Never a cross-word at Little Bramingham Farm

At Little Bramingham Farm residential care home in Luton, residents have been celebrating this year’s National Puzzle Day. Whether it’s Crosswords, Code Breakers or Scenic Road Trips, residents enjoy a range of daily brain teasers.

Puzzles are part of Little Bramingham Farm’s wide and varied daily activities. “We tailor all our activities to meet each individual’s likes, preferences, hobbies and interests, and puzzles are a firm favourite,” said the care home’s Registered Manager, Emma Lawrance . “Our residents thoroughly enjoy all types of puzzles; whether they are played in groups, individually, on our large electronic interactive tablet or sat comfortably around a table, there’s always some puzzling puzzle taking place.”

Little Bramingham Farm’s interactive activity tablet – called a Tiny Tablet – enables residents to enjoy, experience and benefit from a wide catalogue of engaging applications. It is a large, easy to use device with a touchscreen, not too dissimilar to an iPad or smartphone, but on a much larger scale.

“For National Puzzle Day, we thought it would be fun to find out our residents’ favourite puzzle,” Emma continued. “Taking pole position was the Scenic Road Trip application. Our residents love to go on virtual journeys and reminisce about cities, destinations and places they have visited. It’s a wonderful reminiscing activity. The application also shows the culinary delights of different countries and cities, which also evokes happy memories.

“Puzzles are a very good pastime for our residents as they can improve mental speed and thought processes – and they are also a positive activity for improving short-term memory,” added Karen Charity, Little Bramingham Farm’s Activities Coordinator.

Other benefits of any form of puzzle include helping relaxation as by immersing yourself in a puzzle, it can serve as an exercise in mindfulness and help to relieve stress. For the elderly in particular, the act of picking up puzzle pieces, turning them over and fitting them together can, sometimes, be quite a challenge. However, puzzles are a great way to exercise the small muscles in fingers and eyes.

“Puzzles can, of course, be an individual activity, but they are also a great group activity which creates opportunities for engaging with others, chatting and conversations and making friends,” continued Karen.

“Our interactive tablet is another example of our commitment to provide exceptional standards of quality care through person-centred care, as all our residents can join in and take part in the group activities or use it on their own. It’s up to them – they can do what they want to do, when they want to do it,” Emma concluded.