Guest Kay Landrum Report Share Posted November 5, 2005 Hello, I recently have gotten a job as an activity director. Having problems with what activities to do around 5:30 or 6:00 pm. Looking for some suggestions. meal time is at 5:00, don't want to serve snacks. thanks Kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singer 0 Report Share Posted November 6, 2005 Hi, This is the time slot when I usually have church groups come in and sing or hold a worship service. Several times a month we have family night- staff talent show, bingo tournament, making holiday crafts. This gives residents something special to look forward to and brings their families into the facility to spend time with them. Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_sarah Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 how many evening/night activities do you have monthly in your facility? Do you have evening staff or do you run the activities your self? I currently have about 3 night time activities a month, but have heard that is not enought. I do not have any evening activities staff, and have to come in and work the evening activities that we do have. What should I do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_tinki Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 Hey Sarah, What I always did was have at least two evening programs. I never had evening staff, so I counted on volunteers or staying late myself. I was hourly so I would come in late that day or take a long lunch (get some errands done) and stay late. I would usually do some cognitive games or relaxation activities! I even was lucky to have a real with it resident led Yahtzee every Tuesday with about 5 residents so that was an activity! But yes it is important to have evening activities! I think facilities should hire evening staff or required the care staff to do some planned activities with the residents! Karen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_AggieTiff Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 We have evening activities every day, both is our assisted living and Memory care neighborhoods. We have our "current events club" meet everynight after dinner. This is a resident lead club (which we are required to have in our company) with care staff support. The care staff should encourage the residents to particioate and help move the conversation along if they are not talking. It is a popular group and they really just chit chat about current events. This is in our Assisted Living. We also have some volunteers that come in for 1:1s and chit chatting. When it is hot our Walking Club and Frount Porch group will get together after supper...because they crave being outside in the fresh air and in Texas the evenings are about the only time to get out without a heat stroke in July, August, September. In Memory Care we have activities running from the time they rise in in teh morning to the time the retire at night...and then if they get up and "roam" in the night the care staff will do something with them such as a memory box, reminiscing, or anything....their time schedule and frame of reference is not the same as ours when they are going through Dementia. They have sing a longs, volunteer visits, social gatherings, wheel of fortune, night time cart for 1:1s. The care staff or volunteers or even families lead the activitites...but this is all day...not just at night. I am here to coordinate and role model so they can do it .... this way there are activities going on more than if I had to lead each one. If your residents are able....get them to lead the activities....they will get a lot of sefl respect for this. They want to feel useful. And the care staff is in the building 24/7...so there should be someone to lead the activities. Tiff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
act4life 0 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 We have evening activities 2x per week. We have someone that does every Monday night and an other comes in one x per month. for the rest of them we ask the residents what would be the lasted you would want to come to activities and about 60 % of them said we would like to have one about 5:00 or 5:30 but no later than 6pm. So what we do is News in the activity room on the big TV so the ones that don't have TV can watch the News. Nail time, Table Talk, Dinner Music in the Main Dining Room. This is some of things that the residents have ask us to do for them. We are done by 6pm on the nights we do the activity and some times we can get the staff or a resident to help out so we don't have to stay. So try asking your residents what they want at your next Res. Council Meeting and that way you have it in your notes what they want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy 0 Report Share Posted July 14, 2006 I am evening activities Mon - Fri. I do have staff member to those programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 We have activities 6 evenings a week until 8:00pm. Often times there is evening entertainment, but for the most part it encompasses dementia programming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Report Share Posted July 18, 2006 Having at least 3 evening activities is a good rule of thumb. I have done it to where a church would come in & do 1 evening. Beore we left for the day we set up all of the supplies etc. for them. They would get them from the act. office. They as well as staff knew which residents needed reminders &/or help to get to & from the activity. Then on 1 evening it would be Movie Night & Popcorn. The staff did this activity. Act. would have the TV, DVD Player, DVD Movie & juice ready for them to get from the act office. Then I have a evening program ran by res. (usually some family members are around to ass't ) This is usually Bingo. Again everything is ready fro them in the act office. They don't give out any prizes but vouchers which the winners can redeem when the act. staff is on duty. Staff is good about helping res. to the act. Also Get a res who attends these act. to take names of all the res. who attend these nightly act. & turn in to the act staff. They like being useful & it really helps us out with our records. If you are lucky enough to have a volunteer or family members who visit regularly basis try & recruite them to do a simply evening act. I have found family members want somethig to do when they visit because they find it hard to fill in the time when visiting. So watch for those who come & then speak with them about the this. It would not have to be every week! I also found that if we have act. after 7 pm there was very low attendance sometimes no one at all. Most res. prefer to go to their room by 6:30 to catch the wheel & then go to bed or whatever. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandyatscr 0 Report Share Posted July 19, 2006 We have evening activities three times a week in our main part and our memory unit has activities 7 days a week provided by restoritive nursing program. We have two part time high school students who split the weekends and do the nighttime activities. When they are off during the summer they work 11a-730p on the nights that the activities take place. