Whether an elderly person is housebound due to the weather, physical restrictions or a health issue, keeping their mind and body active is vital for their mental and physical health.
It’s not always easy coming up with indoor activities that are engaging, fun and stimulating, so we’ve come up with some ideas to get you started.
8 Engaging and Fun Indoor Activities
Cooking and Baking
Cooking and baking with an elderly person can be lots of fun and stimulates many of their senses: touch, sight, smell and taste. Cooking can also help with their hand and eye coordination. Baking cakes or biscuits is a nice easy activity or if you want to get more technical try cooking food from different cuisines.
Arts and Crafts
Getting crafty can help an older person tap into their creative side. It can also help with focus and have a calming effect on someone who is anxious or stressed. There are lots of options when it comes to arts and crafts including drawing and colouring, painting, paper crafts, wood craft and knitting. Use significant days such as Christmas or the seasons for inspiration.
Indoor gardening
While gardening might seem like an outdoor activity, there are lots of things you can do indoors with someone who has a green thumb. Get some colourful pots and plant a few indoor plants. Some herbs and vegetables also do well indoors and you get to enjoy the fruits of your labour when they are ready for eating.
Games
Board and card games are a great way to engage, entertain and stimulate the mind. There are an endless number of board games you could try depending on the ability of the person.
If you don’t have any then you can pick them up very cheaply in Charity shops. Playing card games can help improve concentration, memory and even delay the effects of cognitive decline. Solitaire, snap, go fish, rummy or bridge are all options depending on a person’s abilities and how many people are there to play.
Puzzles
Puzzles, like games, can help to stimulate cognitive function. They can also help a person with relaxation. There are lots of options when it comes to puzzles. From crosswords to word searches, to jigsaw puzzles. Find puzzles that your senior enjoys and that also suit with their ability – as you don’t want them to get frustrated.
Indoor Exercise
It’s important as you age to remain active and as physically fit as possible. Even if your senior can’t get outside, they can still exercise. Since the pandemic the options for online classes have grown tremendously. I’m not talking about Hit sessions with Joe Wickes. There are options, for all abilities, including yoga and chair exercises. Always check with a Dr before attempting new exercise.
Armchair Travel
For those that love to travel but for whatever reason are unable to go, then armchair travel is a great alternative. There are lots of general travel shows, or you could look for ones on a particular place or country your elderly person would like to travel to. You could also look at YouTube videos, borrow books from the library and cook food from that place.
Music
When it comes to music there are lots of options for fun and engaging activities you can do with an older person. If they play a musical instrument then encourage them to continue and even learn new pieces of music - it’s great for helping them focus, concentrate and their memory. You could also listen to their favourite music and talk about the memories it brings back.
We hope this blog has provided some inspiration activities you can with an elderly person indoors. The important thing is to find activities they enjoy doing and add variety to those activities to keep it fun and interesting.