When working with residents with dementia, consider using these picture books to help your residents remember and relate better to the activity. Here are four fun picture book games that you can play with your residents who have dementia:
What’s Going on in the Picture?
Share pictures from a picture book and ask your resident to guess what she thinks is happening in the picture. Encourage your resident to tell a story with details about the background of the people in the picture as well as what she believes is the locale of the picture.
What’s the Sound?
Have fun assisting your resident with looking at pictures and creating the sound that he thinks he would hear in the background of the picture. For example, make an ocean sound for a picture of the beach or make a howling wind sound for a picture of a winter mountain top.
Where in the World?
While looking at the pictures in the book, invite your resident to guess where in the world that picture could have been taken. For instance, if your resident is familiar with states, ask him what state he thinks that picture was taken in and why. Instead, if your resident is only familiar with local areas, then ask him where in the neighborhood he thinks the picture was taken.
What Colors Do You See?
Help your resident identify the colors that she sees in the pictures by stating a color and seeing if your resident can point it out in the picture. Alternatively, have your resident use her finger to go over the photo, naming the colors that her finger touches in the picture.
Find more ideas from Notjustbingo on the S&S blog here.
About Not Just Bingo:
Not Just Bingo is an online resource of fun, senior activity ideas for activity professionals of assisted living facilities. They have been providing fun activity ideas online since 2009, and continue to assist activity professionals across the country by creating meaningful and engaging activity ideas for their residents that go “beyond bingo.” Not Just Bingo feels privileged to help activity directors better the living experiences of their residents while demonstrating that a senior’s quality of life can actually improve when they move to a senior facility!
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