For your residents that spend most of their time indoors or in their rooms, consider introducing them to new hobbies that they can easily do alone like writing. Here are 3 writing activities from notjustbingo.com to suggest to your cabin-fever residents:
Journaling
Encourage your residents to write down some of their memories so that they can pass them on to their loved ones. For example, pass out journals for residents to fill with their fond memories, important dates, or even a mockup of their family tree.
Help residents get going with the activity by having them write about one of their most memorable days, like their wedding day, the birth of their first child, or even what their first day at a job was like.
Writing Stories
Invite residents to begin creating and writing their own stories. To help residents, provide them with story prompts that they can use to start their stories. Once your residents have written their own stories, ask them to submit their favorites to be included in your monthly facility newsletter.
During the writing process, if you’re finding that your residents are having a hard time with writing, be sure to supply them with the necessary supplies, like pencil grips or jumbo pens.
Filling in Mad Lib Stories
For your residents who like to tell stories but may feel stuck with writer’s block, help them get unstuck by downloading funny Mad Libs stories to fill in. With the Mad Libs, residents can fill in the blanks of the story using different nouns, verbs, and adjectives. These random words seem to make the stories even more interesting, which may spark a creative idea for your residents.
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 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!
Want even more ideas each month? Sign up for the Not Just Bingo Membership to receive specialized activity ideas to keep your residents and staff engaged, active, and having fun!
