We take mom to an Adult Senior Center once a week. She calls it the Senior Club and LOVES going there although she told us once a week is enough when we offered to have her go twice a week.
One day she said there was a contest and she won this 300 piece puzzle. Art has done 1,500 piece puzzles (not to mention the 3,000 piece Beatles puzzle that our son sent him) he did during the Pandemic so he set up the puzzle for her right away. We figured it would be an excellent exercise for her brain.
Unfortunately, she had no concept of how to attack a puzzle. Art showed her how to separate puzzle pieces that had similar colors and designs. That didn't help much.
Then he did the frame for her.
That didn't help much either.
I stepped in and took puzzle pieces and showed her where to put them. Even that was a challenge at first until she got the hang of it.
I'm pretty sure this was the first jigsaw puzzle she's ever done. She was determined to figure it out, but it was a misery.
Then my cousin, Ellen gave her a Japanese WORD SEARCH book.
Mom LOVED it. She almost forgot to eat lunch because she got so engrossed in it.
Mom worked as a typesetter at a Japanese language newspaper company here on Oahu for some decades and even edited articles for reporters. She used to be a teacher in Japan before coming to Hawaii in 1948.
I thought I'd check one of her WORD SEARCH pages myself and was convinced she'd done it wrong before realizing that sometimes, the words were backwards on the puzzle. 🙄 Oops!
Ellen and her husband were so delighted she loved it, that they actually ordered several more for her and refused to let me reimburse them.
Now mom will probably forget to eat her lunch altogether.
POSTSCRIPT:
Ellen and her husband got another easier (more do-able) jigsaw puzzle for mom.
Phew!
It's a wooden 12 piece puzzle and much less frustrating for her. Ellen's dad is 103 years old so she's got a head-start knowing what would be the best fun project to keep our parent's brain working.
Interesting to see the variance in two different types of puzzles. Symbol recognition is working better than shape and colour recognition.
ReplyDeleteThese are good brain exercises.
ReplyDeleteI actually was going to suggest getting puzzles with fewer pieces. Those Japanese word searches were a good find, and an excellent brain exercise. I guess that I never thought of it...Japanese is your mother's first language then?
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm guessing, one doesn't actually need to read Japanese to do a word search and just match the characters, I can't imagine doing so.
ReplyDeleteWonderful!
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that your mom has found activities that she enjoys!
ReplyDeleteMy brother, who is 85, really enjoys hidden picture puzzles. Some of them are a real challenge.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that Ellen knows how to help keep your Mom active. I didn't realize she was a teacher in Japan. After all those years typesetting, you'd think she wouldn't like messing with finding words. I used to proofread a medical magazine before it was printed for the membership, and even held the page upside down, and could sometimes find an error. Just as soon as it was printed, we'd find some tiny typo. Mom looks as beautiful as the puzzle's painting. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteLove the smile on your Mom's face.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. I will resist the urge to analyze word searches vs picture puzzles.
ReplyDeletei didn't know your mother was once a teacher either. You should help her write her memoir.
So interesting about your mom and the puzzle. We are puzzle-doers too, but Dave is much better at it than I am. I’m a word person, even though I love colors and love to paint. I prefer word games and Sudoku to puzzles, and completely understand your mom’s strong and immediate preference of the Word Search. It requires looking for known-words, with which she is very familiar. It is a very different task from working puzzles. Puzzles require finding & matching by configuration, color-id, and visual memory for whatever is depicted. The word search requires visual memory for letters and words, by both configuration and order, and comprehension helps too. The words are intact, so only require finding, as opposed to puzzle pictures which need to be found by tiny parts and reassembled (parts to whole). You are such a great advocate for your mom, Kay!
ReplyDeleteRetired reading specialist friend from Illinois, Carole 🤗
Kay of Musings: Hi Carole! Just returned from Bergen on Sunday night. It’s wonderful to hear from you. I hope we can get back for a visit to Illinois next year.
DeleteYour Mom looks very happy so these activities are good for her.
ReplyDeletelin Floyd it takes the right puzzle for sure when our 9 and 7 years grand daughters came I realized my puzzles were too complex for them...
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan of puzzles, but I get why some people love them so much! Mom looks so happy.
ReplyDeleteNot a puzzle person myself, although I have put in a piece or two when DH is working on a 3000 piece one. I also don't like crossword puzzles... although as a reader/writer I love words. I do enjoy wordle and those word search games. I think it's just that I'm not at all competitive. If I can play a game that is creative, it's fun... competitive or survival not so much. Glad your mom enjoys word search!
ReplyDeleteI too loved the smile on your mom's face! It's so nice everyone is so interested in making her happy and keeping her brain working! And, of course, This is Margie from Margie's Musings...not Anonymous!!
ReplyDeleteIt’s great your mom has so many interests and is willing to try new things. Our moms are about the same age and mine has kind of quit trying. Then she says she’s bored and there is nothing to do!
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan of puzzles but am glad you found something to intrigue your mother and that she is willing to keep trying new things. It makes very happy that she participates in a senior center. Good for her!
ReplyDeleteShe is delightful. You work so hard on her behalf. Well done.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see her smile
ReplyDeleteThat's funny that you thought she got it wrong and turned out she did well. That's honest and I love that. Love that she had so much fun too.
ReplyDelete