Group Activities

[actpro 0]

I started this activity with my residents and they like it alot. It helps them to use their minds. Just get some magazines, lots of them, and make you a list of things for them to find in the magazines. I also use it as a game, the first one that finds everything first wins a prize. :-P

[Pennie 26]

Hey Newbie,

I have done scavanger hunts for the res. A list of items was printed up for them to find & the items were hidden through the fcaility. The first one to finish won a prize.

I also have used the magazines for food, usually dine with those who needed to gain weight.

But I have not tried the scavanger hunt your way sounds like it would be another good activity. Thanks for sharing.

[MaryADC 0]

I purchased a dart gun from Walmart that had a cartridge you loaded with 4 darts. I think they cost around $3.00. I took 3 empty 2 liter soda bottles and placed pictures of animals on the front of them. At Thanksgiving I would place pictures of Turkeys and we'd have a "Turkey Shoot". We had hunting trips for rabbit, squirrels, deer etc. I then would place the bottles on a bedside table towards the very back(they fell off better). The bedside table worked great because I could set the height for those standing to shoot or those sitting, in wheel chairs plus I could wheel the table to the resident. The group of residents would take turns trying to shoot and knock the bottles down. They got to use all 4 darts to try. What the men loved about this was you actually cocked the gun like a real one. I even had one little lady who never married and went squirrel hunting with her brother who loved it. She would cock that gun hold it up to her shoulder, squint her eye and bam! and she seldom missed. I kept score of who our best hunter was and they received a prize and a ribbon made of construction paper. I also placed a award on our bulletin board of who our hunter of the week was. Blessings, Mary

[MaryADC 0]

Some of you may be familiar with this game. You take 2 dice and one you tape all the sides and alternate writing the words put & take. You can let several residents play this game at a time. You give each resident 25 or so pennies. You can then play this game one of two ways. 1. The residents take turns rolling both dice. If the dice says "put" and the number 3 they have to choose one resident to give 3 pennies to. If it says "take" they choose one resident to take 3 pennies from. You can end this game when residents run out of pennies with a first second and third place winner for those who have the most or for an alotted amount of time with the winner as whoever has the most amount of pennies. 2. You can give each resident 25 pennies then place 100 pennies in the middle. The middle pile is where the residents put and take pennies from. Whoever has the most amount of pennies in an allotted amount of time is the winner. Our prizes were usually penny candy equal to the value of pennies the resident who won had. Blessings, Mary

[gina 2]

Hi All,

This is a great game to do variations of,examples:

1) Pizza Making- Get a piece of posterboard or cardboard and cut into a circle(like a pizza) then have your residents start looking for stuff to make a pizza-cheese,tomato sauce,pepperonies,sausage,onions,etc,then have them paste the items onto the circle for their pizza-then if budget allows order a real pizza for a reward.

2) Let's Bake a Cake-The same idea,look for items for a cake-flour,sugar,baking powder,frosting,sprinkles etc....

3) Things you would find at the beach-shells,waves,suntan oil,people in bathing suits,etc

4) Things you would find in a classroom-apples,eraser,chalk,ruler,books,etc

 

;-) Gina

[Pennie 26]

This is from: Barbara Dahl I have had this activity in my files for a few years, so I am not sure where I got it from other than it was posted by Barbara.

 

We also have "Mystery Auction". Each senior is given a set

amount of Monopoly money--$56.00 or so. They bid on prizes that

have been donated. They are kept in plain paper bags. Some are

silly prizes. They bid on the bags. They can bid as much as

they have. There is a grand prize that is bid on at the end.

But in order to bid on the grand prize, they must have purchased

a prize through bidding earlier. They love the mysteries and

surprise of what are in the secret bags.

[Tishanne 0]

One of the newest games at our facility is called "Domino Bingo." I am sure it is not "new" to everyone, but it is for us. Set up card tables and try to have four residents per table (if one or two only have three players, it can work, too.) Each table gets a set of dominoes. The caller (you) has her/his own set at a different place to the side. Everyone (including caller) shuffles dominoes and each player gets seven dominoes. It seems easier to just lay down the dominoes in front of the players so that more cognitive residents at the table can assist the others (instead of set up as in dominoes or 42.) The caller pulls one domino and calls it out (i.e. "double six".) Whoever has that domino among the players (each table will have one) throws that domino to the middle of the table. The caller continues to call dominoes until a player is out of dominoes and yells "BINGO!" We give quarters to winners - a quarter per win. For the tables of three, the extra seven dominoes are just pushed to the side.

 

If you are short sets of dominoes, wal-mart has them for about $4 per set, or you could ask the residents, families, and/or volunteers if they have any that you could borrow for the game.

 

My residents really like this one since so many enjoy straight dominoes, 42 or 88 and recognize the called dominoes easily. It is also a good way to have them mingle with one another. Explain the game and its objective to some of those residents who can help the others earlier in the day, so that they can be sure to attend since they now have a "job"!

 

Good luck! ...Tishanne :-D

[gfjones 0]

I saw this in the creative forcaster and tried it this month. It turned out great. It is used like the show that used to come on t.v. I read the resident's early life then said ________ this is your life. Everyone had a great time. I had collected lots of pictures from family members of the resident of course only with the resident's permission and had them on a velvet easel board. Two of her kids sang a couple of songs, then we had refreshments. I plan to do this every other month.