What are good activities to do with dementia patients?

 We continue to be incredibly impressed with the resourcefulness and determination of many of the care teams that we work with. At a time when other activities, and life as we know it, has been so drastically affected, running socially distanced sessions has, and will continue to be critical. 

We’ve been asked to pull together some useful guidance for running socially distanced sessions. Below are some ideas of how to utilise the Magic Table 360 during the difficult COVID-19 restrictions. 

Setting up and cleaning

• We’ve designed the Magic Table 360 to be a safe way for individuals to play with interactive light. There shouldn’t be any reason to touch any shared equipment. 
•  There are only a few touch points on the projectors themselves. We recommend that Clinell wipes, or something similar, are used. These can be used on the remote controls and touch points such as the clamp, especially if multiple people are moving it around. 
•  Props, such as paint brushes, can be cleaned before and after being shared. 
• All parts of the Magic Table 360 can be cleaned with suitable wipes, except from the actual lens. We recommend that this is not touched and only cleaned with a soft, microfibre cloth. 
• If you are using the projections on a shared table, be sure sure to clean the table after use. 

Session ideas

• You could play a session on a large floor area. For example, try a seated game of football. You could also try having a sensory game, such as Autumn Leaves or Rose Petals for people to walk through. 
• Run a session that focuses on our listening games. This is a good activity for later in the day. There is a dedicated playlist for this called Radio Stations. 
• Run a session that focuses on ceiling games. This allows for a larger projection, and for people to be sat further apart. Again, there is a dedicated playlist for this called Ceiling. 

 
Moving the projector around

• The Magic Table 360 can be brought into people’s bed areas and used on bedsheets. This can be great for sensory stimulation sessions and 1:1 support. 
• Whiteboards are helpful for bringing into people’s bedrooms. They can be used to project the games and can be easily cleaned after use. 
• The games will also work well on bedsheets. We have a playlist of games that are designed for this.

If you feel like we’ve missed anything on our list, or have a story to share, we’d love to hear it.

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