much love associated with cooking for loved ones and the activities also stimulate all five senses, encourage socializing, and also serve as an appetite booster.

The caregiver should guide the senior through the activities and not leave the client alone for extra safety.

Personalized Picture Puzzle

A personalized picture puzzle grounds the client more and brings more connectivity to the game. This is also one of the games and shared activities that helps keep the brain healthy and active by engaging the creative and logical side of the brain, improving the participants' visual perception skills, and encouraging meditation.

To play, make a copy of a picture meaningful to the senior, laminate it, and cut the photo into medium-sized puzzle-shaped pieces for the client to put together.

Drawing

Drawing is part of art therapy that helps promote healthy and calm feelings by relieving stress as well as anxiety. The activity also boosts confidence and enhances physical ability. In fact, studies show that seniors who participate in art therapy have a lower mortality risk than those who don't.

As a senior's companion, guide the client through simple drawing activities that include sticks and balls and make it easier to more complex depending on how they respond.

Let Us Take Care of Your Loved One

At Senior Helpers, we specialize in genuine, in-home care, carefully curated to fit the needs of your loved ones and help them live the absolute best quality of life. We have specialized programs such as the LIFE Profile™ which is designed to help our caregivers provide the best services for seniors.

We offer a variety of specialized services to seniors, including:

Do you have an elderly loved one? We encourage you to guide them through our quiz to determine if home care is right for them. Contact us today and let us help you take care of your aged loved one in Portland, Lake Oswego, Beaverton, or any other city across the country.