Open-ended play for people with dementia

The progression of dementia leads to a loss of initiative and agency, halting daily activities, hobbies, or social encounters. Open-ended play can encourage initiative but remains underexplored in dementia. This paper explores how technology-driven design can support open-ended play, making social interactions more enjoyable and renewing interest in daily activities. We conducted five workshops at dementia daycare facilities, observing people with dementia engage with playful circuit-building toolkits to identify strategies. Findings reveal these toolkits stimulated self-direction and initiative to accomplish self-imposed goals, both independently and collaboratively. We show how open-ended play fosters confidence, resilience, social engagement, and self-expression, allowing people with dementia to exercise choice and share moments of achievement. We provide design implications for technology to stimulate initiative through open-ended play by 1) balancing structure and freedom, 2) emphasizing novelty and material diversity for non-verbal social connection, and 3) considering age-appropriate aesthetics.