Honor the great state of Montana in your senior facility in July as we honor a different state each month for the Across the USA monthly themes. Celebrate Montana, the fourth largest state in area, by highlighting its mountains, ranch farms, mining opportunities, and of course, that big beautiful sky.

Mountains

Montana, which is Spanish for mountains, contains mountain ranges that make up the northern part of the Rocky Mountains. With over 100 mountain ranges within its borders, Montana contains some of the country’s highest mountains and most beautiful river valleys. Throughout July, schedule a few mountain-themed activities for your residents. For instance, host an armchair travel session in which you showcase a DVD about the Mountain West region and the gorgeous scenery. In addition, highlight the valleys at the base of those mountains – known for their prime fishing locations – with a few fish-themed activities, like painting fish using a fish stain-a-frame kit or making fish art with a fish latch-hook kit.

Mining

Montana is officially nicknamed “The Treasure State” because of its mineral-rich soil. In fact, the state’s motto is “Oro y Plata” (Gold and Silver). Throughout the month, provide a series of fun activities for your residents with gold and silver themes, like hosting a treasure hunt for your residents using gold coins that can be hid throughout your Activity Room for residents to find.

If your residents are a bit more crafty, consider supplying them with kits to make gold bracelets that can be sold at your facility’s next Craft Fair.

Additionally, provide a few gold and silver art projects for residents to complete, like having them use a metallic foil art kit to make beautiful artwork for your walls, or use canvases and metallic paint to create their own artwork.

As a final tribute to “The Treasure State,” consider getting a permanent treasure chest that can be kept in your Activity Room to house finished crafts. Then, when visiting kids stop by, invite the kids to pick a craft from the treasure chest to take home with them – assuming that they have been good during their visit!

Ranching

With the abundance of Montana’s valleys and open ranges, cattle ranching has become an integral part of Montana’s economy and a huge part of the state’s history, dating back to the 1800s. In July, provide several ranching-themed activities for your residents, like providing horse jigsaw puzzles for residents to complete or hosting a rodeo where residents use a rope to try to lasso a stuffed animal.

Don’t forget to involve the grandkids during this month that you are honoring Montana. For example, provide ceramic cow banks for residents and kids to paint.

Skyline

Finally, honor “Big Sky Country’s” beautiful, unobstructed skyline by scheduling activities and projects that have your residents looking up to the clouds. For instance, host a backyard air show in your facility in which you have residents assemble wooden model airplanes and then fly them outdoors. During the air show, set up markers in the backyard to see whose plane travels the farthest.

Furthermore, invite the grandkids over to have fun launching things in the air with Grandma and Grandpa, like setting up several stomp rockets in the backyard to see who can stomp their foot down to make their rocket fly the highest. Since Independence Day falls in July, be sure to plan a few sky-themed patriotic activities. While you may not be able to shoot fireworks in the sky, consider supplying the kids and residents with patriotic kites to fly in the backyard.

If you have residents who would prefer to remain indoors, then provide country-scene coloring books for them to color that mimic Montana’s beautiful landscapes. Simply tear out pages of the coloring pages and host a coloring party for your residents and their grandkids.

View all of our Across the USA themed blogs here!

About notjustbingo.com

notjustbingo.com is an online resource of fun, senior activity ideas for activity professionals of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. They have been providing fun activity ideas online since 2009, and we continue to assist activity professionals across the country by creating meaningful and engaging activity ideas for their residents that go “beyond bingo.” Don’t get them wrong – bingo is fun, but we want to spread the word that there is more to life than just bingo. Overall, notjustbingo.com feels privilege to help activity directors better the living experiences of their residents while demonstrating that a senior’s quality of life can actually improve when they move to a nursing facility.

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