Activity suggestions for care home

[Whatsthestorytomorrow]

Really sad that the place where my relative now is doesn’t have anything at all at the moment. People are just left to sit in their rooms or the common areas doing nothing.

Relative likes being active and doing jobs. A couple of staff do get my relative to help with jobs- putting stock away, sweeping or whatever-just so they aren’t sitting there, but obviously that’s not possible all day every day.

they have now said there will be a new activity coordinator starting so they are asking for some suggestions of things to do. I know they don’t like jigsaws or crafts or anything so I’m at a loss what to suggest.
What sort of things have been popular with your male relatives please?
Tia

Sounds like he would prefer being active rather than playing cards, chess, draughts, etc. It is a problem. Bit cold for walking outside. Could he do some indoor gardening? Decorate Christmas tree?

Ooh what about dancing? If some of the other people are mobile enough? Activity coordinator could organise it. Also keep fit / chair exercise. Does he like dancing / keep fit?

Ive never heard him play any music and never seen him dance. He is one of the more mobile residents though, many just sit until they are led back to their room.
They aren’t allowed to do gardening as they can’t have tools, presumably in case they have, or cause to others, an injury. It is the most miserable garden/outdoor space I’ve ever seen tbh. I’m quite sad for them all but the staff are nice at least. Never been into exercise. Worked a manual job so did hard physical work, right up until Covid, & then it was an evening in the pub chatting or home watching TV. That’s why it’s so tough to think, but thanks for your suggestions.

They need a range of things - dancing is a brilliant activity because it allows touch, maintains core stability and muscle tone, encourages social interaction, uses patterns and numbers and is fun.
Singing is also good; some have community choirs where relatives and local people can join in.
Gardening appeals to many but raised beds are needed.
The best homes have newspapers, a library service, art and craft, outings, church services, swimming or hydrotherapy, chairobics, a bar, board games, pottery and many other options.

A beach ball or some kind of soft ball and all the residents in a circle, they can throw the ball to one another. Also, one of those big sheets and everyone can hold part of it and roll the ball on the top.

Some large skittles that can be used indoors.

A hoop and some bean bags to throw in.

If the budget allows, Wii games or similar are excellent for cognitive stimulation.

Reminiscence with items to evoke the senses and memories eg perfume, a soft toy, post cards etc

My dad's care home takes the more active residents out - cinema, seaside, pub, they do exercise classes, have a dog, have a mini shop residents can buy things, also things like reminiscence activities, also have nursey children in and residents read them books, TV is on a fair bit in the lounge but often nice films.

The only activity that interested my DM in her care home was when a couple of dancers came in and got the more mobile residents moving. It was entertaining for those watching and the staff loved it too. Lifted the atmosphere.

Indoor curling or bowls/skittles, you can buy sets of these. Get a local music group in. Our church used to do a monthly service in the local home before COVID and would have restarted but the home closed.

Balloon tennis used to be a big hit at DMIL’s nursing home. Basically a balloon gets knocked back and forth between the residents.
People would take it very seriously, and there would be lots of smiles along the way.
They also had a florist that would drop off the previous week’s flowers for flower arranging.
Things like baking cup cakes, crafts, bingo with giant bingo cards, quizzes.

some of the activities I used to put on were:
a daily newspaper designed specifically for care homes (I bought it as a pack monthly)
ballon games, meditation sessions, seated keep fit, seated olympics, at home zoo, ponies, alpacas and chickens indoors and too all rooms, Pat therapy dogs weekly, sing a long sessions, local nursery group, local primary group, mum and tots coffee mornings, mobile library, wi group, local amateur dramatics, local youth theatre, card game evenings, bingo sessions, quiz sessions, professional singers and groups, church groups (all religions catered for) large scale celebrations such as for Easter/remembrance day/ etc, bible studies, pen pal sessions, arts and crafts, college student group activities. To name but a few of the activities I put on. There is so much you can do. We also went out where possible to visit parks/pubs/schools/various local groups. Some things were offered daily, some were once weekly, but everything was offered once a month minimum. All family and friends were invited to join in or not as they wished. I also did one to ones with residents doing an activity they specifically liked once per week - so might be reading to them, just having a coffee and a chat or a hand massage etc etc.

My relative has made simple bird feeders in their care home with toilet roll tubes, peanut butter and bird seed.

