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Celebrate Cartoonist Day on May 5th! There just may be a hidden cartoonist in us all! To celebrate Cartoonist Day we have created a FREE set of 4 blank cartoon pages for your residents to utilize. Invite your residents to create a comic or graphic shorts of any kind. It doesn't have to be superheroes and villains or Sunday morning funny.... everyday scenes can be depicted. This opens the door for more creative and varied stories to come forth in the work. Display the stories with permission. Click Below for a FREE Cartoonist Day Activity Pack! Free Cartoonist Day Pack May is Mystery Month! I love a good mystery! Chance are many of your residents do too! In honor of this month's theme, setup a Top Sleuth Contest utilizing the fantastic interactive website www.5minutemystery.com. How it Works: Setup a free account on www.5minutemystery.com. Select 31 different mysteries from the mystery archives and create a list for each participant. These are to be attempted in order, on a daily basis throughout the month of May. Print out the mystery for the day and hand it out to each resident. Instruct residents to circle the main clues in the story and then write their primary suspect down before turning it in to you at the end of each day. Check the answers through 5 Minute Mystery and keep a tally of each resident's progress. Optional- Create a public bulletin board with each resident and their ranking throughout the month. Throw a mystery themed party for the top 3 Sleuths and award them with a Top Sleuth award and gift. NOTE: If your residents have access to the internet, they can create their own accounts and attempt it online. By doing it this way, they can note their completion time as an added component of the competition. Simply have them attempt it once and mark their suspect and time. Check out the story below to get a feel for how it works. Check your answer by clicking the link below the story. Department Store Murder Written by Tom Fowler Source: www.5minutemystery.com Leon Adams clocked in a few minutes before 10:00 a.m. on a very mild and sunny Tuesday in April, as he was supposed to. It took only a few minutes to open the cash registers in the men’s department. Leon was a suit salesman and he knew from experience that the first couple of hours on a weekday would be very slow. Slow to the point of boredom. So, he was surprised when customers began to show up shortly after opening. The first to arrive was Ed Puckett, (Leon would introduce himself to all of the morning customers and learn their names). Leon greeted Ed as he entered the men’s area. Ed looked around and picked out a few suits to try on in the fitting room. Ed had not been back there long when Leon’s second customer, Louis Murphy, showed up at the cash register asking about a good deal on a sport coat and pair of slacks. Leon helped Louis in finding them and led him back to the fitting room. Meanwhile, Ed was still in the dressing room. Leon was pleased that he had two customers in his area so early -- it was only 10:20. Leon spotted Gene Roberts browsing the edge of the men’s area at 10:25, just after noticing that Ed had left the dressing room. What a busy day! It was difficult to keep track of so many customers. Leon could see Ed wandering in the shoe department, so he moved on to his next sale, greeting Gene and escorting him to the dress shirt table, all the while Louis examined himself in the fitting room’s full length mirror. He hoped Louis would like the sport coat and slacks he was trying on. Although he was some distance away from him, the garments appeared to be a good fit. Justin Tanner came in at 10:30 and asked Leon where the men’s sweaters were. Leon walked Justin over to the sweater table. Justin thanked him and said he wanted to pick one out to try on in the fitting room. As Justin was browsing the sweaters, Leon decided to check on Louis. As he walked back toward the fitting room, he saw Louis walk away from the mirror and return to his dressing room. It was only 10:36 and Leon was having an uncharacteristically busy weekday. At 10:45, Leon saw Justin enter the fitting room with a green sweater and Leon noticed that Louis was still in his dressing room. At 10:50 George Whitley walked over to Leon from the shoe department and asked about a catalog order. Leon placed the order for him at the cash register, but it took a few minutes and he did not finish with it until after 11:00. George paid for the order, which was a pair of dress slacks, and left. At 11:04, Leon noticed Justin leaving the men’s department. He had not purchased the sweater. At 11:10, Leon knew that Louis had never left his dressing room and went to check on him. When he found him, he received the shock of his life. Louis was dead on the floor with a knife wound in his heart. Blood covered the carpeting of the small fitting room. Mercifully, there were now no customers in the men’s department as Gene Roberts had left without trying anything on. Leon held on to his composure long enough to return to the cashier station and call the store security officer, Ronald Clay. Leon’s mouth was hot and dry as Ronald answered his phone, saying simply, “Clay speaking.” Leon stammered, “Ron, get over to the suit fitting room. A customer has been murdered.” Ronald was the retired detective Lieutenant Ronald Clay of the city police department. He came to work at the store after retiring from a 25-year career as a law enforcement officer. There wasn’t much that went on in the store that escaped his attention. Leon was grateful he was on duty and available to handle this nightmare. Clay quickly found the shocked Leon still standing at the cash register. Firmly, but gently, Ronald had Leon lead him to the deceased customer. As soon as Clay saw him he knew who it was. He said, “I know this guy. He’s Louis Murphy. I dealt with him and his friends quite a bit when I was on the Force. He’s known as ‘Louie the Lip’ and is a career mobster.” Weakly, Leon asked, “So you think another crook got to him?” “Yeah,’ Ron replied. “It’s too much of a coincidence for it not to be mob related.” Dryly, he added, “I’ve never seen a person murdered in a department store dressing room before, and I’ve seen a lot.” Within minutes, the store closed and a dozen police officers appeared on the scene. Clay knew that the key to solving the murder quickly rested with Leon, who always knew where men’s department customers were at any given time. Ronald led him back to his office for a quiet visit. He wanted to speak with him before his former associates did. After determining Leon was recovered sufficiently from the shock, he asked him to relate all of the morning’s activities he could remember. Leon remembered everything and relayed the activities and movements of the five customers in detail. Clay listened intently. After considering what he had been told, they went to the video room and reviewed the security tapes. After watching it a couple of times, Ronald told Leon, “This is the murderer.” Check Your Answer Share Tweet Share Pin Forward Celebrate Internat'l Hummus Day on May 13th! Hummus Cucumber Cups Makes 24 appetizers Written by AlwaysOrderDessert.Com Ingredients 2 English Cucumbers, cut into 1 1/2" thick rounds Kosher salt 1 10oz container hummus (or about 1 1/2 cups of your favorite homemade hummus) 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted Finely minced parsley, for garnish Steps Use a melon baller or round measuring spoon... Get Full Recipe Below! Get Recipe Share Tweet Share Pin Forward Share Tweet Share Pin Forward Activity Directors Network was founded in 1996 on the idea that we could help create elderly care that dramatically improved the lives of those we all serve. 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