Forum Discussion

OMG, i LOVE the Olympics and plan to celebrate them for the duration!
Let me start my post by saying two things:
1. I am the Activity Director for an Assisted Living facility, but we are attached to a Nursing Home and we plan our "big" activities for a diverse range of ages/abilities/interests.
2. I have only been working in this capacity for two years, so the 2016 Summer Olympics were my "first" Olympics.

For the 2016 Summer Olympics, we did the following:
1. Had an "Opening Ceremonies" Event: We gathered together, played TV Olympic Theme music (just look on youtube for videos), "lit" a torch in our "stadium" (the torch was made of cardboard and tissue paper to look like a flame), waved/examined flags from different countries, made a list of all the Olympic events we could think of (I wrote them on a dry-erase board as the tenants called them out), "finished" the list of events (by reading off a print-off from an official Olympic list and discussing the events we missed), reminisced about famous Olympic moments and watched short videos on on the US Olympic team (youtube again), and finally, we ate red, white, and blue snacks (fruit kebabs and punch, if I remember correctly). Everyone present took home an American flag to cheer on their favorite team (team USA for us!).
2. I kept a "medal count" bulletin board going for the duration of the Olympics (updated every morning via post-it notes). I chose countries that had large Olympic teams, or that were "interesting" to most of our tenants (we have a large population of people with Scandinavian heritage here).
3. I kept tenants abreast of interesting news, TV schedules, and Olympic trivia during daily announcements.

I plan to do similar things for the upcoming Winter Olympics! I can't wait! Hope this helps! Can't wait for other suggestions!

Hi Nori, what an enthusiastic person you are; a real asset to your facility. Congratulations!

Thanks for your kind words, Solange! I'm so glad to be a part of this amazing community on Golden Carers!

How about organising a mini Olympics at your facility!
https://www.goldencarers.com/how-to-host-your-own-mini-olympics/4794/