I am starting up several activity sessions in an elderly people's care home. I am looking for ideas for crafts and different activities. We have residents of all different abilities. Can anyone suggest any ideas?
As long as my last post was I have another to add we do trivial pursuit over the intercom activites, dns or admin ask over intercom 1st person with right answer gets prize we do this all day one day a month. also a weekly or daily riddle put out on the table at meals (keep scratch paperand pencils in the middle of the table with salt and pepper) leave an answer box by the dining room door that they can put their answers in or can give to staff. small prizes to correct answers.
I work in a nursing home and nail care is a great idea but no one but a cna or nurse should be trimming diabetics nails.
If you have residents with Alzheimer's or dementia, they can sort beads into egg cartons it keeps their minds active, also I give them blank check books because many people will try to give people money or pay bills, as it's a habit they had all their lives. This keeps them from giving money to dishonest people who would take advantage. Can't tell you how many times I have seen this.
Current events are a great activity, remember that seniors vote more than any other demographic and do have an interest and opinion on political and current issues. Read the paper and ask questions. Encourage them to give opinions and talk.
There is a magazine called remince(sp?) which we read every morning before breakfast. this allows them to recall the good old days share stories and make and keep friends within the facility. Also it is a learning experience for the staff member reading the magazine aloud to hear all their stories and better relate to your resident. good with coffee and pastries.
A gardening club set aside an area outside accessible to residents with walkers and wheel chairs, let them design, plant, and care for a garden. Flowers are more popular with the female residents, vegetables are more popular among men. When blooming residents can make flower arrangements. For church table settings or any reason you want really.
A monthly fiddlers or other musical activity with songs they grew up with.
We had a sock hop with ice cream sundaes burgers think Happy Days compile music from the period to play in the back ground.
Have a monthly residents society where they can give you ideas of things they would like to do also where they can make suggestions on food, service or other issues. A caregiver should not be in charge of this because it limits what residents may feel comfortable saying.
A weekly bridge cribbage rummy game or other. For the men (men often get left out) a trip out to go fishing. (ask family to help)
A country drive if youre facility has a van. We play the price is right. wheelchair baseball.
Find out if any of your staff knows tai chi or modified yoga. if not ask an instructor to volenteer(sp?) once a week or to teach your activities director, tai chi is an excellent activity for seniors. or even stretching or wheel chair exercize.
Balloon tennis. can also be played from a chair. You can start a book club.
Animals are good for the health of your residents whether you have a facility pet or family and staff bring their dogs or cats in at a designated time to visit.
Many facilities use nintendo wii for physical therapy they can play the wii sports. Have movie night at least once a week in the evening serve popcorn and put a movie on in a common area.
Bingo with prizes. a quilting circle.(quilts can be sold and proceeds to the residents and activity dept.) Invite local elementary schools to sing at Christmas also boy scouts are always happy to help.
An ice cream social. Weekly bible studies for those interested, remember to respect personal beliefs.
Try a barbecue for holiday's or during the summer months.
If you have a local sports team or one that's close serve hot dogs or burgers and watch the game on tv encourage resident to wear their baseball caps. Kentucky derby is great for making inventive hats to wear.
Have a red hat society for your ladies or a women's tea once a month with finger sandwiches and a selection of teas and juices, invite the public to increase interest in your facility and your census.
During holiday's decorate trees you can even invite the public and local businesses(businesses are best) and have a tree auction proceeds go to your activities dept. each tree can have a theme and the residents can decorate. this does bring in money. We also have a pumpkin painting/carving contest pumpkins blank can be brought to local businesses with a date to return by, have a harvest or Halloween party and judge the pumpkins prizes for top three pumpkins.
Have an open house or tours one day week, many people think assisted and residential care is the same as nursing homes, an active facility is a full and healthy facility.
If you need more help send a message and I'd be glad to help.
Thought of something to add. Simple puzzles and card games can really be fun. I'd say get the elementary or even preschool-level puzzles, since the more advanced puzzle pieces might be too small to see or handle. Any card game would do, from regular 52-card decks for rummy, to Uno, Skip-bo, Old Maid, etc. Again, larger cards or large-print cards would probably be preferable. Easier to see and handle.
I worked a facility like this and we had fun! Every Tuesday was Bingo Night and prizes were gave. They had craft and goodies sales in the home.Mostly family and workers bought things. They also got a parakeet and everyone had their day with it. Good Luck!
One more thing I left out. Parties, Parties, Parties. Everyone got to celebrate their birthdays with a party and hats. Cake, ice cream and all kinds of snacks. Presents too. They would take a different country once a month and learn about it and even try to eat a sample of food from there. They would have a simple craft from that country to work on. Hope this helps. I know how much these people miss home and I love wonderful people that take their time to help moms and dads not feel so lonely because they can't go home anymore. God Bless You!
