A simplified fall coloring page great for seniors living with dementia.
Mom wanted to color today, so I let her browse for a coloring page.
This is what she chose.
Yikes!
Right?
I know!
Adult Coloring Pages are too Hard
Holy cow, this thing is detailed! No way Mom could color that at this stage of her Alzheimer’s. She would end up so frustrated. Heck, I would be frustrated coloring something that detailed.
Even though her Alzheimer’s is progressing, Mom is still all about the final product. And if it looks like a child colored it when she’s done, she’s not happy.
Simplify the artwork without making it look childish
I wanted her to have something similar to the page she chose that she could be successful with. So I spent some time – ahem, way too much time – creating her something similar yet much simpler in Illustrator. (I’m sure this would have been an easy task for someone who actually knows Illustrator. But currently, that’s not me. 😬 It is on my to-do list, though.)
After some fiddling, I had something she could color today that made her feel good about herself!
I made the stroke lines thick and reduced the overall busyness of the design. I tried to make each element recognizable as what it was – a flower or a leaf. That information can get lost in super complicated designs.
I only gave Mom 4 colored pencils. Sometimes choosing colors gets overwhelming for her, and only having a few choices helps with that.
I thought she would color the large flower all one color, but she split it up. Her overall Alzheimer’s confusion factor was pretty low the day she colored this. I suspect the large flower would be all one color on a more confused day.
Notice how the thick stroke lines helped save the day.
Mom was really bearing down hard when coloring this one. It sure made the colors beautiful.
It’s all about how they feel and keeping their dignity
She loved how this turned out, and it didn’t look juvenile to her!
She spent about an hour on this. Any activity that keeps her busy and engaged for an hour is pretty awesome. I’ll definitely be making more of these.
My fall pumpkin coloring page is currently available for download to my subscribers in my Resource Library of senior-friendly printables and activities. My subscribers receive weekly emails from me with caregiver resources, dementia activities, and related product info along with access to my Resource Library. If you would like to become a subscriber, fill out the form below. You will instantly receive an email with the Resource Library password.
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