Activity Tidbits
March Events
Month Long
- Nat'l Irish American Heritage
- Nat'l Craft Month
- Nat'l Women's History
- Social Workers Month
Week Long
- 3/3-3/18 Iditarod Race
- 3/19-3/24 American Chocolate
- 3/25-3/31 Nat'l Cleaning Week
Day Long
- 03/02 Dress in Blue Day
- 03/07 Learn What Your Name Means Today
- 03/13 Registered Dietition Day
- 03/17 Nat'l Quilting Day
- 03/25 Pecan Day
- 03/30 Nat'l Doctors Day
The Golden Gliders
Description
Use excess energy, retain knowledge of body parts (ie. How they work, what they do), competition, stimulation, socialization, maintain or increase range of motion in joints, maintain and increase muscle tone, improve alertness, hand-eye coordination, cardiovascular conditioning, sense of accomplishment, improve self-esteem, body image. By Marisa Johnson
Materials
Pedometer
Manila folders
Charts on card stock (one for each individual resident)
Instructions
Prior to starting a walking club, it is important to gain the residents interest by addressing specific issues/ questions such as:
Medical Clearance- make sure residents are cleared by their physician to begin a walking program
Set a Location- make sure all residents agree on a location for the walking club, whether it is outside around the facility, inside the halls of the facility, at a local track, in a neighborhood.
How to gauge progress- determine if each resident will keep their own walking log to keep track of their miles, or if it they want to report it publicly.
Start Slowly- you may start with shorter walks 1-2 times per week then progress from there. Don’t expect to have a huge group at first. Let it grow with time.
Set specific short and long-term goals. As the AD, set specific short-term goals that will be planned into the residents’ daily schedule such as: “We will walk on Tuesday and Thursday mornings before breakfast, and in the afternoon at 2p.m. for 10 minutes each”. Have each resident set their own long-term goals and write them down so each person can look back and see what they have accomplished.
Make Lists- list all the benefits of physical activity followed by the reasons that residents should be physically active. Post the list for everyone to see daily.
Making your steps count- hand out pedometers to every participant and have them wear their pedometers throughout the day. At the end of each day they can report their steps on their walking logs. Tell them to aim for 500-1000 steps per day, and challenge them to reach 8,000-10,000 steps per day. Reward those that have a certain number of steps daily.
Buddy System- create a buddy system and assign each person a buddy to help encourage and motivated one another. You might schedule telephone or 1:1 room reminders.
List challenges- prior to getting started ask each participant to list challenges that might limit their participation (ie. Asthma, time restrictions), then brainstorm solutions together.
Proper footwear and attire- bring in a professional to discuss proper footwear and exercise attire
Rewards- no club is complete without some sort of extrinsic reward. When the group has reached its goals, have a celebration. You may also host a 5Kwalk in the community and offer rewards.
The Naturalist Club (A Men's CLub)
Description
Provide sensory and social stimulation, enjoyment & togetherness with fellow male residents; involves plants and animals by Anthony F. Vicari.
Materials
Half-gallon empty paper cartons (milk, juice, etc.)
Tin foil
Construction paper
Variety of wrapping paper
Scissors; glue, staples; stapler, single-hole punch
Bird seed
String, yarn or twine
Instructions
Have half-gallon cartons completely rinsed and pre-cut holes in the front of each carton, so that birds will be able to fly into and out of the hand-made bird feeder.
Instruct and demonstrate for male residents how to decorate the cartons using tin foil, wrapping paper, construction paper or a combination of all. Help residents who need assistance or additional support.
Once bird feeders are decorated, distribute bird seed, so that all men can place a sufficient amount of seed at the bottom of each feeder. As leader of the activity, go around and single-hole punch the top center of each feeder, so that string, twine, or yarn can be pulled through each hole to hang from a tree.
Have pictures and samples of other home-made bird feeders available for residents. A great way to conclude this activity is to read a story or news article related to nature and/or birds (Audubon.com is a super resource).
Have nature music playing in the background to help set the mood. Finally, take the bird feeders and hang them on trees all across the facility campus. Take pictures and enjoy nature!
Chocolate Bar Shuffle
Description
Fun dice game to play with your residents!
Materials
Sunglasses
Hat
Scarf
Dice
Candy bar (Hershey's)
Instructions
Have a group of 6-10 residents gather around a table with the wrapped candy bar in the middle.
Each person sitting around the table takes a turn at rolling the dice.
The first person who rolls a six gets to start eating the candy bar (break one piece off of the candy bar at a time), but only after he/she puts on a hat, glasses and a scarf and then takes them off.
While the person is doing this, the next person starts rolling the dice. Once the player rolls a six, the first player passes the scarf, sunglasses, and hat to the second player and they perform the same routine as the first player.
Continue this pattern around the table. The game is over when the entire candy bar is devoured.
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