101 Ways to Spend Time With a Person With Alzheimer’s Disease
The Alzheimer’s Association, the world leader in Alzheimer research and support, suggest these activities that a person can share with a friend or family member who has Alzheimer’s disease.
- Listen to music
- Toss a ball
- Color pictures
- Make homemade lemonade
- Count trading cards
- Clip coupons
- Sort poker chips
- Read aloud from “Harry PotterTM” books or other favorite stories
- Rake leaves
- String beads
- Bake cookies
- Take photos of yourselves together and create a collage
- Brush or comb one another’s hair
- Participate in the Alzheimer’s Association Memory WalkTM
- Plant seeds indoors or outdoors
- Look at family photographs
- Wipe off the kitchen table
- Weed the flowerbed or tend to the garden
- Fold laundry
- Have a friend visit with a well-behaved pet
- Cut pictures out of greeting cards or magazines
- Play dominoes
- Ask about his or her favorite childhood books or cartoon characters
- Bake homemade bread
- Sort objects by shape or color
- Sing old songs
- Ask the person to tell you more when he or she talks about a memory
- Put silverware away
- Make a Valentine card
- Play favorite songs and sing
- Ask the person about his or her brothers or sisters
- Make a cherry pie
- Play with tops or jacks
- Make a scrapbook
- Take a walk around the yard
- Write a poem together
- Reminisce about the first day of school
- String Cheerios® to hang outside for birds
- Make a fresh fruit salad
- Sweep the patio
- Color paper shamrocks green
- Fold towels
- Have an afternoon tea party
- Talk about great inventions
- Look through the pages of a clothing catalog
- Look at a map of the United States and identify states and capitals
- Make a family tree poster
- Color a picture of our flag
- Eat a picnic lunch outside
- Water house plants
- Play horseshoes
- Watch “Sesame StreetTM” together
- Make homemade ice cream
- Make holiday cards
- Reminisce about favorite sports activities that he or she enjoyed while growing up
- Write a letter to a friend or family member
- Dress in your favorite football or soccer team’s colors
- Pop popcorn
- Name the presidents
- Give a manicure
- Make paper butterflies
- Plant a tree
- Finish famous sayings
- Feed the ducks
- Model with play dough
- Look at pictures in a comic book
- Put a puzzle together
- Sand wood
- Rub in hand lotion
- Arrange fresh flowers
- Remember famous people
- Recite nursery rhymes
- Make peanut butter sandwiches
- Cut up used paper for scratch paper
- Blow bubbles
- Take care of a fish tank
- Bake cupcakes and decorate them
- Use a video camera or cassette recorder and interview the person about his of her life
- Play the game HangmanTM
- Finger paint
- Cut out pictures from magazines
- Put coins in a jar
- Put bird seed out for the birds
- Decorate a pumpkin
- Reminisce about a favorite summer
- Roll yarn into a ball
- Trace and cut out autumn leaves
- Cook a favorite family recipe together
- Gather a yellow sponge, crayons, paper, and tape and make “SpongeBob SquarePantsTM”
- Wash silverware
- Share a hug
- Ask him or her to show you how knit of sew (or another favorite hobby)
- Make a picture frame out of Popsicle sticks and glitter
- Play a musical instrument
- Keep a journal together
- Ask him or her to talk about favorite sports hero
- Sort playing cards
- Ask about his or her favorite pet
- Wash windows together
- Ask about his or her first car
- Dance!
