Celebrate National Skilled Nursing Care Week, which starts on Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 11th and ends on Armed Forces Day on Saturday, May 17th, with your residents as you recognize this year’s theme – Tapestry of Life. For the week, schedule fun collaborative projects that allow groups of residents and even family members to work together to complete. Encourage participants to reminisce and share their stories as they work with one another on fun projects. Here are a few projects to consider:
Sunday, May 11 (Mother’s Day)
Keepsake Boxes
Invite residents to recognize this Mother’s Day and decorate keepsake boxes. For the activity, supply participants with the kit’s cardboard boxes to decorate with the included markers. If residents are participating in the activity with family members, encourage each to decorate their keepsake box as a gift for the other. During the activity, ask participants to share what keepsakes or mementos they plan to add to their boxes.
Monday, May 12
Gardening Kit
Invite residents to show off their green thumbs as they work together to plant a garden using the supplies from a ready-to-plant garden kit. Before the activity, be sure to buy plant seeds and gardening supplies, like garden gloves, for residents to use for the activity. Then during the activity, supply residents with the kit’s pots to fill with the compressed soil that comes with the kit. Have residents add the waterproof trays underneath their pot to avoid spills once they water the soil. Assist residents with planting the seeds, and set the finished plants in a sunny windowsill until it’s time to transfer to the outdoor garden.
Tuesday, May 13
Mosaics
Show residents how they can work together to form a collaborative sticker mosaic. Before the activity, pre-cut the sticker sheets into smaller sections so that residents can easily work on their own section. Then during the activity, supply residents with the colorful stickers to attach to their section of the mosaic. Have residents simply attach their color stickers to the sticker sheets according to the color key enclosed in the kit. Once everyone has completed their sticker sheet, assemble the sheets together onto an empty wall in your Activity Room for viewing.
Wednesday, May 14
Jigsaw Puzzles
Have fun with residents as you encourage them to take part in decorating a jigsaw puzzle, where each person colors a part of the puzzle. For the activity, separate residents into groups, so that each group works on a puzzle. Then have each group think of a theme for their puzzle before one of your artistic volunteers draws the design on the blank jigsaw puzzle. Then divide the puzzle among the residents and have them each fill in their part of the puzzle using markers. Finally, bring the pieces back together for everyone to see the finished puzzled assembled.
Thursday, May 15
Exercise
Get your residents moving while getting to know one another through a collaborative catch and toss game of Toss-n-Talk Ball. To play, seat residents in a large circle, and give one resident the ball to toss to another resident. When that resident catches the ball, have them read out loud the question that appears closest to their left thumb. Once that resident has answered the question, have them toss the ball to someone else in the circle, and so on.
Friday, May 16
Quilt-Making
Encourage residents to join in the collaborative activity of making a quilt together as they assemble a velvet quilt. For the activity, supply each resident with a quilt square to color with the kit’s markers. Beforehand, encourage participants to only fill inside the square with the markers and to leave the border on the quilt square white. Once everyone has completed their 8-inch square, assemble the squares together using the kit’s cording to hang on an empty wall in your Activity Room.
Saturday, May 17 (Armed Forces Day)
Shadow Boxes
Help the veterans of your facility reminisce as they each work on assembling their own military shadow box. Encourage the participants to paint the shadow boxes before adding military mementos and photos. During the activity, start a discussion by going around the room, and asking everyone to share where they went to bootcamp or what military branch and unit they were a part of. Once everyone has assembled their shadow box, encourage them to discuss what they included in their box and why.
Find more ideas from Notjustbingo on the S&S blog here.
About Not Just Bingo:
Not Just Bingo is an online resource of fun, senior activity ideas for activity professionals of 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 senior facility!
Want even more ideas each month? Visit www.notjustbingo.com for how-to activity ideas, monthly newsletters, and daily holiday ideas. You can also sign up for the Notjustbingo Membership to receive specialized activity ideas to keep your residents and staff engaged, active, and having fun!
