Barn At-Home
Interactive activities and playful engagement are designed to wake up the senses and affirm social bonds— wherever you are located.
About Our Barn At-Home Program
Participants receive a box of playful tools that help light up their senses, a workbook with an array of ways to use the tools together, and access to a virtual activity that opens up a world of interaction. In the Virtual Barn, an open-ended experience played on an iPad, participants lead an avatar through a farmhouse to explore and conduct daily life activities such as playing music, sitting in the garden, and petting a cat. They then can head out to the barn to tidy up the stall, feed and groom the horse, and walk her to the pasture for a quick run.
Many people find that they can “do” things in the virtual world that were not previously able to manage. This creative engagement and novelty are often exciting. Playing together builds bridges and affirms the bonds and connection between people affected by dementia and their partners in care.
Sensory engagement benefits for people with memory changes or dementia
Sensory engagement is the use of everyday objects to awaken the senses. Hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch serve us throughout our lives to trigger pleasant memories, facilitate non-verbal communication, and contribute to a sense of meaning and connection.
How to Participate
The Barn-At-Home program includes a Sensory Engagement Kit full of playful tools that help light up senses, a workbook with an array of ways to use the tools, and a one-hour coaching session in person or over Zoom. In-person sessions have access to the cutting-edge Virtual Barn game environment for an iPad from our partners at Mentia.
”The ability to express who one “is” is critical to our psycho-social well-being, and being able to express our identity is part of a life well lived,
Mandy Salomon, PhDCo-Founder, and CEO of Mentia
