#recreationtherapy

Hear... 

     A great activity for the senior’s generation while implemeting the sensory of hearing would be matching songs from the 1920s - 1970s! This activity would be great to be done in a group, as the more partcipation the better! We would play a song and have the participant’s guess the title and singer of the song if they remember! This activity would also be great to spark up some conversation and good stories that may help the participants think of and be able to share with the group. It would bring reminiscence, which is great for their cognitive abilities as well as hearing. 

Touch...

     Busy work boards are very effective for a quick activity needed for patients, especially for patients who may be considered ADHD, ADD, Dementia or Alzheimer’s. Obviously when using a busy work board, we are activating our sense in touch, in which is a very important sense to keep in contact with, especially in elders as they begin to loose their ability to use their hands with old age. 

     This type of activity would do best in a recreation therapy setting for a quick activity of determing and describing different touch, as well as getting the clients to utilize their dexterity to hold and squeeze and really be able to get in touch with their sense of touch!

Taste...

    Tasting different types of foods and delicate desserts are essential to our lives and such a treat, especially when tasting ice cream. Utilizing this type of tasting activity for seniors would be a great test on their senses and a good treat as well.

    The main sense while taste testing several ice creams would be taste, obviously, after tasting each ice cream, we would discuss as a group as to what specific flavours are in each ice cream, for example, pralines and cream, mint chocolate chip, french vanilla, bubble gum, etc. This would then airse great memories as to when they were kids, immense social interaction, and just the joy of eating ice cream.

Smell...

     Smelling bottles, this activity would obviously correlate with one of the best senses of smelling. This activity would be a great opportunity to involve seniors in practicing with their inner self and their sense of smell, whether it be weaker with age or super strong and resurfacing with the practicing of smelling and identifying certain and specific smells in a bottle! 

     This activity would be most beneficial to be done in a group. Also, as a Recreation Therapist I would involve senses from their past to get their minds involved as well, and get the reminiscing going. For example, the smell of a fresh coffee, fresh newspaper, cookies, fresh out of the oven, etc. Reminiscing with old senses from the past will not only refresh their sense of smell but also engage them in memory enhancement and a social aspect of reminiscing with their peers. 

Sight...

     Sorting... Sorting is a very effective activity for sensory stimulation for elders and even young kids as well. This type of activity would obviously be a part of the "sight" stimulation as you are touching and feeling the buttons as you are sorting them, but you are also analyzing the texture and colour to know which bin they belong in. With this activity you are also using your touch sensory as mentioned, you are feeling the buttons but the ultimate outcome is being able to know that the blue popsicle sticks go in the blue bin and the red popsicle sticks go in the red bin, and so on. Therefore, we are using our sight to hit the ultimate goal. This activity is also very effective with spoons, utensils, cloths, pom poms, etc.

    This type of activity is used in Recreation Therapy all the time, it is time consuming, distracting, and very effective. This is a great activity for individuals in a Long Term Care home who are needing assistance at all times and you need an activity to keep them busy, feeling accomplished and resurfacing our senses. Not only that, sorting is also effective for your brain and cognitive abilities to know and understand that the spoons go with the spoons and the forks go with the forks. This type of activity is also great for dexterity through the hands and arms as you are lifting iteams up and analyzing them, very effective when folding laundry!