Delicious Discoveries

Food glorious food! Let’s close our eyes and let our noses, tongues and hands lead the way, as we explore a number of edible things. This sensory game covers smell, touch and taste, which all help to trigger memories.

It is important to remember that some people with dementia struggle to swallow or have lost their sense of smell. If so, simply make adjustments. For example, only use soft foods if they find hard foods difficult and focus on touch if they’ve lost their sense of smell.

It’s great to play with just one person, or in a group.

You’ll need

1. A variety of foods that will make guessing easy:

• Ideas for smell:

        - Vinegar

        - Cheese

        - Cinnamon

• Ideas for feel:

        - Jelly cubes

        - Peach

        - Cornflakes

• Ideas for taste:

        - Watermelon

        - Marshmallow

        - Avocado

The Activity

1. Explain the activity to everyone, making sure they know that have to close their eyes to guess what the food is
2. If you’re doing this activity in a group, you could put everyone together into pairs and they can work together to find the answers
3. Ask each person to close their eyes and either smell, feel or taste one of the items
4. Encourage them to discuss what they are smelling, feeling or tasting. “Do you like it or not?”, “Is it familiar?”, “Can they remember smelling/feeling/tasting something like this before?”
5. Ask them to guess what the item could be