Welcome to our Carers Resource Hub, packed full of free printable activities for dementia patients and elderly clients. From seasonal activities to creative puzzles, these options are ideal for any care workers or care givers looking for interactive, fun activities to keep your clients engaged and stimulated.
These printable activities provide an essential hub of free instant downloads to assist you when entertaining your clients whilst providing mental stimulation. You could download all of them to create free dementia activity packs for your client or family member, or download these printable memory care activities one by one when you’ve got an afternoon to fill!
Who Is This Resource Hub Designed For?
We created our carers resource hub for anyone looking for free printable activities for the person their providing care to. Often, we receive feedback that these activities are perfectly suited towards dementia patients, but they can also be used for elderly clients you’re providing care to or anyone within your care. That’s why we’ve created this activity hub with a range of group activities, plus many solo activities that can be adapted.
This online platform is designed to provide a complete list of free, printable activities and ideas and is updated regularly to ensure there’s always something for everyone.
Games
We’ve created a wide range of classic games and brain teasers that you can download and print off at your leisure. From word searches with a nostalgic touch to bingo, these are guaranteed to keep your clients engaged and entertained.
Christmas Activity Pack
We are excited to round up the year by bringing you our Christmas Activity Pack! This pack is designed to get you and your clients in the festive mood this Christmas season. We have included your much-loved favourites and given them a merry makeover! These include:
- Colouring in
- Dot to Dots
- Wordsearch
- Match the Cards
- Crossword
Dot to Dots
This classic connect the dots activity is a fantastic way to provide some light-hearted entertainment for those who prefer solo tasks.
Participants can use either a pen or pencil to join up each dot to the next to reveal a fun picture that they can then colour in if they wish. Whilst taking part in this activity they are also testing their cognitive function and building their sequencing skills.
Crosswords
These crosswords range in difficulty level depending on ability and cognitive function. The topics include:
- Food
- Everyday Objects
- Animals
- Instruments
- You can find the instructions at the beginning of the pack and the answers at the back. But no cheating!
Word Searches
We have put together a pack of word searches with a range of topics to cater for everyone. These include:
- Baking
- Common pets
- Flowers
- Elvis Presley
- Garden Tools
- We’ve also included a set of instructions and a page at the back with all the answers!
Bingo
Bingo is a classic game of chance that requires no skill or strategy, making it easy to pick up and play. Bingo is also a great social game, allowing people to interact with each other. It is also extremely popular amongst many older adults.
Players must listen for the numbers that they have on their sheet to be called out. Once they have marked off a row they can shout Bingo! Then the next aim is to get a whole box. Once a player has reached a full box and called Bingo the game is over and you can hand out the prizes or money!
PA & Carers Insurance
Cover available for:
- Self-Employed Carers & PAs
- Individual Employers
- Carer & PA Businesses
- Direct Payments
- Domiciliary Carers
- Home Employment Cover (for those that employ carers in their home)
Music Activities
Music has proved to have significant benefits for people with dementia in particular. With that said, these musical activities can be useful in any client setting as a way to reminisce about the good old days.
Finish The Lyric
Music is a great way to get everyone involved and help those to reminisce about the past.
The idea of this game is to finish the lyric with the correct answer. To make it easier we have created a playlist of the songs that you can play to the participants on Spotify.
Guess The Song
Like the previous game, this game is also a music activity. The aim of this game is to guess the name of the song and the artist. We have created another playlist with a selection of songs ranging throughout the decades, so there should be something for everyone.
Memory Games
You can set these memory games up for your client to play alone or with multiple players. A great way to challenge short-term memory and encourage cognitive development. These quick games are both fun and mentally stimulating and particularly well-received among elderly people.
Match the Cards
This match the card game is to encourage the cognitive function of the brain and challenge short-term memory. For each picture, there are two of the same card. Players must place all the cards facing up and analyse their positions. Then after 2 minutes they should turn all the cards over and try to match them up based on their memory.
Match the Picture With the Word
This is a memory-based game to help those who may be struggling with remembering basic items. There is a collection of cards with words and a corresponding picture. Players should place all of the picture cards face up on a table. Then players should shuffle the cards with the words on them and then choose the correct picture card and match them up.
