The Card Game That Turns Familiar Phrases Into Open Doors
A deck of cards built around figures of speech costs very little and takes up almost no space. On the right afternoon, with the right person, it can do something that surprises everyone in the room.
Suitable for
Ask someone with mid-stage dementia what they had for breakfast, and the question can produce frustration, silence, or distress. Ask them to finish the phrase a stitch in time… and something entirely different often happens. The answer comes. Sometimes quickly. Sometimes with a laugh. Sometimes followed by a story about the person who used to say it, a parent or a teacher or a friend, someone not thought about in years, suddenly present in the room.
Language learned early and repeated often is stored in a part of the brain that dementia reaches late. The phrases we grew up with, the sayings that were so familiar they stopped being heard as individual words, sit in a different place from the memories that fade first. A card game built around those phrases is not asking a person with dementia to remember something. It is asking them to complete something. That is a very different request, and the brain responds to it very differently.
The Figures of Speech Memory Card Game was designed with exactly this in mind. It is a deck of cards. It is also, on a good afternoon, a way back in.
Why it works
Long-term memory for language, and in particular for rhythmic, repetitive phrases learned in childhood and early adult life, is encoded in what researchers call procedural and semantic memory. These are among the most resilient memory systems in dementia, often remaining accessible well into the middle and later stages of the condition. When a person hears the beginning of a phrase they have known for sixty years, the brain does not need to search for the ending. It already knows it. The card game creates the conditions for that knowledge to surface, which produces not just the correct answer but the sense of competence and recognition that goes with it. That feeling matters as much as the activity itself.
How to use it
The game works at its simplest by reading the beginning of a well-known phrase from the card and inviting the person to complete it. No score needs to be kept. No wrong answer needs to be corrected. The point is the moment of engagement, not the accuracy of the result. Many carers find that the best sessions are the ones that wander furthest from the game itself, where a single phrase opens into a memory, and the memory opens into a conversation, and the conversation runs for twenty minutes before anyone thinks to pick up the next card.
The deck includes two difficulty levels, shorter and more familiar phrases for gentle sessions and longer ones for days when engagement is stronger. This is a useful feature because dementia is not consistent. The same person who finds the easier cards too simple on a Tuesday may find the harder ones frustrating on a Thursday. Having both available in one deck means the game adapts to the person rather than the other way around.
It works equally well one to one or in a small group. In a care home setting, a short session with three or four residents often produces more laughter and cross-conversation than many structured activities, because the phrases belong to everyone in the room. A generation shares them. That shared knowledge creates a brief but real sense of belonging and equality that the condition often strips away.
The large print and clear contrast make the cards readable without needing to ask anyone to put their glasses on or squint at small text. That sounds like a small thing. For anyone who has watched a person with dementia become frustrated or embarrassed by something they cannot quite see, it is not a small thing at all.
Across the stages
Stages 1 and 2. At these earlier stages the game is best used as a pleasurable activity in its own right, something to do together on an ordinary afternoon rather than a therapeutic intervention. The person may find the easier cards too straightforward and prefer the challenge of the longer phrases. Let them lead. The conversation it prompts about where a phrase came from, who said it, what it meant in their household, is often more valuable than the game itself.
Stage 3. As home care becomes more central to daily life and familiar activities start to narrow, this game earns its place as something reliable. It asks little, gives a great deal, and produces the kind of gentle focus that can be difficult to find any other way on a complicated day. Short sessions of ten to fifteen minutes work well. Longer if the person is engaged and enjoying themselves.
Stages 4 and 5. In a care home setting, the game is well suited to visits. It gives a carer something purposeful to bring into the room, something that does not require the person to remember recent events or answer questions they may find distressing. The phrases create neutral, warm ground. Staff who are aware of the game may also use it during the day between visits.
Stage 6. At the later stage, the longer and more complex phrases may no longer be accessible, but the simplest and most deeply familiar ones sometimes still are. A phrase heard ten thousand times over a lifetime has a way of persisting. If the response is not a completed phrase but a sound of recognition, or a change in expression, or a moment of quiet attention, that is still a response. It still counts.
Things to consider
Figures of speech are culturally specific. A phrase that was part of everyday life in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s may be unfamiliar to someone who grew up elsewhere, or in a different cultural or religious community. It is worth playing a few cards informally before making the game a regular activity, to see which phrases land and which produce a blank. The ones that land are the ones to return to.
About this recommendation
This game was among the products researched and considered during the writing of Dementia Care: Finding Them Again. The book explores in depth why language, rhythm, and long-familiar phrases are among the most reliable tools available to family carers, and why they work at stages when many other approaches have become more difficult. If you would like to understand more about the thinking behind this and every other recommendation in this section, you will find the full picture there.
Products worth knowing about
The following products are available on Amazon. We suggest Amazon because most people already have an account there and delivery is straightforward. The links below are affiliate links, which means this site receives a small commission if you buy through them. It does not cost you anything extra, and it helps us cover the cost of running and maintaining this site. We recommend only products we believe are genuinely useful.
Figures of Speech: Memory Card Game for Seniors
The game this article is built around. Two difficulty levels, large print, clear contrast, and a format designed for independent use or for playing with family. Well reviewed by carers and activity coordinators alike. Well suited to Stages 1 through 5.
Idioms and Phrases Book
A reference book of common figures of speech with plain explanations and origins. Useful alongside the card game for carers who want to extend a session or explore where a particular phrase came from. Also works independently as a browsing book for earlier stage readers.
Relish Animal Snap Card Game
Three card games in one set: Snap, Pairs, and Full House using bold, clearly illustrated animal images designed for easy recognition. The varying difficulty levels make it fun within a session and across groups. The thick laminated cards hold up well to regular use.
A familiar phrase is a small thing. What it can carry into a room, and who it can briefly bring back, is not small at all.
They’re still in there, behind the wall.
A song, a scent, a touch. That’s all.
Dementia care gifts that help
The Thoughtful Gift That Makes a Difficult Day Easier
The things that make the greatest difference to someone living with dementia are rarely the most obvious ones. They are the things that ease the day — that give a carer a moment to breathe, or give the person they care for a moment of calm or quiet joy. Every item here was chosen because it works, and because it reduces stress for everyone in the room.
