Jean

I am going to set up a Pop up Cafe in a spare room for a week and invite family and friends to make use of it when they visit. I want our residents to feel as if they have had an outing. Does anybody have any hints and/or tips on how I can make this 'outing' a special treat. Thanks, Jean

It will be a quiet one at our care home. 3 red paper poppies in a little vase will be on each table in the dining room and I have bought paper serviettes with a poppy design on them for the 1 day only.

Today we had a game of musical bingo. I have 1 resident who is nearly blind and heard her comment that she wished she could see to play. I often hear her singing along with CD's and know that she knows a lot of music so I involved her in the game by telling her to sing along with the tune in order to give the other residents a 'clue' to the title. She enjoyed her role and so did the other residents.

I had difficulty getting the residents, most of whom have dementia, together after lunch so started serving tea and coffee in the lounge after lunch. They responded well to this and I now get a decent size group gathering there motivated by the thought of a cup of tea.

I am in the early stages of planning this activity so many thanks for any comments that are made that make a contribution to my final product.

Two of my residents familys did something similar to this and typed out a sheet of facts:
My name is xyz: and I was born in 1346
'Important steps in my life'
they then listed the steps chronologically eg
1974 Sold my house in Baxter Avenue
1976 my daughter, Anne, was born
this sheet of facts is so much help to the dementia resident who continually asks the same question, where is this place, have you seen my dog, etc. we read through the sheet and explain they have probably forgotten because that happens when you get older. Straight away they feel less anxious.

I do quite a lot of one to one activities but have had great success with our 'balloon handball' and the residents that are sleeping in the chairs often wake up and get involved. I simply blow up a punching balloon, throw it to the residents and ask them to throw it back to me. its not long before they are stretching to reach it and laughing at me as I have to stretch to catch it. The only rule is that they have to be seated. This is a regular 30 minutes in the lounge before lunch every day. While we are playing I have a CD on.

Love this article

I will get the residents to ice and decorate cup cakes. I bought a pack of rice paper cake toppers especially designed for the royal wedding and will use them to decorate. I keep things simple and will just buy ready made cup cakes but if you do have people who can bake perhaps they can do a batch for you. you can add to this activity by getting them to decorate paper plates to put their cup cakes on. We will culminate everything by having a buffet lunch while watching the wedding on TV.

I tried a regular exercise program using a DVD but it did not work. We now have a group of about 6 to 10 regulars, most of who have dementia, and hit a balloon around. Much more fun and just as effective for upper body mobility. it involves social interaction also.