Katherine

A new activity has been posted by a Golden Carers member: AROMATHERAPY BINGO

Also, I lead a trivia challenge afternoon, and when I first started doing this, they were bored, which made for a long hour... What I started doing, is starting the group with fun facts, puns and jokes... it has livened up our group, and as the ladies tell me, it is their favorite time of week. I just google fun facts, limericks, jokes, etc...They also seem to like the lists of things that are illegal to do, and we get a kick out of talking about them, and seeing if we can find why this became "illegal"... Like in Boston, it is illegal to take a lion to the movies... Snoring is prohibited unless all bedroom windows are closed and securely locked.

I have a template that I got from another site. It's a getting to know you UNO game, I will try to share the activity. For each color, and number there is a question to ask. (ie.. favorite song, food etc). Whenever I have some one new move on to our unit, I pull out the cards, and go around the group asking questions, and then elaborate on them a bit.

Susan, I sure am trying. I had to think outside the box. I am relatively new to this position (Activity Assistant), and it is me by myself on our memory care unit. From my understanding, we used to have lots of volunteers that came in, and families were able to visit often. I started in in June. I have relied on the experienced CNA's for input.. I don't know whether their interests/ lack of interest is COVID related (b/c of the isolation), or the dementia... I take my job to heart, and I was getting discouraged when I would only have 5- 6 people joining me, and they would fall asleep on me.. I felt like I was failing. When I would have a larger group, I would become very overwhelmed with an activity, b/c they all need some level of support. That is when I decided to do "stations", it's keeping those engaged that generally aren't always engaged, and allows me to give attention and help for more structured actvity. Sometimes it works. sometimes it doesn't though...

Megan,
I am struggling with the same. I have 34 residents, and it is just me. I struggle getting them to come to activities, and keeping them engaged. What works today, doesn't work tomorrow, It is a struggle playing even the simplest of games. We have a subsrciption to Activity Connection also, and the music activities are great, I make play lists of music, and try to have visuals to go with the music ( Umbrella- Singing in the rain, Blue shoe- Blue suede shoes.. etc) if I don't have an actual prop, I have colored pictures. I will show them the prop, and start the music, and have them guess the song. It seems like a lot, but I sometimes will have "stations" set up, so we can do the more "hands on activities" (cooking and crafts that need more one to one attention) coloring table, puzzles, etc, and work with a small group doing the main activity, b/c they require so much one to one attention, then I switch groups ( with out moving them from their area (I find too many transitions pulls them away, and getting them back is difficult

When I worked in a day program for adults w/ dd, something I did was to make "Activity Sticks" I put all kinds of activities on popsicle sticks, and put them in a jar. Ranging from Music, exercise, cooking, Living Skills, Bingo, games, etc. My participants loved music, but the problem was, they all liked different genres, so again, I used popsicle sticks, and put on each stick a genre of music (I had over 100+ genres, classical, zydeco, 50's jazz, to name a few), Each day we did music, some one would draw a stick, then we would play music from that genre, incorporating instruments sometimes, we would also look up information pertaining to that genre, to learn more about it. They loved this activity. You can make it a week long project with one genre, listening to it, researching the origins, most famous singers, groups etc, comparing and contrasting. I also used a website: disabilitynews, which gave you stories related to disabilities. I once read a story about a gentleman and son duo, (the son had CP) the son loved heavy metal, so the father made it a goal for them to go to as many concerts over the course of a year (pre- covid), I found this gentlemans FB page, and he sent me updates on their travels, my group (varying levels) enjoyed seeing the pictures, and the venues they visited. I haven't seen anything posted in a while, however, they had helped develop a "MasonFest" metal concert. Anyways, I got ideas from there, on activities, we could do.

Doing mindfulness workshops. Years back I worked for a place, that promoted this philosophy called FISH.. upper management had gone through a training. "Fish" was developed in Washington State/ based on the Pikes Place Fish Market. They had this philosphy (I don't remember all the details) there were 4 Principles: Choose your attitude- take responsiblity for how you respond to what life throws at you {If I'm in a bad mood, it's going to reflect, and others will respond as such}, Make their day (A nice word, a smile goes a long way), Be There- be present for those around you, listen.., and Play make being at work fun. With these 4 concepts, we also as luck would have it had 4 disciplinaries- Upper Management, Management, Nursing, Direct Care workers, each department had a stuffed fish, and we made up cards with the 4 principles, and as a coworker, you recognized people who exibited 1 or more of these traits, and we hand monthly staff meeting, at which time, a person who received the most "fish" for that month, recieved a small gift card, and then for each quarter, a person was then chosen to recieve another gift card. A person from each department was awarded the fish for the month. It was a great way to promote a fun work environment. At the start of the initiative I was a Care Worker, and then promoted to management, during my time with the agency, there was a big change in moral amongst staff, there were less call outs, less turnover with staff. We had a lot of fun with it.

Hi all, I was hoping I could get some suggestions. I am new Activities Assistant in a Senior Living Center. My experience in "activities" comes from working with Adults with Developmental Disabilities, and working with Children. I knew my experiences could translate, as I am quick to making modifications and adaptations to activities. However, I am feeling overwhelmed. I don't really have an " Activities Team" to collaborate with. I work at an Assisted Living Facility on the Memory Care Unit. My Activities Director, is responsible for the Assisted Living floor, and I am responsible for the Memory Care Unit (which I should mention too has 30 adults) We have 2 per diem employees, one who covers for when I am out, and the other days he works, he helps on the AL level, once a week the other per diem person assists me for 2 hrs in the afternoon. The activities I do, translate well with the AL floor, however, they do not do so well on the Memory Care floor. Also, they are all at varying stages of dementia. I try to do a lot of individual activities, like puzzles, sorting, drawing, coloring, etc,. We play a variety of games that involve some type of movement, bean bag toss, beach ball volleyball, ladder ball, ring toss and such. I know they love using the parachute, but I don't have staff that can assist me with this activity, nor do I get a high turn out for activities. When I try to "facilitate" conversations, or attempt any type of "reminiscing" I get zero responses, (it get's so quiet you can hear a pin drop). I feel as though I am doing a disservice to my folks. I'm just at a loss, and any insight, suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I do Monopoly $ as prizes, then every other week we go “shopping”. I was able to get lots of donations of little trinkets, I hit up yard sales for for odds and ends. I was able to get a lot of costume jewelry. After I thoroughly sanitize everything, it goes up for sale. Since we can’t go out, that’s what much of my residents miss, I bring the shopping to them. I give them little treats and snacks while playing, so they “win” something tangible as well, especially for our folks on the memory care unit.