I am a nurse who frequently works in an Alzheimers Unit....We have several patients who enjoy busy mats....these are similar to dolls I have seen that have zippers, buttons, snaps, that don't detach. Pockets with things (animal shapes) that are attached to the mat with ribbon are on some of them as well. I would say the ones we have are about 11 X 14....I would love to make some new ones for my patients, ideally I would like to have one for each, but realistically I would like to be able to make enough that we had at least a dozen for use in the common area.....Does anyone know where I might find a pattern for these?

Any other ideas are greatly appreciated as well :)

I will search and see if I can find you a pattern

I'm going to bed now 2:27 a.m in central Indiana

It has been a long 4 days, hubby still in hospital and I have been calling the hospital to chat with the nurses about his updates, he has a bad staph infection

Thanks Crafty Bear...I am working about 50-60 hours a week...will check in tomorrow...just haven't had time to do the searching :)

Not a problem, I love surfing and will find you lots of cool links

I am known as the "Surfing Queen of Links"

take care!

Keep me posted on the hubby as well....feel free to PM me with any questions or to talk...will keep you both in my thoughts and prayers :) Best wishes...

Sorry to hear about your hubby Crafty. Hope he gets better real soon.

MsMel. I hope you are able to find a pattern to make those. :)

I have made a number of " quiet books or busy books" for children... they sounds simular only in mat form instead of a book....
U might try a search for that. I have a couple of patterns for these if u are interested... coloring books are great for ideas...
My last quiet book I had
*a pot of flowers that buttoned on( stems/leaves kept them from getting lost)
*a dog in his house ( dog was on leash and came out of house
*a large cat with a " collar to snap"
*a ear of corn that the husk unzipped to show the corn
*a bird sitting on a nest of eggs ( bird raised out of nest but was still attached)
*one was a giant tennis shoe for lacing ( again lacing anchored at the bottom)
I found lots of other ideas online....

What A good idea!
Crafty will keep u and DH in prayers. My DH has both legs wrapped due to health issues! I can kinda empathize with ya !

This seems pretty straight forward
http://figjamandlimecordial.com/2011...nsory-blanket/

and this seems like it might be a nice, easy way to accomplish the same thing. Not too big to lug around either http://www.hope4specialneeds.com/pro...ml#handfidgets

HTH ~ Pat

I saw someone had aquilt called figgedy quilt. It had all kinds of thin gs they could feeland handle.

There was a wonderful and extensive thread on this a while back. Fidget Blankets might have been what it was called.

A HUGE list of inclusion ideas was developed. Some pics of what others had done. As well as ways they'd been made.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here you be ....
via the Search function at the top of this page, by entering "fidget blanket" ....
http://www.quiltingboard.com/search....blanket&u=&s=0

The first link is the thread I mentioned, though I'm sure there are LOTS more ideas in the many other threads shown.

What a great idea! Not sure on the pattern but wanted to suggest calling your local quilt guild to see if they can help you make them. I know my quilt guild always does charity projects and man can we turn out some items in a matter of minutes. :)

I took the liberty of searching in your area. I hope this one is near you.

http://midvalleyquiltguild.com/

Bless you for what you do. I have had friend's love ones develop Alzheimers and it can be very trying to keep their minds active and busy.

Great idea....Thank you :)

Thank you all for your help...now maybe I can actually find something that I can at least improvise to work for me...had no idea what to call them besides what they are called at work :)

Pat---and Melinda
Thank you for posting this thread,my older sister has Alzheimers,although she is not too bad at the moment but I know she will deteriorate. I will keep this in my favourits.
I have never heard of these quilts,wish I had when I was nursing Dementia patients,it's an awful disease

Ann