Other Activities
Not quite found what you’re looking for? We’ve included some more fantastic ideas to do with your clients below. From relaxing chair-based yoga for all abilities to printable colouring sheets to get creative on a rainy day.
Chair Yoga
Chair yoga is a great way to include gentle exercise into your client’s daily routine. It doesn’t have to be strenuous and can help their physical and mental health. It is a great form of exercise for people of all ages and abilities, as it can be adapted to suit any level of fitness.
Chair yoga is low-impact and can help improve flexibility, concentration, and strength, while also reducing stress and joint strain.
Decorate Your Walker Competition
This activity is a great activity for clients who have walkers. It can even be useful for helping to tell their walkers apart if you are in a care home setting with multiple clients. Some ideas for decorations include ribbons, bells, bunting, feather bowers, streamers, and fairy lights.
Scent Guessing
Some clients may be experiencing memory loss issues, and a great way to entice some recollection can be through scent guessing. This is also an easy task to put together with items found around the home.
Clients should be blindfolded and then another player should pass items under the other player’s nose to allow them to smell and guess. Good examples to use for this are garlic, lavender, cinnamon, perfume, lemon, vinegar, coffee, and mint.
Storytelling
Clients should be encouraged to reminisce about their past experiences as often their memory of the past may be better than the present. If this is in a group setting then clients can go around the room and discuss. You could perhaps suggest for residents to bring some family photo albums to show to their peers.
Perhaps they can start by picking an age they were and they can talk about what they were up to at that age. They can talk about their favourite music and how they listened to it.
Any stand-out events in their life. What they were wearing, what toys they were playing with and what their job or hobby was or what school year they were in.
Bird Watching
This activity can be taken outside in the garden or to a local park. However, if you are lucky enough to have big windows within the home and would rather, then it can be done from inside. We would always suggest, where possible, to take residents outside to get some fresh air and spend time in nature as this is a simple way to boost their overall well-being.
Take a notepad or a piece of paper and note down the birds that you see. You can even make this into a chart to keep track of all the birds you spot.
Photography Club
Like bird watching, depending on your clients needs and any potential mobility issues, they can either go outside to take photos or take photos around the home.
Ideas to photograph include nature, flowers, animals, a musical instrument, landscapes and friends or one another. Clients can even start a scrapbook or photo album to store their photos once printed.
Questions for Debate
Healthy group debate is a great way to include clients/residents in conversations and to get them to engage and bond.
We have put together a few questions and would you rather style questions to start off with and encourage others to come up with more questions.
Download Your Debate Topics Sheet
Brain Teaser
Brain teasers are an excellent way to exercise your brain and keep it sharp. By stimulating your mind to think and act in new and creative ways, they can help you improve your problem-solving skills.
In addition, brain teasers can help you increase focus and concentration, as well as improve your memory and help elderly people stay sharp.
We have put together a collection of questions that are light-hearted and to get participants thinking.
Card Games
Card games are also a brilliant way to encourage residents to play games with one another. Some residents may already be familiar with certain card games. These individuals can take turns teaching and explaining the rules to others. This helps exercise their memories as they recount gameplay details.
Colouring Sheets
Colouring is an all-time classic, however, in recent years colouring has become more popular for older adults. There has been a lot of research done on the benefits of colouring and how it encourages mindfulness and relaxation.
Residents can use pens, pencils and even paints to complete the colouring sheets. You can even display them around the home once they are complete.
Seasonal Activity Packs
Halloween Activity Pack
Get into the spirit this season with our Halloween expansion pack! This is your one-stop shop for getting your client in the Halloween mood! We have taken some of your favourites and added a spooky twist. These include:
- Colouring in
- Dot to Dots
- Wordsearch
- Match the Cards
We would love to know how you and your clients get on with these activities. Feel free to upload some photos and tag Surewise on Facebook so that we can take a look! We also welcome any ideas for other activities you might like to see added here, please send any feedback to [email protected].
Surewise is a leading UK provider of carers and personal assistant insurance for self-employed carers, Direct Payments users, home employment staff, and more. Our policies are designed to protect you, your clients and members of the public should something go wrong while carrying out your responsibilities as a care worker.
