You're in charge of arranging activities for residents in a care home. What are you going to plan? Unusual ideas welcomed

[AlpacaAPicnic]

This is a private retirement village with a very healthy budget for activities. They do all the usual things you might imagine - flower arranging, crafting, baking, rambling for those who are able, various talks arranged and various evening dos

But what can I suggest that's outside the box? They're very good at having some excellent ideas and have recently had therapy penguins (yes really), Caribbean evenings, barbershop quartets etc

It's my new role and I wondered if you could suggest something that might work. Of course I've got my own ideas but wondered if there was anything you'd like an older relative to experience

A mix of independent folk, those with dementia and those with care needs. We can do individual activities and tailor them to all residents

Collecting scents of some description from the era when they were younger. Smell stays with your memories for ever!

Ooh more ideas. Some of these are so good. Now I like the idea of a Thursday murder club but might it be a bit much?! 😹 who shall we kill off?

Messy perhaps but planting up tubs with plants and bulbs. There’s something about getting your hands in the soil that’s good for the soul. I mean doing it inside, seated at tables etc, bags of compost, tubs/containers, varieties of bulbs….or planting up herbs….

Local historian talk /walk
Someone to talk about doing your family tree
Seasonally themed afternoon teas ( for those less able)
a local care home has a memory room set up, really good for dementia patients apparently, old furniture and appliances, nick nacks old books an replica newspapers.
Heritage railway or historic building visit for those able.

My grandmother was in a wealthy private home. It was still balls and hard to organise activities for people with dementia & alzheimers. On site they did 10 pin bowling with children’s balls and pins. They would take them out in mini buses for fish and chips seaside but that took a lot of staff obviously. They were a really hard group to cater for.

They did do a church service most days, different denominations. But they would wheel them all in for each one pretty much. It was a way to try and fill in the days.

Jigsaws, especially the "olde worlde" ones

Table-top gardening - have pots, tubs of compost, and a variety of small flowering plants on an outdoor table. Place chairs around it, so residents can sit down. They can then use trowels to add compost to their individual pots, and plant a few of the small plants in. The finished pots can then go on their balconies, patios etc to enjoy over the coming months.

This activity could be repeated throughout the year: plant mini cyclamen and ivys now for autumn colour, spring-flowering bulbs such as hyacinths (look for the specially prepared ones for early flowering) or amaryllis could be planted in November, and bedding plants such as geraniums, lobelia and alyssum in the spring to enjoy bright summer flowers.

That sounds like a great place. I doubt my pension would stretch to somewhere like that unfortunately. What is the average age of the residents? Ask them what they liked to do and then see if u can provide this. Can u get mobile 10 pin bowling units ? How about googling what similar nursing homes provide to give u ideas?

Some sort of diy ‘escape room’, keep the brain cells ticking over.

At my mums home they planted seeds - tomatoes veg salad and flowers - they managed to do this sitting in their chairs at a table and used a mini greenhouse to grow them on them plant them up.

Take a theme like friendship and do posters and photos of friendship and poems, food and anything connected to that theme.
Make a wish tree - they all write down a wish (a realistic one) and try to fulfill each one - they asked for a particular food - or to go to the pub for a meal

Swing dancing. There are groups all over the place, many do performances and teaching, so could do a combination. Get a live band too - ask the swing dance group for advice, they'll have contacts for local bands who play suitable music.

Start by googling terms like swing dancing, Lindy Hop, balboa, collegiate shag in your local area. I'm in Edinburgh and there are four or five groups I can think of here and plenty more within an hour's drive. I know of many more all over the UK and abroad. Dancers are excited about any opportunity to dance, especially with a live band, so you'd likely be able to get them to come along quite cheaply (some local to me have done this sort of thing for expenses only) and spend more of the budget on the band and some refreshments.

A murder mystery dinner - they get to sit in their normal tables, but you get professional actors in to tell the story, act out the roles and each table has to work out whodunnit. Can do dress up if wanted / appropriate (there's quite a lot of 1920's / Agatha Christie style ones).

I also like the idea of escape rooms, but the really good ones would need you to visit, rather than setting up in your village.

Pub quiz, definitely. My mum’s care home used to have one and she used to throw me out (sneakily “what about the traffic dear?”)so she could get to it 😂. She loved it because she used to win - even beat the some of the carers!

Outdoor cinema
Fish and Chip van
Cricket match with afternoon tea
Painting class
1940s tea dance

Intergenerational event? Maybe with local schools. It can be really positive for both the older and younger people - preferably involving an activity. Maybe secondary school volunteers to have "digital days" and help the residents use tech?

See if you can get some indoor games like cornhole, indoor curling, giant jenga, boules etc

My nana had painted nails last time I saw her. They’d had a pamper day.

Other suggestions:

therapy dogs or if some of the staff had a friendly dog to bring in

Wine or gin tasting as mentioned above would be excellent as my Nan loves her wine still despite being 91 and not completely with it

some sort of gardening task so residents can keep a pot plant in their rooms

Multigenerational toddler group - an organisation local to me runs a no of different toddler groups ( free to attend) and one of them is a weekly multigenerational group held in a nursing home, the most able residents come and interact with the parents and toddlers. The organisation looks to include families who specifically are on board with this type of group and the toddlers have to be confident and outgoing to make it work. It works really well.

Its a bit of a cheesy option, lifted straight from Social Media, but have you considered seeing if a local pre-school might like to come in and spent some time with the residents?

Creative writing
Amateur dramatics
Podcasting
Boardgames
Skittles
Talks from various groups and societies
History walks
Soap carving
Toy making
Bridge and other card games
Drawing
Tarot reading, palmistry, tea leaf readings
Calligraphy
Author talks and book signings
Music recitals
Choir
Shanty songs
Steel band
Jewellery making
Folk tales
Supernatural stories

Ask the local primary school choir f they want to come and sing/ run a sing-along.
Table tennis competition.
Fair ground games ( hook a duck and similar)
A bake off
Book A self portrait/ caricature artist

Titsonboard & KatParr... x-post but great minds!!

My aunts home had visits from the local primary school talking to the residents about what it was like when they were children and at christmas they preformed a carol service for them

Our primary school chess club does monthly visits to a local care home so the kids can play the residents there, something like that?

Graffiti workshop?

African drumming workshop
Gamelan workshop
Sing songs with music from their youth.
Poetry workshop where they all write a poem
Classic film club
Journaling session
Letter/postcard writing session where you provide a range of postcards, letter writing supplies & stamps & you take care of posting
Volunteering is very good for the soul, what about exploring a scheme where children can come to visit and the residents could listen to them read. Or would that be a safeguarding nightmare?

This x 100 - the internet is full of gorgeous videos and stories of the young and old getting so much out of being together.

Is there a local primary school you could reach out to - having visits for the young pupils to bring pictures/poems (that tie into the project work they are doing) and older pupils to do their latest performance/carol concert/poem reading