Something like Lego, Knex, Meccano or Airfix might be good. I know it's not physically active but it's something different.

Does he like dogs? Therapets ( usually dogs) are often welcome visitors to care homes . not sure where you are based but if you Google Therpet you should find a charity locally that offers this service. Good luck x

All care homes should have an activity schedule…shocking that your relative is in a home without any!
Quizzes,films,bingo,pets visiting,trips out ,singers ,Christmas shopping,garden centres ,activity coordinator visiting the room bound with jigsaws ,sensory lights/ sound !
Care plan for every resident about their interests and activities.

My mum really enjoys it when they do karaoke! The staff join in and she’s loves it. Anything with music and singing is great for her.

Some great ideas here!

A few of us at one of the homes I worked at used to do a bit before/after shifts or on days off because we were usually too busy caring on shift (as in we did it for free in our own time because there wasn't an activity budget so we had to fundraise too) places are normally better these days with activities, but a few things we did were -

A Wii connect with different games - it took some help obviously but most of our residents loved it once they made the connection between the screen character and their movements.

A beer tasting club, you buy different beers each week/ month and then make up score cards for taste, smoothness, colour etc and get people to score out of 10, can also do it for wine and even food, and there's loads of non alcoholic drinks available these days if alcohol isn't suitable for some people.

A 'family' tree - where you take a blank wall and make a trunk/branches out of cardboard and stick it on the wall, then (with permission obviously) pictures and a little sentence about each resident/member of staff. You can also use this for one on one activities (again with permission) for each resident and their families and they have one in their room, you can include pictures etc too.

Bird spotting club with a prize for the person who spots the most.

Another place made 'The Corner' pub in one of the lesser used lounges, an old med cabinet and a juke box type stereo, old pub type tables, beer mats and runners and made pumps out of cardboard and stuck them on the med cabinet for effect and we had cans and wine in the cabinet and 'opened' the pub a few times a week and it was actually quite popular, especially with those who'd been pub goers, they seemed to enjoy the familiarity of coming up to the bar and 'buying' a pint and going back to the table. We had a float of change and we'd give money out when we opened and then take it back in 'payment' so there was no money changing hands.
That was a big project though and was more popular with some than others and the owners were really good as was the activity coordinator.

We had a few people that have been reluctant to join in organised activities, they weren't into clubs etc and had spent their whole lives working or caring for families and so we'd 'ask' for help with things like folding laundry, damp cloth for dusting, organising CDs etc - it really seemed to fulfill people if they thought they were doing something that was helpful rather than 'being entertained' and really helped foster good relationships with the staff and residents.

Also involvement in things like arranging furniture in communal areas, decoration, menu planning - sharing recipes and ideas - really helps people to feel it's their home, not just somewhere they live.

All care homes should have an activity schedule…shocking that your relative is in a home without any!

Yes, I am very surprised. Both DGM were in homes and, although they were very different, there were at leat options for residents to do things.

Some good suggestions here, thank you all. I will feed some things back and see what the result is.

Singing! My singing teacher used to run singing sessions in local care homes. Lots of residents joined in, and could remember the words to the songs.

The Care Home my Mum was at played indoor skittles, they also had famous peoples faces laminated on A4 sized pages and they were given clues as to the person’s identity.

at my mums home which she hasnt been there long they have things such as hand massage and nail painting singers coming in arts and crafts indoor boules flower arranging raffles tree decorating Poppy making xmas tree decoration making etc etc

In my mums dementia care home they had Cinema club, arts and crafts, bingo. In the spring they planted bulbs and watched them grow. (The co ordinator privately told me that a lot of them planted the bulbs upside down but once they’d gone she righted them ) but their pleasure watching them grow was fabulous. Also when it snowed they brought in some snow and let the residents make mini snowmen. They had monthly shows ranging from rock n roll, crooners, dancers and local schools doing nativity and carol concerts. They also used to do wheelchair limbo which was a sight to see.

All the things here plus my dad loved it when a company called Zoolab came in. They were fantastic with the residents & brought all manner of small animals such as gerbils, lizards, snakes etc with them.

Dominoes, old music, singing, reminiscence (looking through family photos or old news articles etc), chair exercise class, quiz, caring for dolls, sensory session (scarves, silks, wool - have known residents to just touch and organise them, talk about them), Christmas card making, visits from therapy animals, table top gardening, skittles.

Oh also hair / nail / beard salon sessions!