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Erica avatar

Hello All,

I am a 20 yr plus veteran of working in the eldercare arena . I have been an activities coordinator for folks with dementia for the past 8 yrs. I have a masters degree in social work and lots of certifications in various activity modalities. In spite of all of this I am in need of some ideas on how entertain folks for approximately a half hour every afternoon. From 1pm to 1:30pm I need to keep our folks safe an entertained for about 30 minutes while staff cleans up from lunch and sets up for our afternoon activities. Half of the staff is also at lunch during this time so I take the whole population(approx. 45-50 clients with me in to our living room) I am super confident talking in front of the group and coming up with word games, etc. However as of late I have been hearing a fair amount of grumbles and digs from a few participants who think my games are silly or "dumb". I think the reaction is often due to their inability to answer question or participate. I work hard to make the games appropriate for all levels and I am super enthusiastic while hosting. I pride myself on giving it my all, but lately the negative comments have been hard. -Thank You in Advance, Erica

Susan avatar

Wow, Erica

I am not sure how many staff members you have to help you

Perhaps you can split the group up

Hi, I like to read stories like chicken soup for the soul and make them interactive so you get audience participation

Another thing I like to do is team trivia

Split the group into teams depending on staffing and have a friendly competition by asking each team a trivia question but each team member can only answer. Once now a team member could help another team member with the answer

Let me know how that goes

Other ideas could be playing bunco.

https://www.goldencarers.com/bunco-dice-game-for-seniors/5724/

Or other dice games

https://www.goldencarers.com/dice-games-for-the-elderly/5307/

If you play games of chance with no skill needed, then I’m not sure how people could complain

Let me know if you need more ideas

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Krissi Rochelle
Social Life Co-ordinator United Kingdom Flag
Krissi Rochelle

I have only just found you and I have been overwhelmed by the content. A week ago, I was contemplating leaving my job because I was just running out of ideas and I was getting bored doing the same old things. Not now! Thank you!