The team at Glennfield Care Home in Wisbech recently celebrated National Spice Day at their home by organising a multisensory activity for the people who live there.
Multisensory activities are beneficial for people, as they help to provide full-body stimulation, and for people who live with dementia, can help to bring back memories from the past too. The taste, touch and smells linked to different items can unlock moments that may have otherwise never been recalled.
So on National spice Day, the team used the opportunity to host a ‘guess the spice’ activity with residents. To do this, they put different spices and aromatic items into small pots, and then without looking, asked people to smell the different pots to see if they could guess what was inside each one.
The different smells created lots of conversation amongst the group, as they found some smells to be difficult to place. After some help and prompts from their friends, people began guessing the scents correctly.
Residents then spoke about the recipes they would use these spices in. Some recalled traditional English dishes, whilst others shared stories about recipes from around the world.
Some of the spices that people liked the most will be implemented into recipes by the kitchen team, so everyone can enjoy the tastes of the spices and hopefully, bring back more fond memories from the past.