Posted by Molly5 (152.163.252.163) on September 19, 2003 at 20:37:39:
In Reply to: Busy Boxes posted by Mary Frances on September 19, 2003 at 07:09:07:
: My facility has a high population of dementia and Alz. residents and would like to be able to provide them with activity between activities. Can anybody give me ideas as to what to do for busy boxes and boards. I have seen some in magazine, but they are way out of my budget, and thought they wouldn't be too hard to make. Thanks for your help!
The key thing is to get your CNA's to be on the same page when presenting "Busy Boxes". My feeling is that all that stuff in the catalougs are overpriced and tend to be juvenile. I am fortunate in that my administrator allowed me to turn a stuffy hotel-like lounge right on the unit into a "rummaging diversionary type room ". I have bins filled with all kinds of Safe flea market "junkety junk", Fabric sample books to turn, Baskets of material swatches to roll up, Laundry baskets of socks, laundry, baby clothes, silk flowers to arrange, Yarn to roll on hangers or into balls, Old receipe cards to file, 5 mixed up sets of playing cards with colored pictures on the flipside to sort and straighten out, Wooden bowls or blocks with sandpaper, Magazines strewn about, Coffee table books whose pages are torn out and sandwiched between clear contact paper piled up in a stack so that they are easy to hod and look at (good job for volunteers to prep) Beads to sort by color in plastic sorting boxes, pot holder loops (assorted colors) to sort, Mens ties in a basket that have several knots in them to "undo" , Adult like coloring books or those back velvet coloring boards......................ON and ON......the beauty is that if the stuff disapears, Oh well, so what,,,,,,,,,,,the trick is you have to sort of "disorganize" it all so that the residents will "organize " everything. All of these items are not expensive, they should be safe, and they should be real and familar (actually the older the stuff is the better!. You should have an inservice to show CNAs how to present these "tasks" to residents with dignity and credibility. Hope this helps.