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Celebrate the upcoming Winter Athletic Games event in Beijing, China with your residents by hosting fun activities during the two-week event (February 4th to February 20th). Schedule activities that get your residents engaged and excited, like creating activities for preparation for the games, Opening Night Festivities, and of course, the Winter Athletic Games. In addition, during the two weeks, be sure to include fun activities that showcase the beauty and culture of China.<\/p>\n
Before the games begin, gather residents to help you decorate your facility in a fun winter theme. Use winter decorations<\/a><\/strong> or simply have residents cut paper snowflakes to hang. In addition, schedule a craft activity for residents to assemble and decorate\u00a0craft stick lanterns<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0that can be used as table centerpieces during your upcoming dining activities.<\/p>\n Finally, organize a Winter Bracelet Beading Party and encourage residents to use winter beads<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to make winter-themed bracelets that residents can wear during the two-week event.<\/p>\n Olympic Parade of Nations<\/strong><\/p>\n If your facility has staff members and residents from different countries, encourage them to participate in an international parade on opening night (Friday, February 4), in recognition of the Olympic Parade of Nations. Encourage participants to wear the attire from their home countries in the parade.<\/p>\n Winter Fashion Show <\/strong><\/p>\n Host a winter-themed fashion show in recognition of the Winter Olympics fashions that will be showcased on Opening Night during the Olympic Parade of Nations. Beforehand, assist residents to pick out their favorite winter outfit to strut their stuff on your catwalk.<\/p>\n Opening Night Dinner <\/strong><\/p>\n Celebrate opening night by coordinating with Dining Services to serve dishes from all over the world, like Mexican tacos, Chinese egg rolls, Greek spanakopita, Italian spaghetti, or German bratwurst. In addition, don\u2019t forget about dessert. Plan to serve tasty treats like French eclairs, Canadian Nanaimo bars, or Turkish baklava for the final course.<\/p>\n When the games begin in Beijing, organize several games in your facility, like biathlon, curling, and hockey. Afterwards, don\u2019t forget to pass out medals<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>to the games\u2019 participants.<\/p>\n Biathlon<\/strong><\/p>\n Introduce residents to the sport of biathlon, which includes cross-country skiing and rifle shooting, by creating your own winter archery game. Use a plastic dart archery set<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0for residents to test out their targeting skills.<\/p>\n Curling<\/strong><\/p>\n Invite residents to participate in the sport of curling, which includes sliding stones on ice to land on a target, by creating your own curling game. Use Washi tape and tape off a large rectangle on a wooden floor. Then have residents use the shuffleboard sticks and puck from your shuffleboard set<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to try to land the puck inside the target. If it’s in your budget, you can use a real floor curling set<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Hockey<\/strong><\/p>\n Encourage residents to join in to play hockey by setting up a goal<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0for residents to hit a large foam ball<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0through. Use plastic hockey stick<\/strong>s<\/a>\u00a0or homemade hockey sticks (cardboard tubes or brooms hitting an inflated balloon) for the fun game.<\/p>\n Tea Party<\/strong><\/p>\n Remember to educate your residents about the beautiful host city of Beijing, China by introducing several activities that reflect the Asian country\u2019s culture. For instance, host a tea party for residents that feature popular teas from the area, like green tea and ginseng tea.<\/p>\n Beautiful Fans<\/strong><\/p>\n In China, silk round fans or tu\u00e1nsh\u00e0ns, which resemble a full moon, and folded fans are still very popular. Therefore, invite your residents to assemble and decorate their own paper fans<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to use during a fan dance exercise class, where residents use fans to do arm and hand exercises.<\/p>\n Pottery Makers<\/strong><\/p>\n As China is famous for its pottery and porcelain, be sure to schedule a fun pottery class for your residents to teach them how to sculpt<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0their own pottery using sculpting tools<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n In addition, encourage residents to try their hand at painting different porcelain-inspired china patterns<\/a><\/strong>, a form of art that dates back to the Shang Dynasty.<\/p>\n Find more ideas from Notjustbingo\u00a0on the S&S blog here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n About Not Just Bingo:<\/strong><\/p>\n Not Just Bingo<\/a>\u00a0is 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 \u201cbeyond bingo.\u201d Not Just Bingo feels\u00a0privileged to help activity directors better the living experiences of their residents while demonstrating that a senior\u2019s quality of life can actually\u00a0improve<\/em>\u00a0when they move to a nursing facility!<\/p>\n Want even more ideas each month? Visit\u00a0www.notjustbingo.com<\/a>\u00a0for how-to activity ideas, monthly newsletters, and daily holiday ideas. You can also sign up for the\u00a0Notjustbingo Membership<\/a>\u00a0to receive specialized activity ideas to keep your residents and staff engaged, active, and having fun!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opening Night Festivities<\/h2>\n
Game Ideas<\/h2>\n
Chinese Culture<\/h2>\n
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