SOMETHING TO DO TOGETHER

as the older person's failure. And 52 of the 60 include a bedside adaptation for someone who cannot easily sit up or move about.

TWO CHAPTERS BEFORE YOU START

One for the visitor: why twenty minutes in is when it gets hard, why the television is not a failure, and why a short good visit beats a long strained one.

One for the coordinator: mixed groups, wildly different abilities in one room, the person who says nothing, the person who dominates, and how to end an activity cleanly.

WHAT IT IS NOT

Not therapy and not medicine. It does not treat, slow or diagnose anything. Nothing embarrasses anyone in front of a group - no solos, no performing, no required personal disclosure, no competition where someone visibly loses. Nothing assumes mobility, eyesight, hearing, family, or that the person can hold a pen.

You visit. You love them. And twenty minutes in, there is nothing left to say, so the television goes on and everybody feels vaguely guilty.

Everything in this aisle is designed for one older person alone with a pencil. Two people are badly served by that, and this book is for both of them.

The visiting relative, who needs something to do rather than something to say.

The activity coordinator in a care home or day centre, who has to fill an hour several times a week, with a mixed group and no budget.

Sixty ready-made things to do. No equipment, no preparation, no money.

NOTHING HERE CAN BE FAILED

This is the rule the whole book is built on. No activity requires the older person to remember anything correctly. Nothing tests them, nothing corrects them, nothing has a right answer they can miss. Where an activity touches the past it asks for an opinion or a description - never a date, never a name to produce. If a detail comes out wrong, it changes nothing.

SIX PARTS

- Talking - openers that are not "how are you feeling"

- Remembering without being tested - the past as material, not examination

- Quiet games - no board, no pieces

- Hands and senses - sorting, folding, tasting, listening

- Making something small - a letter, a recipe, instructions for a grandchild

- A group of four or more - ten designed for a room

EVERY ACTIVITY TELLS YOU WHAT TO DO WHEN IT DOES NOT WORK

Including cheerful permission to stop after four minutes and try another - never framed

Set in 16 point.