Suitable Dementia Activities For Every Stage 

It can feel like a challenge to maintain a good quality of life for people living with dementia as their condition progresses. As a caregiver or relative, you might struggle to find activities to boost their wellbeing and provide sensory stimulation. Like you, we’ve lived through this and we’re passionate about helping you find activities for dementia at every stage. 

In our latest blog post, we’re breaking down each stage and offering you lots of dementia-friendly activities for every stage to stimulate their senses, ease anxiety and depression, and spend quality time together.

What Are The Stages Of Dementia?

Dementia is a progressive condition that affects a person’s cognitive function, memory, and behaviour. 

It’s categorised into three main stages:

Early Stage (or Mild Dementia) – symptoms start to become noticeable and impact everyday activities and relationships, like forgetfulness, difficulty finding the right words, mood changes, and struggling to plan and organise.

Middle Stage (or Moderate Dementia) – symptoms become even more noticeable and may significantly impact daily life – e.g. increased memory loss, confusion about time and place, personality changes, and difficulty with everyday tasks like getting dressed

Late Stage (or Severe Dementia) – this stage sees a significant decline in cognitive and physical function – severe memory loss, difficulty walking, dependence on others for basic care, inability to communicate, and needing full-time care.

Of course, dementia affects everyone differently, and the characteristics will vary from one person to the next. 

Not everyone will experience every symptom at every stage, and there are other factors (like overall health and underlying causes) that can impact how quickly it progresses.

Whatever stage they’re at, it’s important for people with dementia to stay in touch with people they love, and take part in activities that boost their mental and physical wellbeing.

Whether you’re caring for people with dementia at home, have a friend or family member experiencing it, or you’re looking for an activity for dementia patients in your care home, we’ve put together a list of meaningful activities to make them smile and maintain a connection at every stage.

Why It’s Important For People With Dementia To Stay Active and Stimulated

Planning activities for dementia patients at home and in care settings is vital for their wellbeing and quality of life, supporting their:

Cognitive function – challenging the brain strengthens neural connections, and promotes cognitive resilience, which can even help slow the progression of Alzheimer’s or other dementia-related conditions

Emotional wellbeing – when seniors with dementia take part in enjoyable activities it can lift their mood, reduce anxiety or depression, and evoke positive emotions.

Social connections – keeping connected to you and others fights feelings of loneliness, isolation, and withdrawal that are common in Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. 

Challenging behaviours – people with dementia can present challenging behaviours like aggression and wandering. By providing them with things to do that engage their minds and keep them interested, you can reduce boredom and manage difficult symptoms with more ease.

Better sleep – keeping mind and body active for people with Alzheimer’s or another dementia-related condition regulates sleep-wake cycles and improves the quality of sleep, boosting overall physical and mental health 

Physical health – improve strength, balance, flexibility, and overall physical health. 

Purpose and identity – exploring activities related to their interests, hobbies, or past lives helps them to remember who they are and increase their self-esteem and confidence, not to mention giving a sense of purpose to their days.

Suitable Dementia Activities For Every Stage

So, bearing the stages in mind, we’re going to delve into suitable activities to stimulate bodies and brains at every stage of the condition after a dementia diagnosis has been made.

For care homes head over to our other blog on activity ideas for groups and individuals in care.

Early Stage Dementia Activity Ideas

After being diagnosed with dementia, it’s often still in the early stages when the person is living at home and enjoying a relatively independent lifestyle. 

Here are some ways to keep brains active and bodies strong during the early days for someone with dementia.

Activities To Reminisce

Look through old photo albums or family videos together.

Encourage your loved one to join you in making a collage or scrapbook.

Help people with dementia explore their former hobbies or interests to remember things that formed their identity.

Simple Cognitive Games

Play simple card games like Go Fish, Snap or Matching Memories with large, easy-to-handle cards.

Solve jigsaw puzzles with larger pieces or simpler designs.

Try word games like crosswords and word searches relating to familiar topics.

Creative Activities

Paint or colour in with watercolours or large crayons.

Try simple craft activities, like making greeting cards or bunting, or decorating picture frames to display images of friends and family and spark memories of the past.

Play music they love and encourage them to sing along.

Cooking or baking a delicious, nostalgic treat to enjoy as a group and discuss the taste and smell.

Gardening

Plant flowers or herbs and tend to them regularly – a great activity for relaxation and mindfulness.

Water plants together and discuss their progress together with the care team or as a small group.

Physical Activities

Nature walk noticing how the seasons are changing or naming trees and birds.

Tai chi or gentle yoga for a wellbeing boost.

