Since October is National Bake and Decorate Month, be sure to supply residents with fun activities throughout the month that allow them to show-off their baking and decorating skills. Here are 5 activities from notjustbingo.com to get you started:

1. Cookie Bake-Off

Divide residents into teams and have each team bake the same type of cookie (e.g., chocolate chip cookies). Have each team add in a different ingredient, like walnuts, raisins, white chocolate chips, or oatmeal, to see which variation of the cookie tastes best. Recruit your facility’s administrators to be the judges.

Another version of the activity is to have each resident bake their own cookie recipes. For this activity, you may need to also use toaster ovens or schedule a time to use your kitchen’s ovens to accommodate all the bakers. Set up the activity in your Activity Room just like an official Pillsbury Bake-Off, with each resident having their own baking station (without the oven) and supplies. Give the participants an hour to bake and to present their cookies to the judges. Award medals to the top bakers.

2. Charity Bake Sale

Organize a facility-wide charity bake sale, encouraging staff members to join in as well. Make this an annual event during National Bake and Decorate Month, hosting it on a weekend to include family members as well. Start the organizing early and use a charity bake sale kit to make sure that your fundraiser is well-attended.

In addition, schedule other activities that will help you get ready for the big event, like a Sign-Making activity for residents to design signs on poster board that can be placed throughout the facility as reminders.

3. Cupcake Bar

Host a cupcake bar party for residents to have them to decorate their own cupcakes. Ahead of time, invite residents to assist you with making a variety of flavored cupcake batter that can be made into cupcakes easily and quickly using a cupcake maker. For the party, set out a toppings station so that residents can pick the flavored cupcake that they want before adding on their desired toppings, using a variety of different icings and sprinkles for residents to choose from.

4. Crafts: Baking Supplies

Instead of purchasing ready-made baking supplies for your facility’s Baking Club, encourage residents to assist you with personalizing them. For instance, provide residents with pot holders or aprons that they can decorate using fabric markers or fabric paint.

5. Baking Memories

Invite residents to reminisce about their baking experiences of the past using Baking Cupboard pictures. For the activity, set out a board and have residents identify and pick out magnetic pictures of baking items to place on the board. For instance, ask residents to pick out all the items that are needed to bake a cake or to identify all the baking utensils that they kept in their baking drawer. With each question, residents can think back to the fun that they had while baking.

About Not Just Bingo:

Not Just Bingo 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 continue to assist activity professionals across the country by creating meaningful and engaging activity ideas for their residents that go “beyond bingo.” Not Just Bingo feels privileged 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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