Activities for Someone Living With Dementia
Choose things they’ve always enjoyed, adjust them to what feels easy today, and aim for a good time, not a finished task. One daughter told us her mother’s caregiver was so full of joy it rubbed off. That’s what a good afternoon is for.
Activities can add structure and enjoyment to the day for a person living with dementia when they build on remaining skills and familiar interests, which is what the Alzheimer's Association recommends planning around.
Why activities matter
Activity is recommended as part of a structured day, not as something extra if there’s time left over. So planning the hours between lunch and dinner is less about hobbies and more about giving the day a familiar shape.
An activity doesn’t have to be a craft, a game or an outing. Folding a basket of laundry together counts. Sorting a drawer counts. What matters is that your mother or father can take part and enjoy it.
The makings of a good afternoon are ordinary: meals, laundry, errands, a card game, company. This guide is part of our wider guide to dementia care at home, and the question here is simply how to spend the hours.
Endurance Home Care helps with daily life at home: company, meals, the house, errands, appointments and, where it's needed, hands-on personal care. For skilled nursing, home health aides or physical therapy in Connecticut, our separate company, Endurance Home Health, can help.
Enjoyment, not achievement.
The Alzheimer’s Association advises focusing on enjoyment rather than achievement, and finding activities that build on remaining skills and talents. Those two ideas do most of the work.
A puzzle with one right answer, a recipe that has to come out perfectly, a question with a name that has to be remembered: each one can turn a pleasant half hour into a test. Take the finish line away and the same activity becomes time you both enjoy. The basket doesn’t need emptying. The song doesn’t need naming.
Building on remaining skills means starting from what your parent can still do easily and comfortably. Stick with activities they’ve always enjoyed and adjust them as needed to match current abilities. You know their favorites better than any list does.
Adapting the things they always loved
Adjusting an old favorite usually works better than introducing something new, because the familiar version already feels comfortable. The garden becomes pots on the table. Cooking becomes one job in the kitchen. The photo album stays the same and only the questions change. Here are five, each with a simple adjustment.
The same idea, an old favorite over something new, runs through our guide to activities for elderly adults at home.
Folding laundry together
Warm towels, one basket, two pairs of hands. Nobody has to finish the basket for the half hour to be worth it.
leans on: a lifelong motionSorting and organizing
A drawer of buttons, a tin of screws, a shoebox of cards. There's no right or wrong way to sort, which is part of why it works.
leans on: order and touchMusic from their era
Their years, not ours. Music is lovely to put on in the afternoon, before the day starts to feel long.
leans on: the oldest memoriesGardening
Bulbs into a trug, a watering can, deadheading on the porch. Scale it to a table if the beds have become too much.
leans on: season and habitLooking through photographs
Names aren't the point and don't need correcting. Let them tell you about the picture instead of quizzing them on it.
leans on: familiar facesWhat a caregiver brings to the afternoon
Time that belongs to the afternoon
When you're the one organizing everything, an activity is one more thing to fit in. A caregiver arrives with the afternoon as the job: company, cooking together, errands and the things your parent enjoys.
Dementia training
Our caregivers take part in dementia training, and our nurses hold the Certified Dementia Educator certification. Endurance care professionals complete training covering disease states and health and wellness before they are matched with a client. A registered nurse writes the care plan with your family, including the activities your parent likes.
A familiar face
We choose the caregiver with your parent in mind and introduce them before the first visit. Over time they learn which record to put on and which drawer is the good one to sort. If it isn't working, we find someone else.
The same stretch of the day comes up again in dementia wandering and how to prevent it, which is the other question these hours tend to raise. To see how regular afternoons with a caregiver can be arranged, read about in home dementia care.
Questions families ask
Which activities for dementia patients at home help most?
The activities that work build on remaining skills and focus on enjoyment over achievement: folding laundry together, sorting and organizing, music from their era, gardening, looking through photographs. Sticking with things the person has always enjoyed and adjusting them to current abilities works better than introducing something new. Beyond quality of life, activity is recommended as part of a structured day.
What if they get frustrated partway through?
That usually means the activity has become about getting it right, not enjoying it. The Alzheimer's Association advises focusing on enjoyment and building on remaining skills and talents, so shortening the task, doing it alongside them, or moving to a familiar favorite often helps the moment pass.
Do activities affect behavior?
The Alzheimer's Association recommends activity as part of a structured day, beyond what it adds to quality of life. Familiar things to do, at familiar times, give the hours a shape, which is why activities belong in the care plan instead of being left to chance.
Can a companion caregiver handle this?
That's much of the work. Company, cooking together, errands and activities are all part of companion care. Our caregivers take part in dementia training, our nurses hold the Certified Dementia Educator certification, Endurance care professionals complete training that covers disease states and health and wellness before they are matched with a client, and a registered nurse writes the care plan with your family, including the activities your parent enjoys.
Would some company in the afternoons help?
Tell us what your mother or father enjoys and which parts of the day feel long. We’ll talk through how a caregiver could help. Endurance is registered in both Connecticut and New Jersey. The first conversation is free, and nothing starts until you say so.