Members Forum

Your focus is on caregivers for the elderly, of course, but your tips apply to hearing loss in general. Most of the tips are spot-on. I'd put some of them differently, based on my own experience with bilateral hearing loss. I've also added an extra tip.

Tip 6: Don't assume that hearing aids restore normal hearing. Turning up the volume doesn't turn up the clarity. If they have to keep turning up the volume to hear you, it'll be as if you're shouting (see tip 1) and then every background noise will be louder too (see tip 9).

Tip 8: Make sure that any light sources are shining on your face, without shadows, instead of shining from behind you or casting shadows on your face. Even someone who has no training in lip reading can benefit from seeing your lips clearly.

Tip 12: Age aside, ANYONE with hearing loss might need more time to process what you're saying. It takes extra focus and cognitive effort just to listen. If they miss any words, they have to try to figure out from context what they missed, and then they have to piece together what you probably said. If they're struggling to piece it together, they start wondering if they misheard particular words or if you've changed the subject.

Here's a bonus tip, Tip 15: If they haven't heard you or understood you, repeat yourself, but make sure you've reviewed the other tips. A common problem is that people who start out enunciating in a conversational tone tend to lower their voices or speak faster as they continue. Beware of rephrasing: If they didn't understand you the first time, rephrasing could add to their confusion. They didn't know what you just said, and now you're saying something else. To them, you've moved on before they caught up. They now have even less context for understanding your rephrased version.

Hi Michele, one way to preserve sun-catchers to laminate them.

It's a great idea and looks great when it's done, however, after a couple weeks or so the insides start to fall down between the sheets of contact paper. Any way to resolve this?

Thanks for the link Talita, these are not easy to find on your site for some reason.

We recently performed the pantomime "Alice in Wonderland". Our residents had a fantastic time, rehearsing, organising costumes etc...They performed it for their families and friends while feeling nervous but they all did a great job. It was followed by a sausage sizzle.
A fantastic day was had by all.

With the newly introduced standards Holistic care which is our specialty in Leisure and Health Golden carers is an invaluable resource. My students have appreciated the tips that support them developing their individual tool box of activities to demonstrate their unique employability skills. Makes me proud to be their teacher and assessor and gives me hope for the future in Aged. Community and Disability sectors.

Love this day in history. We have a group discussion at the end of each day about the people and topics relevant to that day.

A new activity has been posted by a Golden Carers member: Tissue Paper Stained Glass Windows

This post is all about the activities for the Visually Impaired. People with vision impairment will often require help with everyday tasks they could once complete on their own. Keep sharing!

Fantastic idea, we will be doing this from January, all activity in January will be based on Italy, looking forward to next country so we can start planning February.
I love the downloadable and printable fact sheets etc.

sooooo happy and thankful I have this medium as saves so much time and energy collecting info and collating it , thank you everyone for all your ideas it covers sooo much
Cathy xx

Cant wait to try this with our residents. We recently had a go at growing avocado stones that I had seen on Gardening Australia, and much to our residents joy we had success with six out of ten of the stones. Gardening Australia's web site gave me all the details on how to do this, and It certainly is worth trying.

Thank you so very much for your new improved word search puzzles. They are easy to read and now I see you have an easy and hard version. Perfection!!

The Who Am I birthdays are a hit with my groups. They love guessing who the persons are and the information provided on them.

Love this... We have been doing similar armchair travels for the past couple of years. Traveled the world in a year...then Destination travel this past year (did local or United States). Provide sensory, music, educational, movies, baking/cooking programs and travel videos. Each quarter we meet with the nutrition department and plan a program we call.. the taste of (destination for that month). Nutrition provides us with either a dessert or popular dish for that destination, and recreation does the opposite. On the day of the Taste, we decorate accordingly, and sample foods, desserts and drinks based on our itinerary. Our residents have looked forward to traveling monthly.

I have done this many times & it’s really amazing when they smell something it brings back lots of memories. It’s a great activity, you could try and peel peas& corn very safe. Good therapy session as many people lived on farms & grew there own veggies.Makes them feel worth while and they have helped out with the cooking.
We planted the peas & corn , water them & watched them grow & picked the veggies together, than peeled them while having group talk about the use of this veggies.We made pea & corn soup than residents had this at dinner time.

I’m so pleased so many other people are getting enjoyment from the song list. I have been a member of golden carers for many years & than I stoped for a while. Than I have a new position & I had no hesitation to rejoin in August this year. It’s a must for anyone to use so many ideas. Thank you very much for a wonderful site.

Yes thanks heaps, these song list certainly take a long time to put together. Could you send me some names of good words&lyrics songs cds. As residents always fine music very simulating, they have beautiful scenes in the background.

I have used several of these for my residents! It is a relaxing activity that even those with dementia can enjoy. THANK YOU!

Oh thanks for this. Some of our younger clients will love this! And our clients are getting younger so we need a lot more activities to suite them too. Thanks again

Have tried this game with our residents. Was hilarious. We need more stories. Not very successful in a large group though as some people miss out a turn so tried it with two balls. What chaos! Such fun!! Try it. Recommended by me. Have fun.

