At New Copford Place, our Colchester-based residential care home, residents have been celebrating this year’s National Puzzle Day and talking about their love of all things ‘Puzzling’. Whether it’s traditional Jigsaw Puzzles, Word Searches, Hangman, Word Wheels, Code Breakers or Cryptogram brain teasers, the residents love them all.
“The residents adore all types of puzzles and games, whether they are playing in groups or individually on our great, large interactive tablet, there’s always something puzzling going on. Knowing their love of puzzles, I have made sure they are a firm fixture on our wide and varied activities calendar,” said Chelsey Leather, the Activities Coordinator at New Copford Place.
“I tailor all the activities to meet each residents’ individual likes, preferences and hobbies, as it is important to keep them engaged, motivated and happy every day.
“To mark this year’s National Puzzle Day, I ran a fun, spoof quiz to find out, once and for all, the residents’ all time, top 10 puzzles, and the results were not surprising,” continued Chelsey. “In reverse order, the results came in as follows…. Unravel the Word took 10th place, with Sudoku coming in in ninth spot. Crosswords came eighth and Codewords a respectful seventh. Sixth place went to Word Wheels, fifth to Spot the Difference and fourth was Join the Dots. “Taking the Bronze Medal at number three was Word Searches, Silver went to traditional ‘piece’ Puzzles and taking pole position and the Gold Medal were the puzzles played on our interactive screen, with the favourites being Hangman and Cryptogram,” added Chesley. “Which wasn’t too much of a surprise as the interactive table is always busy with either groups of residents doing a puzzle together, or a resident enjoying some of their own ‘Puzzle Time’.”
“The residents all have their favourite puzzles and games,” said Daniel Sabau, the Registered Manager at New Copford Place. “90-year-old resident, Pat Linscott told me that she likes to play and do puzzles with friends and Chelsey, as they all put all their heads together to find the answers, especially when doing Word Searches and Cryptograms. “Pat also said that her absolute favourites are the classic piece jigsaws and that she believes that everyone always needs a pack of cards as you can play so many games with those and, that Dominoes and the traditional Snakes and Ladders, are great as all ages can enjoy playing them together.”
Doing puzzles and playing games on a large interactive tablet can bring many benefits to older people. Amongst other things, it can help with cognitive stimulation and mental health, improve memory and brain activity and help to improve processing speeds. “The interactive tablet at the care home has a touch screen so it also helps with eye-hand coordination, mobility and balance,” continued Chelsey. “Using the interactive tablet is also a physical activity as the player has to reach, move pieces or swipe from a seated position. It’s wonderful for group interactions too, so also has a positive emotional impact on the players.”
“The interactive tablet is very popular and a good example of our continued and ongoing commitment to always provide exceptional standards of tailored, quality care bespoke to each individual. The residents can enjoy a puzzle or game, playing as a group or use it on their own, it’s their choice,” concluded Daniel.
Find out more about New Copford Place care home by calling 01206 210 397 or emailing [email protected].