If you want to encourage your residents to stay active, try this fun twist on an ordinary step count challenge! Take your residents on a virtual journey to motivate them to reach the step goal.
To go on a virtual journey, you’ll choose a walking route anywhere in the world. This route could take you through a national park or past famous landmarks before ending at a final destination. Use your residents’ step counts from their Fitbit or pedometers to track how far they’ve walked on the route you set. Here’s a guide to setting a realistic goal and calculating the distance travelled.
There are all sorts of ways to make this challenge more interesting. For some friendly competition, print out a map of your journey and keep track of everyone’s locations. You can share trivia about the destination and photos of the landmarks your residents have reached. Search online for “Virtual Hike” or “360 Experience” with the name of your destination. There are so many great resources available to help your residents visualize themselves on their journey!
See what happens when you put your residents on the spot with this fun party game! Each player takes a turn in the hot seat. They’ll have to answer a question like “Name three animals that start with the letter ‘M’” or “Name 3 actors named Kevin,” but they’ll only have 5 seconds to say their answers out loud before time runs out. All you need to do is bring a list of questions and set a 5-second timer on a phone or tablet. When the pressure is on, you’re sure to hear some colourful answers!
This simple card game is the perfect way to spend a rainy day or a quiet afternoon. The object of the game is just like bingo. To play, you’ll need two decks of playing cards. Divide one deck evenly among the players. The players arrange their cards face-up on the table. The second deck is used for “calling.” The caller turns over one card from the second deck and names the number and suit. The player who has this card in their hand turns it face-down, and the caller moves on to the next card in the deck. The first player to turn over all their cards calls bingo!
Here’s a guide that tells you how to adjust the game to your number of players.
For how cute these yarn birds turn out, they’re surprisingly easy to make! You just need three different colours of yarn and some basic supplies like scissors, cardboard, and glue. Here are some written instructions and a video tutorial. These birds make adorable decorations on their own, but they would also look great as ornaments or added to a wreath!
This button art project is a creative way to make use of a fun and inexpensive craft material. To make button art, you’ll follow a template and glue down colourful buttons to fill in your design. Some of the background will show beneath the buttons, so if you don't want this to happen, it’s best to print your template in colour or fill it in with paint first if you’re using canvas.
If your community has a Cricut, you can use its built-in designs to cut out a template. If not, you can simply print out your desired shape and trace it onto cardstock or canvas. Once you have your template, start filling in the areas of your design with the right colour of buttons. It’s a good idea to arrange the buttons first and glue them down once you’re satisfied with the overall result. Once the buttons have been glued in place, you can fill in the gaps between them with smaller buttons, sequins, and beads.
This art project can easily be adapted to the skill levels and interests of your residents, so they can make something truly unique! Be sure to check out the images below or search online if you need inspiration.
The school year is fast approaching! For your next community outreach program, why not donate school supplies to children in need like Atria Retirement Communities? Reach out to local schools that can identify children in need or do some research to see if your community already has a donation program that you can join. You can host a drive and reach out to potential donors. Fill backpacks with basic school supplies like pencils, erasers, crayons, rulers, binders, and lined paper to help children start the school year off right!
Google Arts & Culture is a free app that aims to open up the cultural world to people from their phones or tablets. There's a lot to see on this app, so it's worth taking the time to explore. You can take a street-view tour of the world's best museums, or zoom in on high-resolution photos of famous artwork to discover surprising details. You can also try exploring Alaska on kayak or climbing Mount Everest from home. There's even some digital puzzles, crosswords, and colouring pages! With all its great resources, Google Arts & Culture is sure to enhance your community's next discussion group or travel club meeting!
This mindfulness activity from Good Therapy will help your residents connect with nature and boost their mood! This meditation can be done as a group. Bring your residents to a natural setting like a park or nature trail. Ask them to find something in nature that they are drawn to. They can then spend a few minutes contemplating how this aspect of nature relates to them and what they can learn from it.
Good Therapy suggests that an older adult might feel increased self-worth after meditating on how the older trees in a forest provide shelter and shade to the younger plants and animals. The interesting part about this meditation is that everyone will come up with something different. At the end of the meditation, be sure to ask your residents if they want to share what they’ve learned!
A fragrance sachet has many uses. You can use one to freshen up drawers, as a heat or ice pack, or for some on-the-go aromatherapy. You can make a lot of them using very little material, so they make wonderful gifts and party favours!
To make this craft, you’ll need fabric, rice, and something to give your sachet its fragrance. Lavender is a popular choice, but your residents can experiment with different scents using bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, and more. To make the sachet, follow these sewing instructions or make a no-sew sachet using glue. Fill your sachet with rice and the fragrance of your choice, and enjoy the refreshing scent!
Not sure what to do with all the arts and crafts your residents have made? Showcase their talent by hosting an art gallery! Invite your residents to set up a table with their favourite pieces so they can view each other’s artwork. If it’s safe to do so, you can even invite family and community members to come view and purchase the artwork!