HI thanks for your comment regarding 'clothes protectors'; I had a discussion with my manager on this and we have switched to cotton napkins in a sunny yellow, which I then just tuck lightly into their clothing over their chest area. The home have got behind my mad scheme too, which is wonderful - it makes such a massive difference not just to the residents but also to the staff and visitors. The night staff now set the table for us coming in on Wednesday and one of our staff is a master napkin folder - we had 'yellow roses' to adorn their wine glasses! Now even the residents who said they didn't want anything to do with it are clamoring for a place at the table and we've only just completed week 3!! I have to keep a register in order to make it fair.
Love the tips on colour too...thank you for sharing. Onwards and upwards!

Thank you all for the responses. I have a very dear neighbor that is losing her vision and I was trying to help her find activities for her to do. She has always been very social and outgoing lady. I’m thankful that I’m able to help her

We love the jokes and funny stories! I just wish there were more. :)

I have been thinking about starting arm chair travel sessions but didn't know where to start! I have a big set of travel DVD's to use, and now I have lots of ideas on things to do along with the DVD's! Thank you so much!

Love this new concept
Each month we have a meal - "Foods from other Countries" - introducing new flavours, new foods, different ways of cooking etc, so now I can extend this and incorporate more information about the countries we are eating from as an Activity for that day.

Hi Deb,

I like what you are offering with your Lunch Club.

I noted that you use 'bibs'. I wonder if you would consider calling them 'clothes protectors'? This is more adult and is also truthful. I think it is a great idea for you to put on a clothes protector first to normalise the practice. Perhaps you could have different/pretty designs/colors...

Good luck with your lunch club!

Kaye (Activities worker in Melbourne, Australia)

A new activity has been posted by a Golden Carers member: Chocolate themed afternoon

Perfect timing as usual. Exactly what I needed today

Thank you Kayleigh! The residents at my mom's assisted living place will love this! Their sense of humor is still amazing!

fantastic thank you

Hello Bonnie,

What did you use for the "tap". It looks like someone commented on using buttons, but I would think that might break. A while back I saw that someone was doing finger tapping with people who are living with dementia and I though that was so great, but I like to try to keep programs more familiar for my residents. I would love to arrange a phone call with you if possible.

Thank you so much!

Tammy Bryant

Tammy Bryant

I love how comprehensive this is! Everything you need to carry out the event!

Hi Bess, how kind of you to spend your time helping others. Thank you for sharing.

I've just started knitting the twiddle muffs find it so rewarding donating them and knowing it's helping and being appreciated. I also knit hats for our local baby unit, I do prem hats and comfort squares

Golden Carers is a huge blessing to me. I am able to finish my calendar in a fraction of the time. This frees me up to concentrate on other projects I have to work on for the month. I love the variety of activities that the site offers. Our participants and staff enjoy them a lot.
Thank you so, so much Golden Carers !!!

awesome thank you

Thank you what a great idea

Hi. I love this idea.

I was wondering if anyone has some ideas:
when running a group activity, eg a quiz, how to include involve people who have cognitive abilities, and people with dementia. I find this a big challenge. I would love everyone's feed back.

At our Day Center for seniors we decided one year to give them each an individual memory frame. We asked them questions about their past, their pastimes, their favorite things , then we asked them to bring old pictures of themselves that we scanned and later on printed, we also found images pertinent to their comments and made them each their own memory board as their Christmas gift. It was a very long process since we had about 100 to make, our fingers were all glued up, but in the end to see their faces at Christmas was priceless. Very nice gift to make!

Please provide a variety of pictures for Christmas coloring. Thanks

Hi Cindy, I am sorry it didn't go as planned; it happens sometimes. Luckily, corn is not harmful. Next time give the resident a cob to eat before the game; it may work. On the positive side, you couldn't say the resident didn't enjoy the activity.

This was a fantastic activity. Our Residents had a great time. Took a little to warm up but once they understood how it worked it was amazing. Thankyou. Kylie

I love this, Debs - thank you for advocating for your residents and creating a better experience for them!

Contrasting colors tend to improve the dining experience, but they can also be used elsewhere in the community, Leeanne. I've been known to use contrasting bath mats to make a resident's toilet easier to see!

Lots of great ideas to use! I like Susan's idea of singing a song and the phrase 'after while crocodile'! I am trying to utilize ideas, at this time, with my mother-in-law who has dementia. I am not sure which stage she is in at this time but she is definitely moving to another stage. Do you have activities lists for the other stages of dementia? I would love to see them too.

Can someone please give me an example of a one to one note. I am new to this in Illinois and preparing for state and I am not sure if they are being documented correctly. Thank u

A new activity has been posted by a Golden Carers member: Music Bingo

I love the quizzes, but would love it if you would put the answers on a separate page! Not all my group like to do the quiz so those who do try it on their own then they like me to give them the answers, they can't do this if the answers are on the same page. Thankyou for all you do!

The idea of a diffuser is a good one. Not sure what you mean by turning it into a discussion group? A discussion about what? It's important to get feedback after the meditation this would be a responsible thing to do. And to make sure they are grounded. This is often a private experience though.