ALions Club of Mount Gambier project has resulted in 24 fidget mats being presented to aged care providers in the city to use as part of therapy for people with dementia.

Project leader Sandra Woodham said the colourful mats incorporated features such as marble mazes sewn into the fabric and panels that unfastened to reveal a different pattern or textured item beneath.

“It’s all about touchy, feely materials,” Mrs Woodham said.

“I have worked in aged care for about 30 years altogether.

“People with dementia like to fiddle with things all the time.

“I love people with dementia, I think they’re great.

“It takes about five hours to make one mat, but it’s very rewarding.

“It’s my turn to give back.”

Mrs Woodham said the initiative was sparked by a request from Resthaven Mount Gambier where she volunteers.

“When I started making them, I realised it was too big a job for one person, so I asked my Lions Club to take it on as a project,” she said.

She turned to Pinterest on the internet for inspiration and attended a workshop organised by the Lions Club of Marion which supplies fidget mats to the emergency department at Flinders Medical Centre.

“I came back and got a few people together to see how many we could make,” Mrs Woodham said.

Plenty of discussion and laughter has been heard above the whir of sewing machines at sessions held to cut and assemble the washable mats, sew on lace, ribbon and pompoms, and attach panels with Velcro, buttons, zips and press stud fasteners.

In a spinoff, male members of the Lions Club of Mount Gambier have used materials donated by Bunnings to make wooden fidget boards for men.

About 10 club members and other helpers have taken part in the overall project.

Presentations have been made to Resthaven and The Oaks, Boandik’s Crouch Street, Lake Terrace and Saint Mary’s aged care homes, as well as the emergency department at Mount Gambier Hospital.

The club will supply the hospital with fidget mats on an ongoing basis as patients take home the ones they are given.