What are some Dementia Friendly Hobbies?

There are many hobbies people with dementia enjoy, even when these activities may be harder as physical or mental decline occurs. These activities may include watching rugby or football, listening to old music, looking at old photos and more. We created the Happiness Programme with these in mind.

Happy Memories is personalising the play experience

Happy Memories is the latest feature of the Happiness Programme, bringing personalised activities to loved ones living in care. The aim is for these personalised experiences to increase the happiness levels of those living with dementia and learning disabilities, as well as those in long term rehabilitation.

These personalised moments come in the form of pictures and photos that are uploaded by friends, family and care staff via our portal.

Getting started

Staff and residents will be able to interact with these pictures and colour them in using hands, arms and prop movements. If a caption has been entered with a particular picture, this will be displayed once each photo has been completed – or coloured in.

Access to the Happy Memories game on the magic table 360 is pin protected by a pin code known to onsite staff and is unique to each care location. Once access has been granted to the game, a resident’s name can be selected and their photos will be projected in random order.

All photos will be stored for a period of 180 days, but can be removed at any time by a contributor of care service administrator. There are also the necessary privacy and consent requirements captured at the point of picture or photo upload via the portal.

Watch our Happy Memories training webinar

Our Social Impact team show you how in the video below.

Steps for uploading personalised content

Visit the portal and create an account by entering your name and email address
Activate your account by clicking the link we send to the email address you provide
Follow the instructions on the portal and create a user for the intended recipient of the pictures and photos
- This requires the name of the care home and the recipient’s name
- More generic photos and images (e.g. of the care venue, local area, etc) can also be uploaded and added to generic folders (for 1-2-1 or group sessions)
Use the upload button to select and upload the pictures and photos (note: please ensure you have the permission of anyone identifiable in the photo(s) before uploading them.
- You can categorise the images, enter captions and mark them as ‘past’ and ‘present’
Once you’ve uploaded your photos, they will appear on the magic table 360 the next time it is connected to the internet (details on how to do that here). If you’re a family member uploading images for a loved one in a care venue, we suggest dropping the care team a note to tell them you’ve uploaded some images.

Not a member of the happiness programme?

The Happiness Programme is a first-of-its-kind initiative helping to change the lives of people living with cognitive challenges. We use interactive light technology to provide meaningful activities for residents and patients in care homes and care settings. For more detail on what the Happiness Programme is and how it’s helping care venues across the UK, visit our getting started page.

Alternatively, jump to our dementia, learning disability, rehabilitation and NHS pages for more specific detail on how it’s helping care homes like Barchester and HC-One as well as hospitals and local authorities such as St George’s Hospital, London and Westminster and South Kensington Council.

What are some Dementia Friendly Hobbies?

Happy Memories is personalising the play experience

Subscribe and join other leading care organisations in the UK

Important Links

Terms

Contact

Sign-up for your Free Activities Planner