Here are some activities that can be used to develop memory and cognitive skills with seniors using the Everbright.
First, get to know the basics of the Everbright’s functionality with this one-sheet user guide.
1. Match the patterns and colors.
One person creates a pattern on one side of the board. Someone else matches the pattern on the other side.
Variations:
- Depending on the size of your group, you could do that one-by-one, so I do something, then you copy it, I do something, you copy it, and we build together. Or, I build a little pattern, and you copy it. I do a shape color and pattern, you copy. You add something to it and then I copy it. It’s like a game, going back and forth.
- Focus on matching the colors.
- Create a geometrical pattern.
- Challenge them to make it a mirror, a symmetrical pattern.
Why this is a good activity for memory care:
This is cognitively challenging. You have to look at a shape, remember it, and transpose it in your mind. Then you take action to recreate it with your hands and eyes. You must then compare it, spot differences, and make corrections.
2. Make the pattern (cards).
You can make little cards that have rules, pictures, or patterns on them. Each user selects a card, looks at the card, then makes the pattern.
Variations:
- Cards have written descriptions of the pattern.
- Cards have pictures of the pattern.
- Cards combine words and pictures.
Why this is a good activity for memory care:
Whether the card is in words, pictures, or a combination of words and pictures, you have to read the instructions on the card, look at the picture, understand it, build a map of it in your head, translate it onto the Everbright, then take action with your hands and eyes to do it. You’re using working memory, eye-hand coordination, error correction, and communication.
3. Make the pattern (oral instructions).
People describe what they want the other person to create. Someone describes a pattern verbally, and the other person listens to their description and creates it.
Why this is a good activity for memory care:
The person doing the verbal description has to imagine what they want to create, uses words to articulate the patterns, and must clearly articulate what they want the person to create. The second person needs to hear it, build a model in their head, and then execute it. Then they can compare what they have created to what they have imagined that they heard.
Skills: recall, memory, short term memory, working memory, visualization, mental visualization, verbal communication, collaboration, interpersonal skills.
4. Name the colors.
Turn the dials three different shades of green (or other color). Questions to ask to engage users:
- What do you call these?
- What are some names for these colors?
- What does this remind you of?
Even for people who are struggling with cognitive skills, naming the colors can be a great exercise. Color is like smell. It’s evocative of memories. Is this the blue you associate with the ocean or the sky when you were a child? Is this the red of the roses in your garden? Color is a primitive universal touchpoint to trigger memories and stories in communication. Everybody shares memories around color.
5. Creative picture building.
Someone starts to draw something like a tree, a flower, or a little sun in the corner and some grass. Ask people to start to add things. The community creates something together.
6. Shared story (using the tablet).
A group of people creates something. Each person gets a little section to create. The group makes a pattern, builds a story about it. You save it with the tablet, and load it up the next day. Ask the group to recall who did what. What did they say about it, or what do they remember about it?
Create a design, save it, and load it back up to continue working on it from day to day. As the pattern progresses, so does the story. People practice recalling the story, adding to it. This becomes a memory building exercise.
Why this is a good activity for memory care:
Simple geometric shapes and primary colors are memory primitives that can be used to strengthen cognitive skills. They’re the abstractions that more complicated memories are built on. If people can practice remembering more primitive things, then they can evoke more complicated memories more easily.
Certainly, the eye-hand coordination is just as important when people age as when they’re young. It’s a way for people to create together and to share memories around a creation.
7. Memory game
Someone makes a pattern and then erases it. You have to recreate it.
Can you remember the pattern and make it again?
1. Create the pattern.
2. Use the tablet to save the pattern.
3. Erase the board.
4. Invite the user to try to recreate the pattern.
5. Save the pattern they created.
6. Load your original saved pattern back onto the board and see what’s different or the same.
Did this inspire you with new ideas not listed here?
Did you try this in real life and want to share any notes, discoveries, findings? Please reach out so we can update this post with more activities that work to build memory and cognitive function.