Valentine’s Day is a special time to celebrate love, creativity, and connection through simple, dementia-friendly Valentine crafts and activities. Read on for 10 easy Valentine’s crafts for dementia caregivers to try!
This list of easy, sensory-friendly activities is designed to meet your loved one right where they are, celebrating their abilities and creating joy. It’s an opportunity to create conversations, have fun, be involved and engage in sensory-friendly activities tailored for loved ones living with dementia.
1. Decorate a “Love Tree”
Decorating a “Love Tree” is a great way to work together either in a community setting or at home to create a beautiful decorative piece filled with personal touches.
How to Do it:
- Collect some twigs or larger branches from trees together in your local area (give them a quick wash to get rid of bugs!)
- Stand them up in vase or larger vessel, you can leave them loose or fill with sand or use floral sponges to hold them
- Then hang heart-shaped ornaments, flowers, and other festive touches or other diy decorations like little love hearts with personal messages.
2. Host a Cosy Valentine’s Day Tea Party
What a great way to bring people together, I know my mum would love hosting a Valentine’s Day tea party or you may already be part of a day centre group that could organise such an activity with a little nudge for those living with dementia.
How to do it:
- If you’re doing it at home, invite family and friends around.
- Prepare & make together heart-shaped sandwiches and heart shaped cakes!
- Get the best china tea cups out (replace for more suitable cups if dexterity an issue)
- Instead of normal teas, offer a selection of teas, my mum loves any activity with a cup of tea involved especially if it’s a Chai tea!
- You can make some space for a spot of dancing if your loved ones are up for it and depending on activity levels. Dust down those old vinyl records (or play digitally) and reminisce together over favourite times, and valentine occasions from the past.
- You can even add in some fun Valentine’s-themed games like, word searches, quizzes, or Bingo.
Enjoy the afternoon!
3. Make Scented Clay Hearts
We learnt to work with clay in our art classes, it’s great for the sensory stimulation and as a creative outlet, you can create anything you want. One thing we learnt was using clay to make ornaments. So let’s take that a step further with making scented clay Valentine ornaments.
How to do it:
- Mix unscented modeling clay with a few drops of essential oil diluted in a carrier oil.
- Shape into hearts, you can use cutters to help create the shape and then press dried flower petals into the surface. Create a small hole for hanging with string or ribbons
- Let air-dry and hang near a window to catch sunlight.
4. Create a Textured Valentine Garland
Thinking of making some decorative pieces for Valentine as an afternoon activity, then why not try make a textured Valentine garland using fabrics with different textures to stimulate touch.
How to do it:
- Cut out heart shapes or shapes that you love from felt, velvet, lace, or faux fur or materials you have in the home. Stuff them with pillow stuffing, or other materials or stick the material to cardboard cutouts to help maintain its shape.
- Glue the hearts onto a ribbon or string.
- Hang the garland together and discuss the textures (e.g., “This velvet reminds me of your favorite scarf!”).
5. Memory Jar of Valentine Love & Kindness Notes
I love mason jars, they can be used for so many activities and using them to share love and kindness through notes during Valentine’s week is a great visual and interactive way to say what you mean to say but somehow never do and share that feeling of positive words washing over you and your loved one with dementia.
How to Do it:
- Decorate a clear jar with stickers or paint.
- Write kind messages or memories on colorful paper slips, like simple, uplifting messages like, “I love your laugh,” or prompt them to recount a happy memory.
- Fold notes and place them in the jar.
- Select a few notes daily and read the them aloud together over Valentines week, and after!
6. Button Heart Frame
Who doesn’t have a load of spare buttons in a tin somewhere at home? (Or maybe that just us!). Any why not repurpose these spare buttons into a colorful frame to showcase a cherished photo.
How-to do it:
- Arrange red, pink, and white buttons into a heart shape on a plain photo frame.
- Secure with glue and let dry.
Insert a photo of a shared memory to display and place in a position that it can be seen and enjoyed!
7. Create Calm with Flower Arranging
I love fresh flowers and always to try to have some in the house, arranging flowers can be a mindful activity and to make a valentines arrangement doesn’t have to be expensive if you use less tulips, and intermix with baby breath (gypsophila ), leaves or white chrysanthemums then you can avoid using the costly option of roses (or if you prefer them,then get them from the discount stores like Aldi or Lidl!)
How to do it:
- Gather Flowers: Get fresh flowers of different colours and sizes, pick a mix of red, pink, and white flowers. along with scissors and a vase.
- Trim Stems: Help your loved one cut the stems to the desired length to fit the vase.
- Arrange Flowers: Place the flowers in the vase however they like. Encourage them to mix colours and shapes.
Your loved one with or without your help can place and arrange the flowers to their liking and add any additional embellishments like ribbons. And it a great conversation starter on their favourite flowers, the best Valentine bouquet they received etc
8. Bake Valentine Biscuits/Cookies
Baking Valentine biscuits/cookies is a delicious way to create new memories while engaging in a familiar activity with a loved one living with dementia.
How to Do It:
- Prepare cookie dough and cookie cutters in various heart shapes.
- Invite your loved one to help roll out the dough and cut out shapes. Use icing and sprinkles to decorate them afterward.
- Consider attaching a small note with each cookie indicating what you appreciate about them or a fond memory.
9. Share Heartwarming Love Stories and Memories
Reminiscing about love stories and cherished memories is a beautiful way to connect with loved ones living with dementia.
How to Do It:
- Create a comfy space with cushions and refreshments. Invite your loved one to sit, perhaps with a photo album.
- Encourage storytelling by choosing specific photos or discussing prompts such as “Who was your first love?” or “What was your fondest Valentine’s Day memory?”
- You might want to record these stories through audio or journaling and create a keepsake to revisit later. It’s always a special time when your loved one recounts their cherished memories.
10. Create Homemade Valentine Cards
Creating Valentine themed cards is a fun and easy activity for loved ones with dementia. You can adapt the card-making process to suit different dementia levels, using watercolour, paints, heart shaped stamps, different types of cards, tissues, customise them with personal messages, or by even adding edible items like heart shaped sweets. Just make sure that they end up in the desired location and not all been eaten by a loved one, definitely my mum’s preferred choice! Below is how we made nature infused Valentine cards using dried leaves, petals, or twigs.
How to Do It:
- Collect fallen leaves, twigs, flower or petals from a walk.
- Glue them onto folded cardstock in heart shapes and intermix with other materials to create beautiful cards, use messages, add some artful touches with paints and crayons for personalised cards for your loved ones, kids, partners, or other family and friends.
Thanks for Reading!
That’s it my 10 ideas, what’s your favourite, or do you have any other ideas to share? Let me know in the comments. Hopefully, by incorporating these easy Valentine’s crafts and activities for dementia caregivers to try you can cultivate an environment of love, connection, and meaningful engagement for your cherished loved ones.
