activity professionals
in elder care
Arts & Crafts
Pretty table decorations made from cups, sauces and silk flowers.
Thank you Jean for this wonderful idea!
A great craft that can be as basic or as complex as you like. It is light weight, doesn't break easily, inexpensive, therapeutic and above all, fun to make.
Providing lovely visual stimulation, this activity encourages creativity and should be placed in bedrooms and recreation areas.
It is so easy to make lovely pressed flowers and leaves that you can use to decorate cards, jars and magnets.
Turn bottles and glass jars into these cute candle holders, vases or containers for chocolates and other sweets. Ideal gift idea!
Here is a lovely and simple valentine's day heart decoration you can make.
Create some easy and lovely paper lanterns to celebrate Chinese New Year!
Celebrate the January birthdays of these famous artists with colouring-in templates inspired from their work.
These recycled book Christmas Wreaths are stunning and easy to make!
Another lovely Christmas ornament you can hand-make!
These Christmas ornaments are striking and fun to make!
Paul Klee's art work is not easy to classify, he was influenced by expressionism, cubism, surrealism and abstraction.
Create your own beautiful craft garden!
Thanks Marie for this wonderful activity!
This is an easy activity for one and all. Good fun for creative minds.
Preserved fall leaves last throughout the festive season shining and supple, and are a lovely addition to a table or used as hanging decoration.
They are easy to make and an ideal present for a friend or relative or perhaps a kind nurse or volunteer.
We are making and decorating our shoes for table decorations.
Thanks for sharing this activity Kerry! (Sourced from http://www.skiptomylou.org/)
A Maori poi ball is a juggling ball originally made of woven flax. Maori dancers use them when performing to tell stories, teach and imitate natural sounds.
Music sticks are used to keep the rhythm in songs, dances and corroborees in ceremonial events.
A dream catcher is a handmade object made by American Indians believed to give its owner good dreams.
Here is a fun art activity that everyone can enjoy. Thanks Melissa for this activity!
Making pom-poms requires patience but the end product is very satisfying. Pom-poms can be used for colour sorting games for Alzheimer's patients.
Art templates from well known artists born in the month of July
Decorate your facility by placing an Olympic Torch in every room where residents can be reminded of the event, e.g. dining room, TV room, recreation room, reception area.
Beautiful scrapbooks made from recycled magazines. Make them to suit the interests of individuals. Thanks Kellie for this wonderful activity!
Making greeting cards is a lot of fun! Have a session to make cards for every male in you facility on Father's Day. Celebrate their hobbies, their love of animals, their fancy cars and their enthusiasm for sports.
As the saying goes "One Person's Trash is Another Person's Art". Scavenger Collages can be made of almost anything you find or intend to throw out.
This is a messy activity but lots of fun! The idea is that the wheels of the wheelchairs will make the art work on the fabric.
The River Thames Jubilee Pageant will feature 1,000 boats. Run a craft session to make 60 paper boats - one for each year. They are easily made.
This is another great activity that can be offered as a present to someone close to you or to a volunteer/staff for their time and kindness.
There is nothing like a personalised Mother's Day card made with love! They are easy to make and require materials you can find around the place or your local discount store. There are no rules so let the imagination run wild.
This is an easier version of the Mosaic tile activity which will be more suitable to participants who enjoy colouring or painting.
These Islamic and European mosaics tiles look rather stunning when complete!
Limerick poetry is very stimulating for the mind and lots of fun.
Use Christmas cards to create lovely Christmas chain decorations!
Lovely wall art for all occasions! Video instructions included.
Here is an activity that offers social opportunity and can make your facility look festive on all occasions.
Create these lovely paper chains to decorate your facility in time for Chinese New Year!
Use your old newspapers to make this beautiful Christmas wreath.Video instructions included!
Christmas and nativity themed colouring-in templates to decorate your facility!
These cute fabric angels are easy to make and very attractive to use on the table or mantel piece, windowsill, shelves or to hang from ceiling.
These beautiful wreaths can also be made with corks, large buttons, shells, and unshelled nuts.
Use old cards to make ornaments for your Christmas tree or string them along to make a garland for walls or windows.
There are dozens of ways to make Advent calendars from recycled material. This is just one of them.
Make a few of these lovely doves and place them on your Christmas table as a container for chocolate, cookies and marshmallows.
Member submitted activity - thank you Filidea!
Beautiful hats made from paper plates, servettes, wrapping paper, bows, feathers and tule.
These turkeys can be used as table decorations, or placed on window sills or furniture.
Air Dry clay is a creative and therapeutic craft product suitable for people from 8 to 80 years old. It is easy to shape, decorate and paint; no kilns or ovens are necessary and it does not shrink when drying. Great for gifts!
This has always been a very popular game at all the facilities where I have worked. If you don't have a sewing machine ask a volunteer or one of your clients' relatives to do it for you.
Ideal for men, this activity will foster friendship and bring much laughter. It would be helpful if you could find a male volunteer to sit with participants and remind them of different ways to make paper airplanes.
For cereal and seed craft you may use: bird seed, all colors of beans, corn kernels, sunflower seeds, rice, pasta, all colours of lentils, nuts and small pebbles and sand (whatever you have handy) .
Get a few ladies together with a nice cup of tea and teach them how to make these wonderful crafts.
I find this activity very rewarding. Participants can have the pleasure of holding dough in their hands for fun; no need for gloves like when they are cooking.
