Possibly as an extension of a book club or as a stand alone project, consider creating a library specifically for your community of books residents own, have enjoyed and would like to share with their neighbours! Every book could have a short 1 page summary of every resident's reading experience attached to it as well, so that residents can peer into the experience of others while enjoying the same material! Be sure to sanitize all books borrowed and returned!
If some of your residents are avid readers, then chances are they’d love the opportunity to share their opinion about a book or other readings with others! Creating a book club support your residents' efforts to stay sharp, mentally alert and in touch with the world, and they also have a huge social element. A book club can be made to meet once a week, in a specified area so that covid-19 precautions can be taken and planned. Snacks and treats, as well as coffee or tea can be served as well!
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Whether its cold winter or sunny summer, sweet spring or a fabulous fall, it's always a good time to go for walk. Some residents feel the same and would love to have a walking club to look forward to every week! Forming a walking club is simple, and allows for residents to socialize and be active in a covid-friendly way! Simply survey your residents about their interest in a walking club, and the weekly frequency and times that work best for them. Then, post on a bulletin board times when the walking club is on, and let residents do the rest! Walks can be varied too, some being longer walks, others scheduled as shorter jolts around the block. Alternatively, interested residents could even organize the entire thing, if there's enough interest!
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Hosting a socially-distanced stretching session in a large open space would be a great group activity for residents who've been help up in their rooms and miss seeing others! Stretching is an stationary activity too, allowing significantly improving safety as residents get their exercise in. A stretching session or class can be short or long as well, as time permits. Consider switching up the mood of sessions as well, one being relaxing with low light and gentle music. Another could be brighter, with more active music playing to get resident's alert and energized! Proper precautions must be taken of course, like masks, proper ventilation and diligent disinfecting of materials.
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Reading poetry with residents is a passive relaxing and spiritual activity. You can turn poems into an intellectually stimulating activity by having residents create their own simple poems!
Simple ideas to use as themes for a poem writing session are playing a classic song to residents, and asking them to write a short poem, something like 5 to 10 lines long. For a twist in poem writing, suggest to residents that they write specific types of poems like a Haiku, a three line Japanese poem.
Sometimes, the fun of baking is all in the decorating at the end! Make bakery decoration an activity for your residents by supplying them with plain cookies (storebought or homemade) and decorating supplies. You can buy simple decoration supplies like frosting, sprinkles, colouring and more, or you can even find cookie decorating kits! Residents can then decorate their very own cookie, or decorate many confectionaries to share with your community! Make sure to take lots of pictures of the activity and of your residents' finished products!
Hallway activities have become a favourite for covid-friendly exercise, especially during the cold winter months! Hallway Soccer Bowling is another addition to your repertoire. To play, set up bowling pins at one end of a hall and have a resident try and know as many down as possible by kicking a ball! For a different spin on this activity, and to make it more challenging, try setting up obstacles in the middle of the hall, or leaving some room doors open in the hallway as traps!
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Do you know what disc golf is? Congratulations! You, you already had the idea for a covid-friendly activity!
For those who weren't aware (like me!) disc golf is a flying disc sport in which players throw a disc at a target, but played using rules similar to golf. The real targets are hard to replicate. But, by using laundry baskets, the game becomes easier and enjoyable for residents!
Simply place 5 laundry baskets in different places in a large room, getting progressively farther and harder to reach with a frisbee. Then have residents try to get a disc into every basket! Turn it into a group activity by having everyone where masks, and bringing one resident into the room to try and land the baskets! Make sure to take proper social distancing precautions and to disinfect all material between rounds though!
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For a simple one-on-one activity that'll remind residents of when they were only kids, grab a tablet and show your resident a few "music videos" on YouTube from the 1940s that MTV (Music TV) premiered. Then, for some interaction and conversation, ask residents which song and video was their favourite. Sometimes, it's the simple activities that reign supreme.
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With everyone stuck inside, why not remind residents of the stars with this simple Star Constellations craft! Simple enough for young science students, this activity promises to be lots of fun for memory care residents. It helps them use their mine motor skills and gives them satisfaction for bringing a project to completion.
All you need for this activity are pipe cleaners (to shape the constellation), star beads (for the stars), hot glue, a card to glue it all on. Here is a copy of 6 constellations for inspiration.
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