Finding Small Joys [Dementia Care]

My mother (86) is bedridden with Care Level 4 and has dementia. While her vocalization, speech, and muscle strength have declined, her will to live is barely holding on. I had been looking for something we could enjoy together, and the New Year gave me an idea: Fukuwarai (a traditional Japanese game similar to Pin the Tail on the Donkey)!

Fukuwarai requires neither physical strength nor intelligence; it's just fun to place pieces blindly with your eyes closed. It's a wonderful game.

So, I looked for a Fukuwarai set at the end of the year, but I could only find Okame and Hyottoko masks. I thought, 'Can't I just make a simple one myself?' I drew the pictures and made color copies, but the result was lackluster. Just as I was feeling unsatisfied and wondering if there was anything else out there,Flying TigerI found a face sticker book calledSticker Book -funny faces-It had variations of face shapes and stickers for eyes, noses, and mouths. I was so happy that I bought it immediately, thinking, 'This is it!'
When the New Year arrived, I tucked my homemade Okame Fukuwarai and the Flying Tiger face sticker book under my arm and headed to my mother's room.

My mother has been sleeping a lot lately, but she tries hard to wake up when I come to visit. She seems to find going out tiring, so she prefers to spend time together in her room. When I arrived and suggested we play Fukuwarai, she grinned. I helped her up from the bed, we sat side-by-side, and it was time for Fukuwarai!

We started with the homemade Fukuwarai. It was hard to use a blindfold, so we played with our eyes half-closed, and we both laughed, 'Hehehe,' at the faces we created. But we got bored after one round. That must be the limit of my DIY quality.

Now it was time for the face sticker book. I had her choose a face shape, cut it out of the book, and as we talked, saying things like, 'Next is the eyes,' and 'Where should we put them?', the face took shape. In the end, she couldn't peel and stick them herself, so I peeled the stickers, asked, 'Is this a good spot?', and stuck them on when she nodded.

We made about four faces, and we laughed out loud every time one was finished. The thing is, this version of Fukuwarai is played with our eyes open. Both of us had our eyes open, yet we still ended up with unexpected faces.
As I asked for her instructions, I had to hold back my laughter, wondering, 'Why do you want to put it there?' For my mother, too, the finished face seemed to be something she hadn't intended, and we would burst into laughter once it was done.
In the end, we were both in high spirits, saying, 'My stomach hurts from laughing so much.'

We gave names to the faces we made.
From top left to right: 'The Pretentious Person,' 'The Person with the Nose and Mouth Close Together.' From bottom left to right: 'Mr. Fuguta (Why!?)' and 'Perm.' We stuck them on the wall of my mother's room.

I'm sure my mother will immediately forget why these pictures of faces are on the wall. That's fine. I'll try playing with them again next week, and even after the New Year, until we get bored. This 'Open-Eye Fukuwarai'—as opposed to the traditional 'Good Luck Fukuwarai'—is a special, fun game that we can only play because of her dementia.