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Activation with puppets is a wonderful way to provide stimulation for people with dementia. Through the use of puppets, the patients can experience a range of emotions and memories that can help to improve their quality of life. It’s also a great way to engage them in a meaningful activity that can help to reduce their feelings of isolation and loneliness.

When working with people with dementia, it’s important to create a safe and familiar environment. Puppets can help to create this environ-ment by providing a sense of familiarity and comfort. They can also help to stimulate the senses, which can be particularly important for people with dementia who may have difficulty with their memory or cognitive abilities.

Overall, activation with puppets can provide a wide range of benefits for people with dementia. It can help to stimulate their senses, provide a sense of familiarity and comfort, and engage them in a meaningful activity that can help to reduce their feelings of isolation and loneliness. If you’re working with people with dementia, incorporating puppetry into your activities can be a great way to provide them with the stimulation and care they need.

„The hand puppet, through its direct contact with the patient, will unlock their innermost being,“ writes the internationally renowned professional puppeteer P.K. Steinmann in his book „The Theatre Figure on the Hand.“ This sentence leads straight to the point: apathy and indifference are states that dominate the daily life of many dementia patients. However, with puppets – especially animal puppets – people have been ob-served to open up.

This is a fantastic opportunity to establish communication that was not possible before the use of hand puppets. A connection to consciousness is thus made possible. Large hand puppets are made of fabric and have a movable mouth as well as a movable arm and hand. This means that the player has access to a wide range of communication through body language with the puppet. As you may know, in conventional communication among healthy individuals, the majority of communication occurs through body language. For dementia patients, this channel is particularly important because communication through speech is often significantly impaired by wordfinding difficulties. Addressing people through hand puppets reaches them on an emotional level and provides the perfect „stage“ for interaction that – as the word suggests – activates people.

Svenja Forst reports in the forum for occupational therapy in dementia, Ebede, about the use of animal hand puppets in occupational therapy. She writes about the high level of encouragement provided by the hand puppets, which, however, must be played realistically in order to achieve good results and desired effects. For Forst, this means, as described later in the book: practice, practice, practice! Forst excludes small hand puppets from achieving the desired outcome: „Small hand puppets from the toy store can give the person affected the impression of a puppet show, so that they do not feel taken seriously.“

According to Forst’s practical test with a Labrador puppy hand puppet, „many dementia patients showed strong emotions such as joy, surprise, curiosity, enthusiasm, and the need to build a relationship with the puppet. Uncertainty only arose when the dog played wildly. However, participants never felt dislike or fear.“ This highlights the importance of the person playing with the puppet. Empathy is paramount: the „star“ is the person who is meant to be acti-vated by you, not the player. Beyond nonverbal communication, the hand puppet could possibly function as a „trigger for a biographical conversation,“ according to Forst. This author also notes that the texture of the hand puppet plays a role: cuddly fur, for example, promotes „tactile-haptic stimulation (…) and increases the alertness and attention of those affected.“ This creates a simple desire for action – people want to touch and feel the puppet themselves. Taken together, hand puppets achieve a higher level of communication, „spark“ more strongly on an emotional level, and evoke desires that can also be fulfilled. In my opinion, what more could you want?

Take your chance, practice with a large hand puppet, and give people a beautiful moment in their daily lives!