Senior activities
Holidays can be especially hard for many elderly people who live in nursing homes, away from their homes and families. Rewarding activities are priceless for keeping seniors active and bringing them some cheer. According to Recreationtherapy.com, November is full of special days that can be celebrated with special activities.
Sadie Hawkins Day and Veterans Day
Sadie Hawkins Day is the first Saturday after November 11th. A tradition since the 1930s, women can take the initiative to invite men on dates, typically to dances. Have a Sadie Hawkins dance; women usually outnumber men in nursing homes, so you will need to find male volunteers for the women to dance and socialize with, and some extra female volunteers for the men would also be welcome. A good place to start is a local high school, as many students have to do a certain amount of community service. Check with churches in your area as well.
Veterans Day is November 11th. Many elderly people have special memories of their loved ones in the military or were in the military themselves. Plan a flag-raising ceremony at the facility. Contact the local Veterans Association for assistance in finding available volunteers for the day. Have a get-together after the ceremony; serve some punch and snacks while listening or singing along to patriotic music.
Just for Fun
Have an indoor turkey shoot in honor of Thanksgiving dinner. Use hot glue to adhere pictures of turkeys to empty 2-liter soda bottles, and set up the turkey targets around the room, choosing a variety of positions for those who can stand and those in wheelchairs. Using a foam-dart gun, let the residents "hunt" and see who can shoot the most turkeys.
November 17th is National Take a Hike Day. Take your residents on a hike around the grounds of the facility or on an outing at a local park. Always bear in mind the mobility issues of the residents and choose your destination accordingly, as well as the ratio of staff members and volunteers to assist on the outing. Make it a scavenger hunt for autumn items such as acorns, pine cones and colored leaves. If the weather doesn't cooperate, have the scavenger hunt indoors, placing objects around the common areas of the nursing home.
Thanksgiving Crafts
Crafts are excellent nursing-home activities, especially if they serve a purpose. Have your residents cut leaf patterns from colored felt, craft foam or construction paper. Use twelve of them to make place mats for the dining room by overlapping the cut leaves and gluing them together with fabric glue. You can laminate them or use clear contact paper to keep them together and make them easy to clean for use as place mats in the dining room.
Cornucopia favors for Thanksgiving dinner are easy to make with sugar ice-cream cones. Each resident can glue a fall-colored piece of ribbon around the outside of the cone's opening and then fill the cone with fruit-shaped candies, chocolates or whatever treats you think your residents would like. Place the cones on paper doilies at each place setting for Thanksgiving dinner.
Considerations
Always think of each individual's abilities, both mental or physical, and adapt projects according to what they can do. Even if a resident is unable to participate in an activity, the social impact of just being present can be rewarding. Never force a resident to participate in or come to an activity; you can recommend and encourage him to join in, but making activities mandatory will defeat the purpose. Even though some nursing-home activities seem childlike, never treat the residents like children. They should always be treated with respect.
Tags: Sadie Hawkins, Thanksgiving dinner, your residents, dining room, elderly people