Museum's Daisy Game Assists People With Dementia

Museum volunteers have been working with people who have dementia and their carers for some years. Thanks to Sandford Cascade a grant was awarded in 2018 to research and develop activity kits about the 1960s which are taken to Memory Cafes, social groups and nursing homes.

Themes in the kits include 1960s fashion, childhood in the 1960s and 1960s entertainment. One of the most popular activities is a game where the players have to choose a daisy-shaped counter which has the name of a famous 1960s person and place it on the correct photograph on a board of pictures.

The first version of the Daisy game was very home made, with photos printed off and stuck on a large sheet of card and daisies cut out of colourful paper. But it worked; players enjoyed matching the names and faces and, more importantly, talked about the celebrities and their own younger days.

It has been so successful that the museum applied to the Cooperative Community Fund for a grant to help develop the game further. After listening to lots of comments from care workers, relatives of people with dementia and the general public a prototype of the Daisy Game was made from recycled, washable plastic. 

The prototype was taken to three Co-op branches and customers were invited to have a look, have a go, and give us their thoughts. It was a great opportunity to show customers how their money is being spent and we picked up some good tips about ways to improve the game. The game went into production and was ready for sale just as the national Coronavirus lockdown began!