caroletaylor

I think most care homes are in the same situation...no spare money, but they should supply even the basics to provide activities for your clients. I have a couple of ideas:- Ask the care staff if they have anything they can donate. If they have children they will have a spare game, colouring book, crayons, jigsaw etc. Staff are usually great at helping out. Use the community. get a local school to bring some of their children in. The elderly love kids (usually!). Are their any colleges nearby. get the students who are doing hairdressing, massage, art etc to come in and you will supply the volunteers. Do you have access to a community centre where you could take some of your clients. Get the mobile library to call in. Buy a local newspaper annd read it to the clients, theyll love hearing the latest news. get the homes administrater to let you get on the internet, theres loads of stuff you can download for free. have a cinema afternoon- all youll need is a videa/dvd. Have the clients doing 'household' tasks. Any that are mobile, give them a mop, duster or sweeping brush. The ones that arent mobile could fold t towels, pillow cases etc. reminiscence is a great one and doesnt have to cost much, just sit and talk about the old days, their children, what they did when they were children or where they worked etc. I think you definately need to start fundraising too so you can make some money to buy proper equipment. get the staff and families involved. Hope this helps, and good luck :0)

Hiya Anne, thats a brill idea! I shall be researching famous British peoples birthdays and starting it at my home. Carole

Hiya, at our home we have a cinema afternoon every Thursday. The clients have discussed favourite films and each week they choose what they want to watch. Most of the clients go in to watch the film and have popcorn and pop. The few that dont want to go in will do something else ( often a one to one activity). As people are all different, you will never get everyone to join in an activity...I dont like bingo now and still wont like it when im 80!!! We also have a 'quiet' lounge that has no tv, just a cd player. Several clients like this room and will sit and sing along to the music and dont need any supervision from the staff. This frees our activities co ordinater up to do something else with other clients.

Hello Everyone! I have just come across this site...and love it. I dont think theres anything similar in the UK. I am the registered manager of an elderly care home in Bury Lancashire in the UK. As an activity we are looking for pen pals for our clients anywhere in the world. Myself and the activities co ordinater think this would be an excellent activity for some of our clients and we could assist in the writing or typing of letters, it would be another aspect of using reminiscence as a therapy and the clients would look forward to receiving their letters. It would also give clients the opportunity to learn about different cultures etc. So if you have any clients that may like writing to one of our clients, please get in touch:- carolegriffiths@hotmail.com We welcome replies from anywhere in the world. Carole