Dancing to favourite tunes.

Simple housework – let them help you fold laundry or organise the kitchen cupboards.

Meet other people at a memory cafe or find a local dementia support group (this will be fantastic support for you as well if you care for someone).

Middle Stage Dementia Activities 

As dementia progresses, it doesn’t mean your options for stimulating activities decreases. There are many activities to try – it’s simply a case of getting creative and coming up with new ways to give a person with dementia a burst of energy and positivity.

Try these fun activity ideas for middle-stage (or moderate) dementia.

Everyday Tasks

Folding laundry or organising objects – this can be mentally and physically stimulating.

Gardening – watering plants, planting seeds, or simply taking a stroll through the garden discussing different flowers and trees – how many can they name? Does the sight and smell remind them of anything?

Sensory Activities

Offer different textured materials to explore, such as soft fabrics, textured balls, or sensory bins with materials like rice or sand to stimulate the senses and open up conversations about how things look, feel, and sound.

Offer scented lotions, essential oils, or scented sachets for relaxation – choose scents they’re familiar with and see if they’re open to discussing what it reminds them of.

Movement & Creativity

Walking – a steady stroll is great exercise and staves off boredom and low mood.

Yoga (or chair yoga) – one study showed yoga and meditation could potentially improve cognitive function, as well as reducing stress.

Arts and crafts – create a painting, make something simple, or try mindful colouring to unleash creativity.

Sing along (or even bust a few moves) to songs they loved in their younger days – you’ll be surprised at how many songs they remember! 

Read aloud or invite them to write simple poetry based on a specific prompt or freestyle, whichever suits them best.

Guided meditation to calm anxiety and improve sleep.

Games

Simple board games like Connect 4 are great to get brains going without causing agitation.

Physical activities like playing catch, skittles, tossing a bean bag, or keeping a balloon in the air are great fun and avoid complicated instructions.

Late Stage Dementia Activities 

In the later stages of dementia, people are usually under 24/7 care from a loved one, professional, or care home environment.

However, even in the late stages there are still many new activities you can introduce to help people affected by dementia to feel a moment of joy in their everyday life.

While it can feel challenging to connect if verbal communication is no longer an option, sensory activities in particular give them an alternative way to express emotions through gestures, expressions, and body language.

This can really keep that connection going and help you understand them better.  

We shared plenty of care home activities for dementia in a previous blog post, so let’s recap on simple activities for later stages specifically.

Sensory Activities

Tactile stimulation – offer various textures for them to touch, like snuggly blankets and soft toys, fidget toys or sensory boards.

Hand and feet massages with their favourite scented creams and calming aromatherapy oils.

Hair brushing – gentle and stimulating to relax them and make them feel looked after.

Pet therapy – inviting dogs or cats into your home or care setting is a great form of therapy for the latter stages in particular – stroking and being around calming and loving animals will give them a boost and make them smile.

Music, Sound & Dance

Listening to music – music and singing can ease challenging behaviours during personal care if that’s something you’re struggling with.

Dance – try simple dance movements and invite them to sway or clap along to a playlist of songs from their heyday.

Instruments – try a range of musical instruments like bells, triangles or drums (DIY them if you don’t have any to hand!) and encourage people with dementia to tap along or express themselves through sound.

Storytime – read aloud stories or poems from authors they enjoy, or newspaper articles from past decades.

Movie night – play an old classic and watch it together – experiencing things they enjoyed in the past will be comforting and relaxing.

Games and Activities For Dementia

We hope these suggestions for suitable dementia activities for every stage got your mind buzzing with ideas – we’d love to know which you try! Keep in touch with us on Instagram and Twitter/X  to tell us how you got on.

All of these activities are designed to help improve your loved one’s quality of life in a small but meaningful way, because we know what it’s like to have to get seriously creative to keep that connection going. 

Of course, the main thing is to ensure your loved one is safe and comfortable during any activity, so you’ll know to take a gentle approach and keep an open mind if things don’t work out quite how you hoped.

There’s no right or wrong way to connect – it’s a case of making it easy for your loved one to open up and join in, though they may not always be in the mood and that’s okay too. Keep trying 💛

We believe there’s joy to be found in every stage of dementia if you get your thinking cap on and try different activities to see what works. It’s important to find the right balance for your person, because everyone is so different and it’s absolutely not a one-size-fits-all approach!

Check out our games and activities for dementia – if conversation is still an option, we definitely recommend Matching Memories, our dementia-friendly conversation game. We designed it based on our own experiences and tested it thoroughly in care homes. 

Want to know more about us and why we do this? You can find out more about our story here.