Traditional bulleting boards usually serve to broadcast news and information in a community. However, these can be transformed into a covid-friendly activity that all residents can participate in! Here and there throughout your community, put up special themed bulletin boards for residents to post inspirational ideas on, and for other residents to enjoy! A "Take What you Need" themed board on which can be found inspirational quotes in envelopes on different themes. The themes can be switched up every few weeks for diversity! Example themes are "Confidence", "Laughter", and "Patience". Residents simply come to this bulletin board whenever they're in need of inspiration or a boost! Also, residents can contribute to the board, making this activity a passive and active activity all at once! This is incredibly effective to empower residents to share love and support during social isolation, and creates a warm atmosphere in any community!
Check out the original idea here.
Traditional bulleting boards usually serve to broadcast news and information in a community. However, these can be transformed into a covid-friendly activity that all residents can participate in! Here and there throughout your community, put up special themed bulletin boards for residents to post inspirational ideas on, and for other residents to enjoy! A "Ways to Love Yourself" themed board on which residents posted ideas on how to love yourself. This is incredibly effective to empower residents to share love and support during social isolation, and creates a warm atmosphere in any community!
Check out the original idea here.
Oak Park Place's Paint & Sip activity is very popular with theiur residents this season! Enjoy a glass of wine, soda, tea or coffee, and Paint for Fun! The painting sessions can be held as a one on one activity, or as a group with proper social distancing precautions! And the paintings themselves can be left to each resident's own inspirations, or be themed from the start - like 'paint a snowman'!
Check out the original idea here.
February 7th is National Send A Card To A Friend Day! This activity can be done at any time of year, however. Throughout the year, we often think about our friends. We wonder how they are, miss them, and remember fond memories of times shared. Residents too are having these thoughts, and setting them up with a card to send to a friend may be exactly what a resident needs to feel connected.
Sending a card to someone for a variety of reasons dates back to ancient times. The Chinese would send elegantly designed messages as well as the Egyptians, though on different types of paper. During the Rennaisance, greeting cards gained popularity for specific holidays and events. Victorian times increased the use of the greeting card for Valentine’s Day, Christmas, birthdays and more.
While our more digital era may turn away from the flowery language of greeting cards, a surprising 80 percent of adults still purchase them. And, wouldn’t it feel wonderful to walk to your mailbox and occasionally find a notecard from a friend?
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Holidays are always a time when family and friends come together, and everyone feels empathetic and kind. by sharing their residents' advice on valentine-decorated advice boards!
Share your resident's wisdom with others during a holiday season by preparing an advice board for a resident. Residents will have their name & a piece of advice for all to hear displayed on a decorated white board. Take a picture of your residents' advice to share with the world and families on social media!
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Going through a logic puzzle exercise with a resident helps with out-of-the-box thinking. They're an exciting activity designed to test a person’s ability to use information provided to them, and come up with a logical answer. You have to think outside the box to solve these, to create new solutions, and they can also help to solidify memories for residents in memory care. Any resident can play these games!
Logic puzzles are ideal for older people since they enable lateral thinking and can help to fire up neural pathways that have likely been dormant since retiring.
Just as an example of what these puzzles entail, consider the image of a bus below. Can you figure out which direction the bus is travelling? Hint: the bus is either traveling left or right. This is not a trick question. If you think you have the right answer or you can’t come up with a solution, click here to find out which way this bus is moving!
Here is a resource to find more logic puzzles.
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Could there be an activity that helps residents socialize, use their minds critically, keep them connected, and have fun?! Yes, a resident-run newsletter!
Here are 6 steps to successfully implementing a resident-run newsletter:
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Scrapbooking is an activity we've featured before. It is a great activity to keep your mind occupied during winter, and is very satisfying. Try spicing up this activity by scrapbooking prints of different leaves and flowers. This will be a hit with any residents who are gardening enthusiast.
Prints consist of applying some non-toxic paint to your leaf/flower then pressing it down onto some paper, like a scrapbook. It’s a simple activity that everyone can enjoy within the comfort of their home! Encourage residents to make prints and add little written notes to describe their plan and its meaning to them.
You just need 3 things:
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During the winter, some residents might still want a simple solution to gardening. Building a terrarium is that solution, plus its a rewarding a long lasting activity! Building a terrarium does require patience and a steady hand. For a quick version of this activity, consider purchasing a premade terrarium and benefit from maintaining it as an activity. Terrariums tend to be small, but they are incredibly rewarding when complete.
The main benefit for seniors is that this is so easy to upkeep, it requires barely any effort but looks great on a shelf.
It also becomes a new hobby as you can always change/maintain your plants.
You only need a few things for this:
Here is an article detailing how to make your own terrarium.
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There are few exercise activities that can viably be done in groups during Covid. However, hosting a spaced out drum exercise class is one of the few!
Have residents sit on their own chair in an open space, socially distanced with masks of course, and set them up with a makeshift drum set. Green Country Village Senior Living used green yoga balls cradled in circular clothes hampers as the drums with drum sticks. You can also use any other wooden stick. Next, they played invigorating music in the room and directed the drumming from the front so that residents could play along and make their own music! Who knew drumming could be good exercise.
Check out the video & original idea here.
