Christmas sensory activities for seniors: 2023 edition
When we took a look at what people enjoy reading on our website, our article on “15 stimulating sensory activities for seniors with dementia or Alzheimer’s” came out on top!
Christmas is a period where all our five senses are stimulated with memory-provoking sights, sounds, tastes, smells and physical activities. So, we’ve made a list (and checked it twice!) of seven seasonal activities to help loved ones with cognitive impairment and memory loss, as well as those with diagnosed dementia or Alzheimer’s.
Christmas cards
Writing Christmas cards combines two key activities – memory and writing. In these days of emails and touch card payments, many seniors have very little need to write or sign anything at all. The downside of this is when they need to sign their name on an important document, for example, they may be very out of practice.
Signing Christmas cards helps maintain the physical ability to sign their name, and writing the envelopes helps practice handwriting in a longer format than just a crossword answer or shopping list, for example.
In addition, sending cards to friends reminds them of friends and relations from their past. One of our teams sat down with her own 94 year old mother to do the cards, when her mom said she had “no idea” who to send them to. One address book and two hours later, there were cards hand-written to friends and family across the world, involving a major memory workout for both mon and daughter as to who was married to who, and what the children were called!
Christmas cuisine
Almost every family has a ‘traditional’ foodstuff or six that they associate with Christmas, from eggnog and mulled wine to spiced cookies and flaming plum puddings. Often these foods also link to our senior’s heritage or where they have lived abroad in the past, including hand-written secret recipes handed down through the generations.
Preparing and cooking these foods together is another activity that is both physically and mentally stimulating. As we said in our original article, baking helps those with dementia to:
- “Share memories of favourite cakes or pies
- Look through their old recipe books
- Use their hands to measure, mix, knead and roll
- Smell the ingredients and share memories that might arise
- Eat the results!”
Even if you don’t have time to cook them, there’s still time to source specialist foods on the internet and get them delivered in time for Christmas. The aroma and taste alone will bring memories flooding back!
Christmas decorations
This is more of a ‘review’ activity for what decorations they currently have – and if they need replacing. We suspect we all have three categories of Christmas decorations: heirloom pieces that go up every year regardless, various items that have been acquired over the years and still look lovely, and “the rest”!
It might be time to move “the rest” to become outdoor items, and replace them with new, non-shatter decorations at the cheapest time of year to buy them – the weeks before and after Christmas itself!
Christmas lights
Senior seniors and elderly people may also have an impressive selection of old fashioned glass Christmas lights that require plugging into an electric socket. The power cords for these lights can become a serious trip or even fire hazard, not to mention issues around bending over to pull out the plugs, etc.
So, instead, why not treat your loved ones to brand new sets of modern LED lights that are battery powered and come with a small controller pack. Many have timers, so they turn off after a certain time too, eliminating the fire hazard of mains powered lights left on overnight by mistake.
Just be aware that many of these lights feature a range of settings from fast flashing to just on. Those with even moderate dementia or Alzheimer’s might find the flashing or changing settings too much to cope with, so try and work out how to keep the lights set on constant.
Christmas music
Music is a very powerful trigger for memories, and Christmas songs are no exception. Many of us will know the words to lots of Christmas carols and classic songs without ever consciously learning them.
Christmas songs are a great opportunity to get seniors up on their feet and gently moving around, or doing a bit of chair dancing!
Singing along with favourite songs will also gently improve breath control and lung capacity, and also stimulate their brain to remember the lyrics. Again, seek out music with cultural as well as family associations, to take memories back even further.
Let it snow!
For seniors with limited mobility, snow can become something they worry about rather than enjoy. So, try to make snow fun again! Bring snow inside in a bowl to feel and crush, or make snowballs (waterproof warm gloves recommended).
Take your well-wrapped up loved one out into winter sunshine to sit on a patio and build a mini snowman on a tray. Or enjoy one of our all-time favourite snow activities – making maple snow taffy!
Family photos
If you do nothing else this year, take lots of photos of the family festivities and get them printed. A physical photo album of “what we did at Christmas” can help seniors with memory loss recall events in their recent past, and help them mark the passing of time and the changes of seasons.
Help with home care for aging in place
Our home care team are here to help your loved on live independently in their own home with the support and assistance they require. Contact us to discuss your requirements – we’re here in the office right up until the start of the holiday weekend.