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Report Share Posted July 20, 2006 thanks for all of the ideas, maybe in resident council I will ask if any of them would like to help run an evening activity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberly Hastings 0 Report Share Posted July 19, 2007 Hello, I recently have gotten a job as an activity director. Having problems with what activities to do around 5:30 or 6:00 pm. Looking for some suggestions. meal time is at 5:00, don't want to serve snacks. thanks Kay This is when I bring in musicians. I have found that many music instructors love bringing there students into our communities for recitals. Also school choirs or even local musicians. Sometimes there is already someone right there in your building who plays music are has a family member that might play for you every once and a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndiLynn 0 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 At my facility we have dinner at 5 and then we have what i like to call "Fireside Event." We build a fire in the fireplace when its cold and we sit around (some in their pajamas), drink sugar free hot chocolate, read from our "Chicken Soup" books, and then discuss topics or reminisce about the good old days. It was awsome to see how close people got and how far they could remember back. Then one Thursday night out of the month we have our "CandleLight Dinner". Starts at 5, goes to 6 or 6:30 but it is a chance for the residents to get dressed up and have a more elegant dinner (ofcourse there is not candlelight but you get the point). We have someone come and play special music, have a nice dinner with appetizer and dessert (all voted on each month at resident council). They are also aloud to invite up to 2 guests per resident. It sounds like there is a lot of people but we only really invite the people with regular diets, no puree, no mechancial soft. They should also be able to eat independently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chartley 0 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 evening activities! i myself work evenings. and sometimes i agree it is a struggle. but what i found is the residents love to sing. they never get tired of singing. so we rotate through song sheets that we have. what i found is that they like big band songs. but it is up to you to make a cd and song sheets for them. also they love musicals. so we have musical monday night. we pick out a musical and sing songs from it. then we have a little disscussion about it. and of course a snack. it is alot of work for the one making cds and song sheets but it is worth all the effort. if at first it is too much just do it every other week to start off. and ask the residents what would you like to do for an evening activity? that may bring something to mind you could do. when in doubt ask the residents they love to tell you there thoughts! good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljsutt 0 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 We have evening activies 2x weekly. I usually schedule evening bingo or movie night. Sometimes I do puzzles where I keep the solution and hand out the puzzles for the residents to keep and work on overnight. Those who solve the puzzles, get a treat. They look forward to my visit the next day with the correct solution. Another idea is an after supper sing-a-long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheilag 0 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 Why not have a movie nights once a month. Have it start around six or seven. If you want, have light snacks near seven or eight. Another idea is an old fashion singing- We have several churches that love to come to sing, but prefer to do it in the evenings. we have even had one church youth group come in a do a puppet show and assist us with a full blown talent show. The residents love it. We tend to get more volunteers in the evenings as they are off work. Game night is another thought. Start later after evening meal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martivic 0 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 be careful of this time....I think there is something called Sundowner's ? syndrome,,,Want to keep a positive flow at this time for a easy transition into bedtime for the carestaff, if it's a nursing home. Also, peoples' thoughts turn towards home (or their former home) as the sun goes down. fight Depression. I think assisted livings enjoy a walk outside around the campus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yunakitty 2 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 I just wanted to share a great idea that my coworker came up with. I'm struggling to get the 3-11 CNA's to do evening activities with the residents - we're a small facility, and there's only me and my assistant who covers my two days off every week. I work every weekend, and I do stay late some evenings (usually every Monday) but I need a little help covering the evenings. My admin always insisted that I put evening activities on the calendar, like "Movie and Popcorn." I bought boxes of microwave popcorn, and we have an extensive DVD library, but the movies are not getting played, and the CNA's are not filling out the attendance sheets. The problem is that it's different staff all the time, and it gets forgotten. I'm kind of overwhelmed trying to manage everything that I already do, and I'm not really a "boss type" person in that I'm not comfortable with telling these people what to do. Well, anyway, my coworker suggested I get a big, beautiful box (I'm using a large shiny red Christmas gift box that's like a very sturdy oversized shoebox.) I wrote "Evening Activity" all over it, and it's going to be kept in a very conspicuous location at the nurse's station. Each day before I leave, I will place the supplies for the evening activity; for example, a specific DVD, a pack of popcorn, as well as the attendance log AND a pen (so there are no excuses.) We'll be implementing this next month. I'll let you guys know how it goes! I am really stoked, because I really think this is going to work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1368 0 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 Hello, I recently have gotten a job as an activity director. Having problems with what activities to do around 5:30 or 6:00 pm. Looking for some suggestions. meal time is at 5:00, don't want to serve snacks. thanks Kay congrats on your new job...try some evening time yoga(resident style)in wheelchairs and just some calm stretches with the aroma of lavender and soothing music... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeriActives 0 Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 Hello, I recently have gotten a job as an activity director. Having problems with what activities to do around 5:30 or 6:00 pm. Looking for some suggestions. meal time is at 5:00, don't want to serve snacks. thanks Kay You can try aromatherapy which is a great evening activity - or an armchair cruise from www.geriactivesllc.com which offers residents a "trip" from the comfort of their chair. The activity book with puzzles and games can be used at this time or for other activity periods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwilliams 0 Report Share Posted April 13, 2009 Our weekly evening activity is BINGO. Sometimes I shedule music, church groups, etc to come in at that time. We also have Popcorn and a Movie every other week in the evening. The residents pick the movie and we enjoy popcorn and sodas/water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jam296tigger 0 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 We currently have had an opprotunity to add another staff member to our activity dept. to help provide evening activities whether small group activities or indepedent activities... From sensory stim, to eating dinner together, and what about using the evening staff to help provide some of these fun activities. I am sure that one person could free themselves up and help for about a half hour. We are and Eden home and this helps with making a home for our residents and thats what we are here for. You will have to do some research and ask the residents what they would like to do between those hours. If they dont' want anything during those hours, document it, and work with those specific residents who are bored, and lonely. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brandiedwards 0 Report Share Posted July 10, 2016 A church does a bible study for us every other Tuesday. Also, I am leaving a movie for them to pop in on Friday "Movie" nights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhall 0 Report Share Posted July 11, 2016 We like watching the news on tv around that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValerieGurley 0 Report Share Posted July 11, 2016 We've been trying to do "Night Bingo" at 5:30. Gentle Stretching or Meditation could be good at this time, too. Calming, soothing activities for anxious folks with sundowner's... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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