Take advantage of the great weather outdoors by providing fun activities that will entice your residents to spend some time outdoors enjoying the morning light, the afternoon sun, or the evening breeze.
Morning Light
Schedule a few outdoor activities for residents in the morning when the temperature is still cool. For instance, set up a fun Exercise Class on the back patio, where you lead residents in a chair stretch using a stretch band. Simply have residents sit in a large circle and hold onto a band to stretch back and forth as they work their arm muscles.
If, however, you have residents who don’t like to exercise, then arrange for Dining Services to provide a thermos of coffee so that you can pour cups of coffee for residents to sip as you engage them in fun discussions like going down Memory Lane, reminiscing about the 50s, 60s, and 70s, or sharing nostalgic photos to discuss.
Afternoon Sun
Open the patio umbrellas for residents to sit under as they enjoy the beautiful outdoors. Invite residents to take advantage of the sunlight by having them paint on canvas the backyard landscapes that are around them. Provide plain canvases and paint for your resident-artists who like to paint freehand, and provide designed canvases for your residents who would rather fill in a design with paint.
If the weather is accommodating, invite residents to play a few backyard games, like cornhole, golf chipping, or a game of seated kickball, in which residents can sit to kick the ball as volunteers and staff members run the bases for them.
Evening Breeze
Organize a few fun evening activities, in which residents can enjoy the cool breeze of the evenings. For example, coordinate with Dining Services to provide dessert on the back patio after dinner, where residents can sit outside to enjoy their dessert. Other options include planning a fun outdoor movie night, where you can show a movie on a screen (or bedsheet), or even scheduling a mobile entertainer for a fun Evening Under the Stars musical activity.
Be sure to treat your residents who enjoy the dusk sky with a Constellation Viewing Party, where residents can use binoculars to locate and identify the summer constellations in the sky. Pass out plenty of glow sticks that residents can wear as pendant necklaces to keep things aglow in the evening
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!
