What are some ideas for activities that are interesting for elders?

What you do for activities depends on their level of education, and activities they have liked to do in the past or are capable of doing easily without getting frustrated. During the five years I was taking care of her she pretty much did what she liked - reading, and watching television (old comedy shows and public TV and documentaries). She is well educated, always injoyed learning something now, but now she seems stuck in a rut. I have done a lot to accomodate her so she can continue reading, got her a magnifier light, strong light lamp and new glasses, which of course cost me quite a bit of money, but it was worth it to keep her happy. She will not go to activities now that she is in the nursing home, claiming they are mindless games and off-key country music (she was a concert pianist). I am trying now to get ahold of some large print music from library of congress so that she can try to get back to playing the piano, however she is frustrated because she had a slight stroke that affected her left hand and she is a real prefectionist, kind of ruins her wanting to play just for fun.

The most important thing is to think about what they liked doing in the past, take into account their tastes in music or whether they enjoy doing crafts or games.

A lot of senior like to hear the old standards from the 30's, 40's and 50's, so I go around to nursing homes and play the piano for them and they seem to really enjoy it.

Also I do a lot of genealogy work on our family, and mom enjoys telling me about the old days, lots of times I get clues about my ancestors from her. A lot of this I have gotten her to write down on paper or speak into the tape recorder. I had five precious years with her trying to keep her active that I really miss now, but I am worn out from the caretaking and she was falling down a lot in the apartment.

I work in Activities in an AL. I use board games, but just the cards, I don't play the game i.e. Trivia Pursuit, Jeopardy. There are lots of books that are fill in the blank or match: i.e. Romeo and ? , Lucy and ? A big erase board with a big word and then pull all the words out of it. (Words Within).

lol,
" off key country music ".
play it backwards you get back your girl , dog, and pick-up truck..