Launching the Monthly 2011 Calendar Project

 2011 Calendar

January

with Printable Templates

This is such a popular project...making a calendar a month at a time.
Preparing the Calendar in the second half of the previous month, will make sure it is up on the wall by the 1st !

You Will Need
Printed copies (I used A4 White Cartridge 140gsm)

of the January Calendar - here is Template 1  and   Template 2

Paints or any other colouring-in medium

Have fun painting!

Look out each month of 2011, for the next month's calendar templates...

Card Bunting

We have just had our Christmas party at the Day Centre. A lovely day enjoyed by all, with lots of delicious food and grape juice...

The entertainment was a variety of songs from the 1940's, sung by a duet. The whole party joined in with the very familiar tunes and this was followed by a dance routine by six of the staff. 

Not quite up to "Strictly" but great fun!

The tables were decorated with Card Bunting made by the members of the Day Centre. It was very effective and so easy to do...and most importantly, made them feel involved in the preparations of the Big Day!

You Will Need

Coloured card (or white - what ever colour scheme you want to use)

Self-adhesive stickers (we used Christmas themed stickers but there are many others easily available so again choose what suits you)

String

Cellotape

Cut  the card (either straight cut or use pinking shears) into a triangular shape.

Here is a Template. 

Stick on the stickers - we used one per flag but again up to you.

Line the flags up on a table, face down, and then using Cellotape, stick the string about 1cm from the top edge, leaving a space between the flags of about 4cm.

Make strings to desired length, leaving a tail on each end for attaching to table - or to a wall - also look great on a wall!

Enjoy your party!

A Simple Quiz for the Elderly

A Quiz is always popular with any age group and especially with the elderly. Apart from the fun of doing a quiz in a group, there are the obvious benefits of mental stimulation and the chance to reminisce - and with lives rich with experience, we are always ready to listen to our senior citizens.

One quiz, which is always enjoyed, involves a list of items - eg Movies (make sure they are from a suitable era - mine are all 1940's and 50's) and then split them into two columns as below, thus mixing up the second half of each title. They then have to find the ten films, by matching the halves.

Be sure to make a few notes about each movie - date, actors/actresses etc (Google it!) as the quiz will expand into a full discussion amongst the group - you will be amazed at what stories will come out! - and with your notes on hand, you can fill in all the missing bits of film data etc., they can't quite remember...

The High                                                          in the Rain
National                                                           Queen
Ben                                                                  Velvet
From Here                                                        Get Your Gun
A Town                                                             Busters
High                                                                 to Eternity
Singing in                                                          Hur
Annie                                                                Called Alice
The Dam                                                           and the Mighty
African                                                              Noon

This format has endless opportunities - will give you more later - watch this Blog!

 

Ideas and Tips for managing Craft and Activities for the Elderly

The main reason I decided to set up this blog was to help other "Craft Ladies", who, like I, spend a great deal of time searching for ideas.

I have spent some years as a volunteer, both with Mencap (for folk with learning difficulties) and a Day Centre for the elderly. As a volunteer, I was involved in managing craft, quizzes and games for the members of these groups.

My main objective was to provide craft and other activities, which stimulated them mentally, challenged them physically (no greater delight than to see someone, who has had a stroke, finding the joy in being able to paint, something simple, but a "Result" nevertheless!) and most of all to give them an enjoyable morning, in good company, having fun!

Through this blog, I will keep you posted, with what we have done in the past year and what we are up to in 2011.

Finding craft and activities that interest adults, who have limited capabilities (and these too vary from member to member) is not an easy task.

For our senior citizens, craft must be simple for aged hands, but not childish. The quizzes need to relate to their area of knowledge, so again care needs to be taken to make the questions easy enough to be answered by most of the members, but not so easy as to be insulting!

Most of the craft and activities will be enjoyed by any age, so feel free to try them out with your children, your class or your Brownies etc. 

Have fun and please contact me if you have any queries - I will help if I can!