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

Laughter yoga?

Music from a suitable era- Beatles, Cilla, Petula Clark.

Get a local toddler group to come in. The results are amazing!

60s and 70s night because that's when most current residents will have been young adults.

Most are not as old as we picture in our minds!

iPad/basic tech introductions and reminder sessions

Thai Chi/ Pilates/hand weights exercise classesto maintain muscle tone and flexibility

My MiL has had Shetland ponies come to visit and been for a day out which included a ride down the river on a speed boat. She raved about it for a long time!

Loving this thread

Depends on the client mix. There’s no use singing Vera Lyn to a metal head and flower arranging for a dancer would be dull.
Also consider each person’s abilities and risks.

I recently saw a nursing home that had set up a festival. Everyone had wristbands, the had live music, a bar, hair glitter and face paints etc.

I would utterly despise this.
Take the TV out of my room so not constantly blaring nonsense.
Provide a radio where I can listen to r 3 4 and world service as I wish.
Some sort of acknowledgement to my food preferences. Hearty, meaty, and a good pudding.

I arranged a donkey visit for a care home once. The residents absolutely loved it. It pooed in the room of our grumpiness resident and she found it hilarious! She opened up so much more after that and started engaging in all sorts.

The men also liked when we got someone in to lead a bit of woodwork, we made Bird boxes and planters.

Heeding advice from the blackberry thread- soak blackberries to remove dog pee and maggots first!

I volunteer with an organisation called Cycling Without Age - https://cyclingwithoutage.org.uk. We take care home residents out for a cycle ride. It’s great for both the pilot and the passengers. You could see if there is a chapter that’s been set up near you.

Can you have a suggestion box as well?

Cheese and wine pairing?
Book club?
Volunteers to help with reading in local primary schools?
Chess Club?
Creative writing classes?
Cinema club?
Bring a board dinner evenings?

Could go on and on.

Op, are your residents local to the area? dementia related? Erskine house in Edinburgh have "converted" the home into old Edinburgh with outside of rooms being reminiscint of their era. Corridors were rebuilt into old streets of the day. The local sweet shop, barbours, butchers etc. I spent more time walking round the building than talking to the residents 🤣 it was just amazing. There was also a street for the queen's coronation.

I came across 2 ladies on a bench outside the sweetshop. Turns out they knew each other as children and were even in some of the historical pics that were mounted. They were nattering away reliving memories and it was actually quite emotional to watch.

But I'm off to Google therapy penguins!!!!

exercise classes appropriate to abilities. There are so many real fun games that can be chair based for instance but also modified to the fully mobile.

primary school choirs - ask schools.

grandads care home did an art gallery trip by taxi … and also had chicks hatching at Easter

See if your local riding for the disabled does ' tea with a pony'. It's aimed at those with dementia.

If you have residents with advanced dementia have a look into Namaste care interventions.

Forest school / nature craft activities? Not full on mud kitchens but creating mindful mandalas with leaves/petals, learning useful knots, identifying wildlife, getting to know the rhythms of the seasons. My groups also do a nature/mindfulness diary alongside this ☺️

My dad was in a home with dementia - he loved classical music and they had a few musicians into play - one even came into his room to play to him there - he also enjoyed music theorpy sessions, and people reading with/to him - he particularly enjoyed Burns -earlier on he liked trips to the pub and trishaw rides. I think things don't have to be particularly exciting - just a good match with the person and reasonablely frequent- he and quite a lot of the other people would have got overwhelmed and/or not enjoyed quite a lot of the activities suggested

Oh and the nursery visits were magic for lots of people there

I knew of a nursery that was next door to a care home and they would often have shared, 'intergenerational' activities, eg arts & crafts, music, etc. Such a great idea!

They did a Bird of Prey display at my Mum's care home. Residents got to wear the glove & have birds flying at them. It was really good fun - my Mum loved it!

Retro game corner, maybe a mix of joy stick and more modern controllers for stiff joints. Maybe even get a full size game cab in like you find in an arcade. You can get modern ones that look right but the tech is emulated so easier to maintain and you can get lots of games on one machine.

Pottery painting. There are lots of venues that do this near me and they are great. There must be a mobile service that brings the kit, sets up and then takes them away for fitting. Less messy then pottery throwing and easier on the hands.

Photography competition. Hand out those cheap holiday cameras (to make it more challenging) or they can use/hire digital cameras or phones. The residents set up a gallery of the entry's and vote for 1st second and third place. Could do different categories if wanted.

Terrarium design. These look adorable and can be displayed on residents sills.

Percussion session
Gin tasting
Wine and cheese evening with local cheeses
Train/car/plane focused talks as a lot of the suggestions are more aimed towards women.

@Howsoon23 yes I can understand that. That's one reason why we talk to every single resident to learn what they love to do as we are all individuals and whereas one person may absolutely love a festival or a llama trotting about, another would hate that but really love a sing song and a local history chat

Thank you all for these suggestions. They've run the whole gamut of every day pleasures to out of the ordinary and there's something to suit everyone I hope

My friends sisters home did trick or treating at Halloween. They made masks with prizes for the most scary and had each resident who wanted to knock on a couple of doors of other residents rooms (or doors to rooms with prepared staff or their relatives behind) and they "spooked" each other with their masks and were treated with snacks that they'd half made all together as a group or bought in specially. Some did it with their grandkids and then they settled ij the lounge together (again those interested) and watched the old version of blithe spirit together

My grandads had the kids from a local school attend at Christmas and give them a carol concert or special play. One kid saw his grandma and slept shouting "hi nana!" through everything ❤️

They had also had girl nights where the girls (and any gents who wanted to come) were pampered and face masks, nails trimmed and painted, feet soaking and a bit of a gossip as a film played away (the last one I was present had the film be It's A Wonderful Life as it was the start of Dec)

They also had their own caterpillars and watched and recorded their change to butterflies.

They had ladies and gents done up in the 40s and 50s regaila and sing songs from them as singalonggs whilst some did the dances of that time too.

They made a family tree of drawing round the hands of everyone who 'lived there' (inc staff) and cutting them out to add them to a beautiful tree trunk painted by a local artist on one of the walls and added to it each time someone new came. They were invited to decorate their hand print and their name was written on it too.

They arranged a monthly meeting where everyone could attend inc family members as well as residents and staff and give feedback or praise or certificates of recognisation too. (these were not just for staff members levelling up qualifications but they also recognised when those who lived there had achieved stuff too, like one gentleman had gone into hospital and not left the bed as he was so ill so he had almost lost his ability to walk. He struggled to remember to keep moving because of his dementia so his family and the staff kept helping him with his exercises and physio and encouragement and he got a certificate for completing a lap around the home. It took him almost 2 hours but he did it!)

Always with a suggestion box too for things that the residents might think of themselves. The one at my grandads home got them a visit to the nearby army barracks for one army mad gentleman who had served and his friends from the home.