My mom was in an Alzheimer's unit until she passed last August. They would play ball, bouncing it to one another. It helped with coordination. They would color pictures, make and bake cookies. The lady in charge of crafts would paint the ladies fingernails; they loved it. They bought a small basketball
net and basketball and they loved playing ball together. I guess it reminded them of being young. We put together a yard sale in the unit. Everyone helped out and the families of the residents donated and when it was over we gave to every one what was left. The money that was raised was used to buy supplies. We had a piano and someone would play and everyone would sing. We would get church bands to come in and play. Youth Choirs would come sing. We had fish fries; really they loved it.
One of the residents sons would BBQ some pork and chicken and we would make slaw and French Fries and Hush Puppies. We had a great time. They would play dress up in different clothes and get their pictures taken and put on a bulletin board where everyone could see them. We had a beauty contest and a mock wedding. They loved bingo and it kept their minds sharp. Real prizes were given away. I guess when you are older you like to do the same things as everyone else except you like it a little closer to home so you don't have to travel and you like it in the daytime because you get sleepy early. Hope this helps.
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Request: Activities for Assisted Living Home (07/30/2009)
I'm an Activities Director at a small assisted living home. I'm always looking for new ideas of interactive crafts, games, stories, and other stuff for my residents to do. Any suggestions? Thanks!
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Request: Activities for Assisted Living Home
Archived on 07/30/2009
I'm an Activities Director at a small assisted living home. I'm always looking for new ideas of interactive crafts, games, stories, and other stuff for my residents to do. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Jessie from Mauston, WI
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RE: Activities for Assisted Living Home
Hey, so am I! It's really hard isn't it? Most of them can't do anything. But they enjoy watching me try to do everything. It sure makes them laugh. What kinds of things do you do now? If you're like me, you probably do a lot of Bingo. (03/11/2009)
We recently moved. I came across my Mom's hand print which was made at a nursing home she was in before she passed. I assume they used finger paint or something similar. At the top of the heavier white paper was this poem:
"MOTHER'S HAND"
For my child:
My hands have grown older through the years,
And they have wiped away many tears.
They held you when you were young and
wiped a tear to keep you strong.
So, hang this on your wall to view.
Remember that I will always love you!
Her hand print was below this. I had copies of this made for my brothers and also for my grandchildren. They still remember great-grandma. This would be a great gift for the residents to make for their kids and grand kids for birthdays, Christmas, or other holidays.
Also, she had always loved doing crafts and at the nursing home (because she was so shaky) she did a lot of painting of velvet poster with markers. The velvet hid her shakiness but she could use her imagination for colors, etc. Even when she did duplicate posters, she would choose different colors for each. We always made sure she had lots of extra markers in a variety of colors.
Some of the residents worked regularly on jigsaw puzzles. They also had some type of wheelchair bowling, but I don't remember what they used.
Just recently, there was something in Thrifty Fun about doing sculptures using miniature marshmallows and toothpicks. I am sure some of the residents could come up with some great ones. Or what about a "show and tell"? They could share special stories from their past, or show and tell about a special treasure of theirs. And yes, they did play bingo at my Mom's home!
Picture frame shadow boxes. You'll need a little glue, and have them bring a special picture and items. You would have to glue the frames together for them. They can glue all their stuff to the glass. Write me if you need to know more on how to, and how easy it is. (03/12/2009)
When I was in a nursing home for a couple of months after a car wreck, the Activities people regularly read items from the local newspaper. They called it "Newsbreak" and the reader would read the title of an article and take votes whether the group wanted to hear the whole article. They did the obits, too, reading full obits for the group upon request.
Also, our Activities folks created holidays. They did a "Frog Day" with a sort of bean bag toss game using little plastic frogs, and they served "frog legs" (hot dogs put together with toothpicks, which of course they removed before they let us eat the hot dogs) for lunch. I was only there a couple of months, but I still appreciated the fun things they put together. A creative and lively Activities team makes all the difference! (03/13/2009)
My mom is in an assisted living facility now. On Fridays they have dominoes, the ladies have manicures, the preschool kids come in and sing for 15 to 20 minutes, and then there is the usual cards, and WI bowling (this is a biggie there!). There is always a puzzle out on a table for the residents to do. There is a quilt in the frame for anyone who wants to work on it. They had crochet and knitting classes. They play bingo every week and once a month they play McDonald's bingo, with the prizes being McDonald's coupons. Hope these help. (03/14/2009)
