Does anyone have a recommendation for materials that improve memory and cognitive skills that are not computer based?

I'm not sure from your note whether you are looking for something to help someone with dementia or looking to prevent dementia.

If the person already has Alzheimer's or another dementia, there are puzzles and other games on sites such as the ones mentioned by lily04 as well as alzstore.com. You can call your local Alzheimer's organization for recommendations as well.

If you want to improve your own mind, reading - even novels - can be excellent, as can challenging crossword puzzles and complicated physical puzzles.

The key is to do things differently, however, so even a crossword puzzle that is similar to the others becomes less of a challenge.

Experts often recommend just doing things in reverse, such as brushing your teeth left handed or reversing your morning routine in some way. All of this works to challenge the brain and jog it out of rote thinking. Developing a new hobby, volunteering and other social activities can help, too.

Take care,
Carol

This company sells games for use with Alzheimer's paitients. I haven't bought them myself, but they look high quality and very interesting.

minddesigngames

also, Springbok sells really nice puzzles, with 36 large pieces that my mother enjoys. I believe that doing puzzles can stimulate thinking.

My mother enjoys the large print Word Search puzzles. She sits for hours and tries to find words in the puzzle. I have tried coloring, jigsaw puzzles, dolls, etc. and my mom hasn't had any long term interest in them. She reads (or should I say stares at) the paper for hours. Then does the Word Search puzzles. She is actually doing them and doing them correctly. It takes her some time but she feels it is helping to exercise her brain.
Physical exercise is also good but my mom has difficulty walking so she prefers not to.

You might try foreign language learning tapes or CDs. There are some designed for young children, others that are more scholarly based, and there are those that are in between.

I think that word search puzzles are good for the brain... I made a memory type game for some folks with actual pictures of animals and flowers from magazines. I then laminated the pictures and it worked well, and it was fun Keep in mind often their attentions spans are not long. Make a lifestory book for them... Of pictures from their life. NOT a big scrape book but just a small book with one or two pictures on a page. Events and things precious to the individual. It can be very hard sometimes I think music is the best thing. But for most "older folks" It would not be current music older stuff, Doris Day, Bing Crosby, Perry Como even Lawrence Welk. take care...

Exercise, exercise, exercise, do math problems, use your verbal skills by interacting with lots of different people (all ages), and make sure you are eating foods that stimulate brain cell activity (i.e. salmon, tuna, blueberries, avocados, etc.). Do reading of medical type books that talk about brain health to help yourself, keep your weight appropriate to your height, and keep a positive outlook. Anyone can get dementia so do all you can do and if you get it, then get help.

They say walking is good exercise for the brain too! Some find benefit from Ginko Biloba, but it hasn't helped me much. The more vegetables you can eat the better to nourish the brain also.

There's a kids' board game that calls for matching faces. I think it's called "Guess Who?" I love it and would play it as an adult, so I highly recommend it!

I just signed up for Luminosity. It is same price per month as your Ginko supplement. Lets just say, apparently I have room for improvement. It was not too hard, but it will help memory and other areas of brain function.

Luminosity is computer based. I believe the question wanted to rule the computer out. But, having been on it previously, it is great and those are the types of things I get tested on when I go for my research study at Mayo Clinic.