Forum Discussion

Hi Trudy, I would try a cork board; it is more attractive than a whiteboard. The Date, season, and Monthly Program/Events should be printed colorfully and laminated and then attached with velcro. You can turn it into a monthly activity: getting residents to draw and color borders into A4 and A3 paper so activity staff can add the information, laminate, and attach velcro on the back. I would say that the Menu should continue to be on the whiteboard for practical reasons. Good on you for trying to support activity staff.

Solange has a good idea if you do not want to have a corkboard you could tape instead of Velcro items to the board
I would print items on the computer to fit the board then I would ask the residents to put stickers on the printed paper to make them look attractive you could also paste decorations on the board that you choose
Another option would be to use posterboard
Can either print items and tape them to the board That are happening or write them by hand you could use both sides of the posterboard and use blank paper to put over or printed material To put over What is already written
This way you can reuse the poster board
You can use stickers or fancy notepads
have the resident who takes the magnets help make the board
This could backfire but you can give that a try and see what happens
Decorating the board and papers is a good activity for the residents

Hi Trudy
there have been some good idea most of which we have used at some time in our aged care facility. Our lunch whiteboard we pasted pictures of food and the word menu onto it, they are easy to soak off when you want to change at a later date. We found words and pictures that looked like chalk (just like a menu board in a cafe), then wrote on the board with whiteboard markers. If you have a person who is a bit crafty they could even paint onto the board. Maybe a piece of clear perspex or similar could be made to measure and clipped over the board so that artwork (velcroed on etc) can't be removed or the residents could make decorations for the board in a craft group.

Great ideas Sheri thank you

In particular I would try to have the person taking it down actually do the putting up as a daily project. That worked for one of our ladies who always tore the picture off the board. Once she started to decorate the board herself (with some guidance) she stopped and always showed her family her work. If she/he needs guidance on where to put things write numbers on your Velcro strip with sharpie and then put a sticky note with corresponding numbers on the things to hang then have resident match numbers. Once they are in place have he/she remove sticky notes. This can be a cognitive physical fine motor and purposeful activity.

Good ideas Teresa