Gardening Activities That Can Benefit Aging Seniors

Gardening is a wonderful, relaxing activity. For those seniors with live in-home care, working in a garden offers many positive benefits. Enjoying the sun and fresh air outside is beneficial for mental health. Garden related and nature-themed activities can greatly improve the quality of life as it keeps seniors active and their minds focused on simple, yet rewarding tasks.

Here are a few garden-related activities to try with your loved one:

Make a Garden Bird Feeder

Bird watching is a great outdoor activity that can be passive or active. People with dementia and their home caregivers can enjoy the fresh air while looking for different varieties of birds. A fun activity is to make a bird feeder with a cardboard juice or milk carton that will attract local birds to your garden. Gather some paints and brushes, and paint and decorate the feeder. Cut squares near the bottom panels and put birdseed inside. You can easily hang it with a wire or string from a tree close to the garden. Invite friends over and form a birdwatching group, which is a healthy way to facilitate social interaction. Birdwatching is great for the brain as it takes focus and keen observation skills to look for movement around trees and in surrounding areas. Remembering and identifying birds helps with memory and concentration as well.

Grow a Butterfly Garden

Butterflies are a joy to watch. They are colorful and gently flutter around the beautiful flowers in a garden. Planning a butterfly garden is a fun and focused activity that is rewarding for someone struggling with dementia. Look for butterflies that are local to your area, and find host plants that you can grow in a garden. Researching and picking out beautiful nectar and host plants together will help an aging senior feel involved and important. For instance, you can attract monarch butterflies with nectar plants like goldenrod, aster, and sunflower, which are bright additions to your garden. You can add milkweed, which is the host plant where they can lay their eggs. You and your loved one can easily grow these varieties in pots or in the ground and later enjoy watching the butterflies you've attracted to your garden.

Create Garden Stones

After you plant some flowers or host plants for your butterflies, you can add to it by easily creating some garden stone markers. Find some smooth oval or round stones that are about 2 to 3 inches long. With paint or markers, help your loved one draw the name of the plant or draw a picture of the butterfly you're hoping to attract. Arts and crafts allow the brain to focus and relax, diminishing stress. This is helpful to seniors that have dementia. You can also just make these decorative and place them around the garden. You can even write positive sayings that can uplift someone's spirits like "be happy," or "love always."

Spending time outdoors is important to the mental and physical health of someone with dementia. Minimize stress by helping your aging loved ones decorate and build a garden to attract birds and butterflies. Painting colorful rocks with positive sayings can keep the focus on happiness. Contact us for information on compassionate home care and enhancing the quality of life for aging seniors.

Follow the links below for amazing garden tours here in Salem:

Deepwood Museum & Garden, 1116 MISSION ST SE Salem OR 97302, 503-363-1825

Lord & Schryver Conservatory, Geity Hollow, 545 Mission St SE Salem OR 97302, 971-600-6987