Get your residents ready for Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 27 by providing a few turkey-related activities for the residents of your senior facility. Here are a few fun Thanksgiving-related themed crafts or games to schedule:
Wooden Turkey Craft
Supply residents with assembled wooden turtkeys to paint and decorate for the holiday. Encourage residents to paint the wooden feathers in bright colors or to add several wood stains to the feathers that mimics a rich, wood-grain appearance. Set the finished turkeys out as centerpieces for your Thanksgiving dining tables, or, if you have lots of painters and stainers, then use the turkeys as place settings for your Thanksgiving dinner guests.
Foam Turkey Assembly Contest
Divide residents into teams of two, and pass out foam turkey pieces to each team to see who can assemble their foam turkey the fastest. Supply each team with the kit’s flower pot, feathers, hat, wooden head, googly eyes, sign, gobbler, beak, glue dots, and foam. Make sure to stock the craft tables with tacky glue to help with the assembly. In addition, have a finished turkey on display to show the participants where the pieces go on the turkey. Award a fun Thanksgiving prize to the first team that assembles their turkey first.
Turkey Parade
Host your own Thanksgiving Day parade among residents as you encourage residents to dress up as their favorite autumn-themed character, like a Pilgrim, a scarecrow, a farmer, or even a turkey! Supply the spectators with mini hand clappers or noisemakers to root on the parade participants as they march by.
Turkey Trot
Host your own Thanksgiving race for your residents and/or their grandchildren for the holiday. Create a walking path in your facility, in which participants can safely walk laps. Before the race, ask family members to sponsor their loved ones by donating five dollars per lap, with a max donation of $20. Then during the race, pass out turkey head bands for participants to wear. Donate the proceeds to your residents’ favorite charity.
Turkey Scavenger Hunt
Recruit residents to assemble turkey figures using the turkey kit’s cones, paint, felt, glue, paper, and brushes. Once the crafts are complete, hide the finished turkeys throughout your facility for a fun turkey scavenger hunt. Award a fun prize to the resident who finds and collects the most turkeys.
Ringing the Turkey
Seat residents in a large circle in your Activity Room, and place a turkey centerpiece on the floor in the center of the circle to see how many residents can successfully toss rings so that it lands around the turkey’s neck. Give each resident three attempts at trying to ring the turkey.
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!
