Any suggestions for activities for a former very active, can't sit still 79-year-old stage 4 Alzheimer's mother? She "can't think."

I have a lot of experience taking care of my dementia mother for many years til the end. My answer to you is, it depends on her condition. I have seen different people progressed very differently. But, I understand for Alzheimer patients, their inner brains that control music get damaged last. So, you can ask her to play music, sing songs with her, or have her listen to the music. Also, have her drew simple pictures will slow down the progress of this disease. I let me mother lived to normal life as much as I could. I took her to swim everyday. I let her wearing floats so she won't sink. She seems enjoy it. Sometimes, I took her to a park in front of flowers. She enjoy watching birds singing, the blue sky, and the green grass. It really takes a lot of patience. But, you know you did the best you could for her and have no regret when the time come. Good luck.

I don't have experience with this, but I've heard that fidget toys can be comforting for restlessness. Also realistic baby dolls give some women with dementia a sense of being busy. If you haven't seen it yet, try the ALZStore catalog, which is available on line. Also type fidget toys in Google or another search engine for lots of examples and sources. That may inspire you to find things at a local store.

When you find some things that work for you, please come back and share! This is a widespread need, and we can learn from each other.

I'm wondering how much she can do physically? I mean can you take her swimming for example, or just out walking ok? I was equating her restlessness to that of my son that had ADHD pretty bad when he was young. Now as an adult, he uses it to his advantage at work. While others are sitting on their hands, he's busy finding other projects to do.