In the Netherlands, one out of five people will suffer from dementia at a certain point in their lives. Because of our ageing society, dementia has sadly become all too familiar to many people.
However, there are many great initiatives to help, activate and stimulate people with dementia. One of these is the Tovertafel, or Magic Table. This initiative was the brainchild of Active Cues, an inspirational company that creates moments of happiness in residential care. The Tovertafel is very simple: a compact little box is mounted on the ceiling above a table in a nursing home. The box contains everything you need to play games: projectors, sensors and computer hardware. A game is projected onto the surface of the table, which instantly turns it into an interactive and playful environment. The residents play by interacting with the projections: they can catch fish which try to swim away, swipe leaves left and right, and make flowers grow. There are different games and each one stimulates the players to become active. This is important because people with dementia often lose the ability for self activation, so they get bored and doze off easily. The Tovertafel does the opposite: it encourages social interaction and breaks down apathy.
TU Delft TV / TU Delft TV is a collaboration between Delta and the Science Centre. The crew consists of TU Delft students.
Comments are closed.