This is another great craft to do and ideal to decorate your facility for parties or a Spring Festival. Offer lots of decoration options and let participants express themselves artistically.
These are lovely balls to decorate your facility at your annual Summer Ball. These spring balls are very satisfying, rewarding, and fun to make!
Lovely artwork templates including a floral photo frame, butterflies, jar with flowers and a stylized cat.
Another way of making lovely tissue flowers for Mother's Day - video included!
This game is played as the highlight of the party – at both children and adults parties. Video included!
Here are a couple of easy Easter bonnets for your parade! I have included some templates for the decorations but let your clients express their artistic flair by encouraging them to decorate as they please.
Create and decorate your own banners for special events!
Recycle egg cartons and make your facility look festive by hanging these colourful flowers everywhere.
Making mobiles or sun catchers are activities that low care residents can do for frail people in Nursing Homes. Mobiles and sun catchers can act as a visual stimulation to those no longer able to participate in activities.
Make it more interesting by having small groups of participants to share in the creation of each Leprechaun; two or three people taking turns in tracing, cutting, gluing and decorating the hat, legs, jacket and vest.
These easy percussion instruments will reward you with a happy and very noisy sing-a-long! Remind participants how important percussion instruments are for mankind; indeed every culture has some sort of percussion instrument.
2011 is the Year of the Rabbit - decorate your facility with this poster!
Here are some festive decorations for your Jamaican Afternoon Delight Party!
Decorate your facility with lanterns, streamers, fans, incense and rabbits (2011 – year of the rabbit). Of course there is no Chinese New Year without some dragons!
Easy and fun, this activity takes roughly one hour to make. This is an ideal inexpensive gift to make for a volunteer or to offer as a birthday gift.
Recycle old doilies into these cute baskets for your Christmas table. They can be used to hold rum balls, chocolate, homemade Christmas biscuits and anything else you can think of.
This is a very useful tree to have! It can be used all year around, just change the ornaments on Easter, Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Chocolate day, Wish Tree Day.
Any of the Arborvitae evergreens can be used; I find the Thuja occidentalis particularly good because the leaves as flat by nature, making it easier to glue the layers.
This is a cute craft activity using discarded jigsaw puzzle pieces to create hanging decorations for your factility at Christmas.
Lovely Christmas tree ornaments made from recycled Christmas cards
Here are some templates to be coloured in and decorated for Guy Fawkes Day!
Celebrate Claude Monet's birthday in November by recreating one of his famous paintings!
Make your own beautiful advent wreath and celebrate with a morning tea on the four Sundays preceding Christmas!
Stunning hanging decorations for Thanksgiving and other celebrations!
The wonderful thing about World Animal day is that it can be celebrated indoors or outdoors. Here are some suggestions of fun things to do on World Animal Day.
Make your own coconut trees that stand over 1.3m tall in this fun craft activity!
So simple and so beautiful! These flower leis are sure to be admired and appreciated.
These lovely leaves will look great hanging from ceilings, decorating glass windows and walls or made into mobiles for people who spend long periods of time in bed.
Stunning snow-flakes to decorate any room. They are so simple to make and just beautiful.
Help celebrate the oceans rich diversity of life. Have fun by turning a wall in your facility into your own ocean or aquarium.
To observe cultural dates. To engage residents in reminiscing
Download the 'Happy Easter' letters and have your residents paint and decorate them to create a beautiful banner for your facility!
Lovely Easter baskets you can make with recycled paintings and paper.
Celebrate Mother's Day with beautiful floral decorations with photo centerpieces!
To celebrate spring make a 'dream' tree composed of spring flowers and blossoms. You may also include recycled paper flowers with painted flowers as per the example spring tree above.
A Leprechaun is a devious little troll who is capable of turning into a frog to escape capture. Leprechauns are shoe-makers who dress in suites with waist coats, hats and buckled shoes.
St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. His life is shrouded in legend.
It's Winter Olympics time! Have fun decorating international flags.
Take your residents on a fascinating cultural experience – celebrate Chinese New Year!
Australian Aboriginals use plant shoots, Echidna quills and small twigs to paint their dream time stories.
Easy and fun to make! Give the bookmarks as souvenirs to friends, staff and relatives.
Here is an activity that will help you with your resolve to become more ‘green’. It is fun to make and requires little skill and yet looks rather striking hanged in walls, doors, windows and shelves.
Colouring-in, whether with crayons, coloured pencils or paint is therapy as well as a great way to pass the time absorbed in something creative. It may help to maintain what remains of dexterity and fine motor control.
Do your bit to save the planet with this gorgeous recycled Christmas Tree craft activity!
Here is a lovely christmas craft activity - create beautiful standing Christmas angels!
This is folk art and maybe some of your residents will remember playing with it as a child. Video included!
Brighten up your space with some lovely thanksgiving decorations you can make during craft sessions!
Make your own game for Melbourne Cup Celebrations!
Enhance self esteem. Have fun with arts and crafts!
Socialization with peers in a group setting. Sense of accomplishment. Video included!
Potential for reminiscing. Personal satisfaction. Video included!
VIDEO Instructions included! Make bow ties in a craft session and give it to your male residents on Father’s Day to help celebrate this festive occasion.
VIDEO Instructions included! Object: maintain social skills and reinforce friendships. Sensory stimulation.
Versatile and interesting activity. Maintains and improves dexterity.
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Resources for activity professionals in elder care
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