Activities that use a diverse range of cognitive and physical skills allow our residents to exercise and improve the multitude of brain and physical strengths necessary as we age. In addition, understanding and working with the different stages of dementia is a consideration of the types of games and activities provided for our residents.
As we age, we experience loss of sensory, auditory, and vision functions and decreases in motor control at different stages and the need to incorporate board games, jigsaw puzzles, checkers, card games and building blocks, form part of the range of activities available for the diverse needs of aged care residents. Additionally, our Lifestyle Team is always coming up with creative and inventive ways to add to their dementia care tool so residents living with dementia or other cognitive and physical diseases are able to exercise memory, communication and decision-making ability1
A range of traditional games such as checkers and jigsaw puzzle games keep brain cells active and develop our resident’s thinking abilities. Our card games and Jenga building blocks form part of a series of activities that support memory, hand-eye coordination and social interactions.
Research further supports that by working within the different stages and symptoms of dementia, playing games can form part of effective treatment in addition to medicines.
At Belvedere our focus on social interactions including the formation of multi-generational friendships adds long-lasting mental health benefits and joy. It’s why we love when families and friends participate in Belvedere’s calendar of activities including birthdays, a morning tea catch up and games play with their loved ones which in addition to cognitive health provides lasting memories of simple pleasurable moments for all.
- Ning H, Li R, Ye X, Zhang Y, Liu L. A Review on Serious Games for Dementia Care in Ageing Societies. IEEE J Transl Eng Health Med. 2020;8:1400411. Published 2020 May 28. ↩︎