At-home activities for the elderly

[klmama]

An elderly relative is going stir-crazy.  I'd like to come up with some suggestions to keep her busy.  She only uses the computer for email and has no interest in learning more.  Her house is pretty clean normally, and now it's spotless.  She's already done the yard clean-up.  She doesn't like to sit and watch TV all day, but she really doesn't have much else to do.  Any ideas?  What are your elderly relatives doing to keep busy?

[Spryte]

My mom has a Thing.  She is a metal sculptor, was well known in her earlier life.  She still works on small pieces in her lap.  (She’s 79 now.) I think art helps - crochet?  Embroidery?  Anything like that?

My mom also colors in those adult coloring books. Good pencils are important.  
 

She plays Solitaire on her phone.

I hear online bridge games are a thing, too.  Sending cards to family?  Going through photos?  One of my MILs is sharing photos via text.

[Frances]

My mom knits, crochets, sews, cooks, walks, does puzzles, FaceTimes with her young adult grandchildren, talks with other friends and relatives on the phone, reads, watches maybe one TV show per day, watches mass, says the rosary, does light housekeeping, listens to music, and writes letters and cards. If she could, she would be planting some flowers and setting up a hummingbird feeder. I think she occasionally plays solitaire or fiddles on her iPad. I know she tries to stick to a routine everyday and tries to keep traditions when she can. For instance, even though she was alone on Easter, she still used a special table cloth, dishes, place setting, etc to enjoy her delivered meal.

[J-rap]

Is she able to take walks?  My dad is 92 and still pretty sharp.  He walks around his building complex every day and now set a new goal of walking around it twice.  He's gotten interested in counting his steps now, since he likes goals.  He's spending time sorting through boxes of old family photos that he's had forever but never had time to organize before.  He's involved in a virtual Bible study with his church.  (That was tricky for him to learn but he's pretty proud of himself that he did!)  I was going to drop off a family tree chart that he can start working on that I happen to have.  He also has a world map that you hang on the wall and scratch off countries you've been to, so he's scratching off every country anyone in the family has ever been to.  (That's a big project because his 12 grandchildren have been all over the world!)  He's working on writing a few short stories.  He and I play Words With Friends together every day (I mean, each at our perspective homes.)  He really enjoys his iPad a lot.  He watches a mystery on Netflix in his iPad every night.

[Pen]

Handwork? Audiobooks? Mask making? Uplifting messages to people who need that?

 

[domestic_engineer]

just an idea (not a tried and tested one):  learning to identify bird calls using this.

 

[PeterPan]

19 hours ago, klmama said:

 What are your elderly relatives doing to keep busy?

Where my dad lives, they're doing facebook live interviews of residents. That's pretty awesome. 

Does she play online cards or do apps like Words with Friends? Want to take up an instrument? Make stuff for charity? Do political calls? 

I have an 80+ yo friend who keeps saying she's going to do Duolingo, one of those online free language courses you can do through the library.

Does she do yoga or tai chi? 

Want to get certified in something? Usually you can get a certificate for something in 45-90 hours, so that would be a few hours a day for a month. There's an online counseling thing you can do where you do a course to become a volunteer counselor. RBT training to work with autism. Certificates in almost anything.

She could get wild and sign up to tutor in english. My stepfather has taken up water color painting. He buys blank cards and paints the cover and then mails them. My father writes letters and has been learning to do Facebook video calls. 

She could plan a trip or what she's doing when all this passes.

She could can specialty foods she wouldn't normally bother to make.                                             Not Your Mama's Canning Book: Modern Canned Goods and What to Make with Them                                     

[Annie G]

Is she able to write cards to send to friends?  You could order stamps and cards and have them delivered.  There are a lot of people who could really use the pick me up that a card would bring. 
 

Does she have a way to watch a dvd if you sent it? Something like tai chi or another light movement program for older people might be something she could incorporate into her day to build a routine.  We do tai chi for arthritis - usually an in person class but now via dvd until classes can meet again. It can even be done sitting in a chair if needed. 
 

 

[klmama]

Thanks for all the great ideas!  

[katilac]

What does she usually do? That might spark some ideas. 

[MercyA]

Things my parents and in-laws enjoy: walks with bird-watching (tries to see how many different birds can be spotted), puzzles, crocheting, organizing pictures, talking on phone 🙂, wood-working

[Heatherwith4]

 My grandmother used to enjoy the adult coloring books, jigsaw puzzles, word and number puzzles of all kinds, and she had a ton of Bible study workbooks.  

[Lanny]

Exercise machine. I read about stationary recumbent magnetic bicycles in a thread on WTM a week or 2 ago. I asked my DW what those are called in Spanish and am looking at one that costs a lot more $ than I would like to pay (I have 2 bicycles in the garage but because I am over 70 am under "Shelter in Place" order until June 1, 2020)

I did a little reading about those machines and now I believe it will be a good investment and much more comfortable than riding my 2 bicycles.

She should do that for about 30 minutes every day. Or every other day.

[Selkie]

Does she like animals? If so, how about fostering a cat (or kittens!) or a dog? 

[katilac]

1 hour ago, txk said:

And to the above I would add a mini trampoline.  Gently bounce for a minute or two off and on throughout the day.  And get one with the bar to hang onto while getting on and off so she doesn't fall.

Recc'ing a mini trampoline to an elderly relative requires optimism I just don't have 😂

[matrips]

On 4/17/2020 at 12:20 AM, klmama said:

An elderly relative is going stir-crazy.  I'd like to come up with some suggestions to keep her busy.  She only uses the computer for email and has no interest in learning more.  Her house is pretty clean normally, and now it's spotless.  She's already done the yard clean-up.  She doesn't like to sit and watch TV all day, but she really doesn't have much else to do.  Any ideas?  What are your elderly relatives doing to keep busy?

My 91 yo MIL does Sudoku and crossword puzzles, reads the paper and watches Jeopardy. 

[katilac]

What about a few plants? She can do container gardening of either flowers or vegetables without doing a full-on garden. Maybe a lil herb garden, which can be done inside or out.